Abstract:

In the conditions of Covid-19 in the spring of 2020, educational institutions in Russia were forced to switch from traditional education to distance learning. Teachers and students faced a number of problems: digital educational resources (DER) in the traditional form of training were used insufficiently; DERs content was unstructured and used planless. As a result, the initial period of the transition to distance learning was characterized by a number of failures (from scheduling and incorrect course content to low student involvement in the educational process). After six months of distance learning, all aspects of the educational process have adapted to new conditions. Teachers created unified DERs for distance learning, mainly on the Moodle platform. DERs content included: a thematic plan, a motivating promo video, theoretical and practical materials, video, audio, presentation materials, interactive elements of knowledge control, blocks of intermediate and final control and specific limited terms for their completion. DERs provided an opportunity for students to carry out self work.

Currently, the university has adopted a hybrid form of education, which gives the students who can’t present at classes in person to attend them remotely in real time. Thus, teachers faced a new challenge: to organize the educational process in such a way that students outside the classroom were fully involved in the learning process and had the opportunity to communicate with classmates and teachers. It was this necessity that determined the relevance of our study. The aim of the study is to register changes in the involvement of students in the development of the discipline and communication in the process of hybrid learning. Research methods - an open questions survey with to collect feedback and reflection from students when switching to distance learning; statistical methods of data processing of students' evaluation of online classes in hybrid learning. The study was carried out in February-June 2021 in the Kazan Federal University. The students studying "Second Foreign Language practical course " were engaged in the survey.

Results:
Feedback from students in the conditions of the forced transition to distance learning (February 2020): “The DERs is composed in an interesting way, you can develop various speech skills, but there is not enough personal communication with classmates and teachers”, “I cannot practice dialogic speech”. Reflection of students: “I am afraid to lose my speaking skills”, “it seems that I can skip and do it later, sometimes I postpone doing the tasks”. Completion of assignments in the DER (February - April 2021) - 74%, passing tests on time - 65%.

The authors proposed to use the Teams application to organize remote connection of students to classes held in face-to-face format. Feedback (June 2021): “I do not feel cut off from the group”, “I receive knowledge in full”, “I participate in discussion of topics and dialogues in the classroom. Attendance of online classes (May 2020) - 98%, answers to the delivery of assignments / passing tests on time - 92%.

The results are of practical value for institutions of higher education and demonstrate an increase in the degree of student engagement and the level of their communication in a hybrid learning environment.

Keywords:

Hybrid learning, distance learning, digital educational resources, communication, application.