Abstract:

In Russia various projects within the framework of the State program for education development for 2013-2020 were initiated. The project “School as a laboratory of Innovation” being one of them, it is aimed at the development of innovative movement in Russian education, the involvement of the educational community in the assessment process of innovation educational organizations, as well as dissemination of innovative practices among the educational community of the country.

The creation of educational resource centers is another innovative project of Russia to create and maintain educational information space of the regions on the basis of regional research educational telecommunication networks and regional educational portals. These centers are intended for consolidation of educational information resources, digital libraries, CD depository, database resources for transmission via satellite channel etc.

In Russian universities foreign language learning tends to be professionally targeted and focused on professional terminology and genres. But it should be directed to achieving both academic and professional goals.

This paper addresses the experience of Moscow State University of economics, statistics and informatics in developing and implementing blended and e-learning courses in teaching English and Russian as a foreign language for students..

Blended and e-learning courses have been a key aspect at Moscow State University of economics, statistics and informatics, which, for example, uses the system of virtual camp based on the program Share Point that is aimed to build the process of communication distantly especially with students who can’t attend the real lessons. The virtual camp of MESI has several main parts that are all incorporated into the process of learning of all students: 1) the use of forum; 2) calendar; 3) the list of materials necessary to understand a topic ; 4) the list of web-links; 5) the list of necessary books and papers ; 6) the function to send tasks and write commentaries ;7) testing system. They are considered in the paper. The structure of the taught courses is a blend of a face-to-face model and e-learning.

The underlying philosophy of these courses is social constructivism. The experience presented can be reviewed and recommended as a model in teaching Russian as a foreign language and other foreign languages in a blended and e-learning format.

Keywords:

Learning technologies, foreign language studies, Russian as a foreign language, blended courses, e-learning courses, pedagogical innovation.