Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a challenge for modern society in all areas, including education. Students and teachers had to quickly switch from face-to-face to remote learning and teaching. As shown by numerous studies from 2020-2021, university teachers around the world evaluate their experience of remote teaching in a period of pandemic restrictions differently, and also they name different pros and cons of digital educational technologies (DET).

DET are considered in this study in a broad sense, and includes all elements of the education system, which, in one way or another, use not “traditional”, but digital tools, methods, systems.

The purpose of present study is to reveal the peculiarities of the attitude towards DET among Russian university teachers of different disciplines taught, during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

The study involved 167 (75% - female) RUDN University teachers, including: 92 teachers of social and humanitarian disciplines, 39 teachers of natural sciences, and 34 teachers of medical disciplines. The data was collected using the online survey via MS Forms. The questionnaire included 17 questions on various aspects of teachers' attitudes towards the use of DET (14 multiple choice questions and 3 open-ended questions), as well as 3 questions on socio-demographic characteristics.

The results of the study show that the teachers of different disciplines are about the same like to master and use new digital resources and technologies in educational process. However, it is ironic that natural science teachers would be more likely than others to prefer a traditional lecture using visual aids. Similarly, most of natural science teachers (30%) found it difficult to assess the impact of DET on education. At the same time, as expected, medical teachers more often than others prefer a face-to-face oral exam (58%), rather than a computer test. It is interesting that teachers of social and humanitarian disciplines (31.5%) assess the effectiveness of practical online classes higher than other teachers, while almost a third of medical teachers (29.4%) believe that the online format is not intended for such classes.

However, most teachers in different disciplines (about 66%) agree that knowledge does not lose its value against the ability to quickly find information using digital means.

Keywords:

Digital educational technologies, university teachers, COVID-19 pandemic, attitude towards digital educational technologies, Russian university, remote learning.