Abstract:

The main aim of this study was to investigate the level digital competences (digital literacy, communication and cooperation, digital content creation) of university educators from different Russian regions. The website https://learn2mooc.com/auth/ was created by me to achieve this goal. Digital competences were measured via several methods, such as: 1) UNESCO survey; 2) digital footprint; 3) yandex metric; 4) google metric; and 5) final survey.
The results showed that the majority of university educators (70%), who took part on Learn to MOOC were Candidates of Science (Doctor of Philosophy) and live and work in Russian regions (71,62%). It should be mentioned that 20% of educators have work experience more than 25 years, 21-25 years – 22,97%, 16-20 years – 19%, 11-15 years – 18%. Mostly women who teach humanitarian studies took part in this research. It should be mentioned, that the initial digital competences of university educators were on low level (63%). Although universities have the digital departments, but they don’t teach educators how to teach online. Although there are digital departments at Russian universities, providing methodological support for online teaching is beyond their scope of responsibilities.
As to conclude, the majority of university educators are not ready to teach online. It’s not only because of lack of digital competences, but also due to dated equipment (computers, laptops etc.). The level of digital competences of Russian university professors is not that high as of their foreign colleagues. For foreign university professors, the online learning process is more common.

Keywords:

Digital competences, University educators, Online lectures.