TRENDS AND PROSPECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING AT TECHNICAL UNIVERSITIES

A transition to new educational standards of higher education predetermines the necessity of changing approaches to the search for forms of organization of the education process. One of the most effective forms of the education management for training future specialists is Blended Learning, which combines internet and digital media opportunities with traditional learning.

The purpose of this work is to study the advantages and disadvantages of using blended learning in the education process of a technical university.

Blended learning is a learning process based on a combination of traditional training and activities in an electronic educational environment using elements of asynchronous and synchronous distance learning.

Technologically, the implementation of e-learning is fulfilled primarily with the help of an LMS (a special software learning shell), which integrates teaching and organizational functions of the education process. It can be represented by different software shells used by a university. For example, Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is used at Tomsk Polytechnic University. It is a free web application that provides the opportunity to create e-learning sites. It also makes it possible to follow task execution and assess tasks, use ICT tools in the classroom to conduct assessment and tests, and facilitate groupwork.

Let us consider the advantages and disadvantages of blended learning at the university in detail by the example of Tomsk Polytechnic University, hereinafter referred to as TPU.

Strategy for the development of e-learning at TPU implies the provision of up to 80% of educational disciplines by electronic courses supporting different models of e-learning:
• web-based training;
• blended learning;
• online learning.

In the academic year 2015/16, a considerable part of TPU disciplines was provided on the basis of a blended learning model. According to the survey, the relation of students to the blended learning model established at the university is positive as more than 30% preferred educational programs combining online classes with lectures.

The experience of Tomsk Polytechnic University and other universities using blended learning in the education process makes it possible to identify the advantages and disadvantages of this model.

Among the advantages, the following points are distinguished: transparency and flexibility; the realization of a student-centered approach to studying; the existence of feedback between participants of the education process; the development of educational independence of students; enhancing the motivation of students for the discipline being studied.

As for drawbacks of blended learning, these are factors which hinder its widespread implementation at universities. It is worth highlighting the following problems: overcoming the inactivity of some teachers as far as organization of teaching process based on blended learning technologies is a very time consuming process. In addition, for the implementation of all the advantages of blended learning it is necessary to create not just electronic tutorials but a virtual intellectual environment alongside with a constantly updated database containing all the necessary material.