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We should learn from experience
September 29, 2017, Ural State University of Economics hosted a scientific and methodological conference "Open Education as a Strategic Direction of the University Growth." The conference is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of USUE.
There was a good reason to choose the conference topics. As participants noted, at the government level, the first steps have been taken to introduce open education technologies and the task of universities is to accept and develop this trend. The conference became a platform for discussing the mechanisms of embedding open education in the economic activities of the university and applying technologies in the real practice of the educational process.
Representatives of educational institutions from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tomsk, Tyumen, and other cities participated in the work of the plenary session and five sections of the conference. At the plenary session, presentations were made by the USUE Rector Yakov Silin, director of the Institute of Open Education Technologies of Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin Alexander Karasik, Vice President for Development of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Dmitry Shtykhno, head of Scientific and Methodical Department of the Institute of Distance Education of Tomsk State University Olesya Babanskaya, and head of the Center for Personnel Training of Uralvagonzavod Sergei Vasiliev.
At the opening of the conference, a greeting letter from the Minister of Education of Sverdlovsk region Yuri Biktuganov was read out. Besides, the Rector congratulated Georgy Animitsa on his 80th birthday and conveyed him greetings from the Sverdlovsk Region Governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev.
The first to speak at the plenary session was Yakov Silin, “Education experts included a system of open education among the thirty most promising trends of education development until 2028. These technologies allow students to master a certain list of academic disciplines provided for by the educational program in other universities in the online learning mode. This exponentially increases the accessibility and quality of education, provides an opportunity to study the best materials in various fields of knowledge. However, the opportunities give rise to a lot of unexplored tasks. We cannot avoid open training any longer. We need to decide on the strategy and action plan and implement the new technology. It is important that all, without any exception, faculty members have a clear idea of what it is, be aware of international and Russian experience in the implementation of online education. One should learn from experience." Apart from that, the Rector drew attention to the rapid development of the online education market: according to experts, over the past three years, nearly 30 million people registered as participants in courses on various platforms. He expressed the hope that the conference will be the first step towards the inclusion of open education in the development strategy of universities.
The widest response from the audience of plenary session was evoked by reports of Dmitry Shtykhno and Olesya Babanskaya. Each of them spoke about their experience in introducing open education technologies into educational process, about the problems and questions that arose while gaining this experience. Dmitry Shtykhno noted that online courses had worked not only as an element of the education system but also as an element of marketing communications of the University. The speakers noted that the preparation of online courses helped make some adjustments to the training sessions held at universities: the teachers began to use modern technologies more often for educational purposes and learned a lot about their application.
Sergei Vasiliev presented to the audience the views of business to on-line training. In his opinion, this is an excellent option for individual training, including on-the-job training. Thanks to the system of open education, the company can improve the qualification of its employees and find ways to optimize economic activity without discontinuing personnel’ work.
According to the Rector, the conference has become a kind of refresher courses for young USUE teachers. Following its results, Ural State University of Economics plans to work out an action plan for introducing elements of open education into the educational process.
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