Changes in studying at Russian universities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

The relevance of the study is due to the contradiction between the massive transition of Russian universities to a distance learning format and the insufficient readiness of participants in the educational process in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation with distance education before the pandemic was analyzed and the prerequisites for the emergence of problems and difficulties in the transition to online education were identified. An analysis of the difficulties faced by teachers and students of Russian higher educational institutions enabled to identify objective and subjective factors of their occurrence, as well as to develop recommendations for the further continuation of distance learning in combination with the traditional learning format. The purpose of the study is to analyze modern work experience in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic using the example of working with students of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. The analysis of successes and problems is conducted; the contradictions between distance and traditional forms of education are shown. The main models of organizing the studies are considered, which imply traditional and remote formats of studying using distance educational technologies. The works of various researchers, both Russian and foreign, on the problem of distance learning, are also analyzed. As a result of the study, it was concluded that in the modern education system of Russian higher educational institutions, distance education can be considered as a complementary and reinforcing form of the already existing traditional (“face to face”) training format with its socio-pedagogical, organizational, and psychological-didactic potential. In the work, the methods of theoretical (analysis, synthesis, systematization, comparison) and empirical (study of literature, interview, questionnaire, observation) research were used in a comprehensive manner. The combination of forms of interaction in real and virtual space in learning in modern didactics should be considered as a general didactic principle of learning