Digital Educational Environment of a Modern University: Theory, Practice and Administration

Abstract

The article reveals theoretical and practical aspects of the digital educational environment of a university. The main normative and legal documents of Ukraine regulating the informatization of the sphere of national education are determined. The experience of introduction of the system of electronic educational courses by the leading institutions of higher education of Ukraine is analysed; the concepts of “distance education”, “digital educational environment”, “educational management” are specified. It has been found that education is a social institution with its own laws, principles and regulations, so the ability to manage education is as important and difficult as finding the right vector for development of all mankind. The benefits of education transformation are listed: development of students’ self-determination, ability to concentrate on the most valuable teaching material; increase of mobility of personality, ability to adapt to the dynamic environment; ensuring cooperation with diverse audiences; creating an individualized educational trajectory of the student; comfortable learning environment. An attempt is made to identify the definition of “digital educational environment” as a set of relevant resources that is able to ensure the implementation of educational, scientific, international and managerial activities of higher educational institutions. It was established that higher educational institutions of Ukraine in the conditions of distance learning increase the capacity of the digital educational environment. The conditions and modern vectors of information educational development are considered, and the basic problems, needed to be resolved at the state level, are defined. Strengths (flexible schedule of educational tasks, provision of inclusiveness, control and evaluation of the results of educational activities, individual consultations in remote mode, etc.) and weaknesses revealed of the development of the digital educational environment (the delay in the creation of digital training courses, lack of information literacy of teachers, low level of integration of digital learning environment and teaching disciplines, etc.). Presented the model of digital education environment of the university from the position of organizational and administrative activity. Described four operational modules of the specified model: scientific and technical module (repository, open publication system, digitalization of the library fund); educational module (electronic management system of educational courses, online learning, control of students’ knowledge quality); administrative module (electronic document management, education environment management, digital archive, online questionnaires, operational process management, digital security systems, innovative activities in the education and information environment); informational module (official website of the institution of higher education, personal pages of teachers, 3D-courses, pages of the university in social networks). It is established that the level of compliance of all activities of the designated operational areas is an indicator of the successful functioning of the university under the conditions of digitalization of the educational environment.