Conference System of NULES of Ukraine, Key competences in the knowledge society '2018

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DIGITAL EDUCATION: BENEFITS WITH BUSINESS COLLABORATION
Kateryna Tuzhyk, Olesia Moroz

Last modified: 03-10-2018

Abstract


Technology continually breaches almost every area of our lives and the high education sector is no exception. Most students have grown up online and will expect the same levels of technology in their learning environments as in their day-to-day lives [1]. Students of 21 century want always-on access to the resources, wherever they are on or off campus, for a deeper and more flexible learning experience [1]. In fact, the nature of education target audience means that it must adapt to accommodate this audience expectations.

To show the ever-increasing level of  the Information and communication technology (ICT) development its service exports (computer and communications services and information services) is represented on figure 1  [2].

In parallel with the benefits of e-learning at universities, there are fears of scientists that online access of lectures reduces student attendance. But the results of an experiment of scientists from Queen’s University Belfast [3], showed that this did not have a negative impact on student`s attendance, and that the students instead used personnel to strengthen traditional training.

The experiment covered 80 students who were interviewed before the start of the course, 27 percent of the respondents said that if the video was available, they would no longer consider attending lectures as an integral part of their training. But the analysis of attendance showed that the lectures that were posted on the Internet had a higher average attendance rate of 86 percent compared to the rate where the main points were not posted on the Internet 81 percent. In addition, in a survey conducted after the end of the course, 96 percent of the students said that the availability of staff did not affect their attendance. What more, researchers found that the videos that had tended to prove most popular were those that were linked to assessments. In the post-course survey, 98 per cent of students said that revision in preparation for an exam was a primary reason for viewing a video [4].

Creating a digital learning environment is not just about offering convenience and familiarity to students, however. Employers want graduates who are adept at using ICT for different tasks on their workplace. This mismatch between potential employer expectations and how universities prepare students for the future workforce has been well documented in academic studies, and continues to be an issue. [1].