Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2021 number 3

Introduction. Higher education, as well as the entire education system, is undergoing global transformations today. The creation of a digital educational environment (DSP) is becoming the main trend in these transformations. Massive open educational courses (MOOCs) are a component (perhaps the most developed today) of the digital educational environment. The purpose of this work is to clarify the effectiveness of the use of MOOCs in the educational process and determine the student’s readiness for this. Is higher school sound in the discourse of such preparation of the subject for his/her independent work in the “digital learning space”, in which the level of paternalism is sharply reduced? Methodology and methods of the research were based on the principles of connectivism (W. Flusser, D. Siemens, S. Downs and others) and social constructionism (P. Berger, T. Luckman, etc.). Two of them are decisive. Learning is a process that takes place in an uncertain environment and cannot be completely controlled by the student’s personality. Therefore, the learning process must be supported from the outside, with the help of the Network, and the main task of the student is to include him/herself in this Network, subject to the creation of his/her own learning trajectory (communication). At the same time, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and MOOCs are considered as a kind of communication nodes that ensure the solution of individual learning goals and the creation of a new type of educational community. Research related to assessing their prospects and effectiveness is based on specific reflexive systems developed in the discourse of an interdisciplinary approach. The reflection of the ongoing changes is based on the thesis of the inevitability of the dialectical removal of previously stable (as educational paradigms) behaviorism and constructivism by connectivism. At the same time, it is teaching technologies that often become the basis for discussions. STEM and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Аrts, Mathematics), SCRUM, Agile, Basho, Kaizen and other methods and technologies (in their practical development) confirm a stable line of increasing activity and self-activity student as the main subject of the educational space. How do students know how to use this independence? How effective is it in containing STEM technology? The main thesis confirming the undoubted benefits of STEM is the statement that in this educational environment, students use «both brains and hands», that is, they immediately learn to receive and use knowledge, developing their practical abilities. The authors attempt to confirm or question the absoluteness of this statement. In a concrete pedagogical respect, this is the problem of correlating the theoretical material studied with the help of MOOCs and solving practical problems on the basis of this material. The results of the research. To answer the question, a pilot study was carried out at the Siberian Federal University (so far for two sections of the discipline “Engineering and Computer Graphics” - “Engineering Graphics” and “Descriptive Geometry”). The description of the pilot study at the Siberian Federal University showed that the high test results in the MOOC, obtained during the independent study of the theoretical part of the course, were not confirmed when solving practical problems. This controversial situation undoubtedly requires more thorough research in this direction, since it casts doubt on the effectiveness of planning and managing the learning process in STEM and STEAM educational environments. This, in turn, requires a more thorough study of their pedagogical, psychological and technological foundations. Conclusion. The authors have no doubt that replacing (so far elemental) of instructionism (on the platform of behaviorism) and social constructionism, and then connectivism, is a strategic way of interaction between the individual and the Network. The creation of DSP can be considered both as a disruptive innovation and as the beginning of the formation of a qualitatively different education ecosystem. Networked learning will more and more resemble the «big game» of everyone with everyone, and endowing knowledge (the product of the game) with a personal meaning will carry more and more social potential. However, as private teaching practices show, in order to obtain such results, the architecture of education needs a radical revision, and not in one-step acts and decisions. Blended learning from this perspective can be the optimal means of overcoming the sensations of “shock educational policy” and bridging the gap (along with project technologies) between theory and practice for the student.