Distance learning is learning in which its subjects are separated in space and, possibly, in time, is implemented taking into account the transmission and perception of information in a virtual environment, is provided by a special system for organizing the educational process, a special development methodology teaching aids and teaching strategy, as well as the use of electronic or other communication technologies. Distance education allows you to meet the individual learning needs of each person and solve such problems of traditional education as the lack of an individual approach to students, insufficient use of active forms of learning, directiveness educational process, weak motivation for independent cognitive activity of the student, strict connection to the territory and in time, subjectivity in assessing learning outcomes.

Thus, distance learning can optimally overcome the shortcomings of traditional education and differs from it in a number of indicators:

Increases event attendance through online participants and views of recordings;

Attracts those participants who cannot attend classes due to lack of time or geographic distance;

Provides access to electronic materials and video recordings after the lecture;

Attracts new listeners by giving them the opportunity to free time join an online lesson;

Ensures accessibility and cost-effectiveness of education for all categories of citizens, including socially vulnerable and people with limited mobility;

Provides the ability to select individual training content, as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of training;

Provides the opportunity to choose an individual pace of knowledge acquisition;

Stimulates the student’s independent cognitive activity.

Also, distance learning has a number of advantages over the traditional full-time form:

Greater freedom of access - the student has the opportunity to access electronic courses via the Internet from any place where there is access to the global information network.

More low prices for delivery of education - the process of delivery of education includes only the exchange of information via the Internet without costs on the part of the student for the purchase of educational literature.

The ability to divide the content of the electronic course into modules - small blocks of information make the study of the subject more flexible and simplify the search for the necessary materials.

Flexibility of learning - the student chooses the duration and sequence of studying materials himself, completely adapting the entire learning process to his capabilities and needs.

Opportunity for on-the-job learning -- Students have the opportunity to receive education on-the-job, as well as at home, on the go using the mobile Internet.

The opportunity to develop with the times - users of electronic courses, both teachers and students, develop their skills and knowledge in accordance with modern, latest technologies and standards. E-courses also allow you to update training materials in a timely and efficient manner.

The ability to define criteria for assessing knowledge - in e-learning it is possible to set clear criteria by which the knowledge acquired by the student during the learning process is assessed.

The use of distance technologies requires careful preparation of materials: software, plans, teaching aids for program management, manuals, individualization of instructions, and also imposes requirements on technical equipment, information competence of the student and teachers, personal qualities student due to the complexity of learning motivation in this form of education. A particular difficulty in preparing for the implementation of a distance course is the problem of student authentication during remote knowledge testing.

In this case, distance courses can be used as a supplement to the main course, as a main course with the support of a curator or without the support of a curator. In addition, various models can be used distance learning:

Full-time + distance learning;

Network learning (autonomous courses or information and educational environment - virtual departments, schools, universities);

Network training + case technologies;

Training based primarily on video conferencing.

Modern distance learning is based on the use of the following basic elements:

Information transmission media (mail, television, radio, information communication networks),

Methods dependent on the technical environment of information exchange.

Currently, interactive interaction with students through information communication networks is promising, from which the environment of Internet users stands out en masse. In 2003, the ADL initiative group began developing a standard for remote interactive learning SCORM, which involves the widespread use of Internet technologies. The introduction of standards contributes to both deepening the requirements for the composition of distance learning and the requirements for software.

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is an international standard that defines the requirements for the organization of educational material and the entire LMS. Compliance of e-courses with the SCORM standard ensures the compatibility of components and the possibility of their reuse. The training material is presented in separate small blocks, which can be included in different training courses and used in the LMS, regardless of who, where and with what means they were created. SCORM is based on the XML standard.

List of popular LMSs compatible with the SCORM standard.

ISpring Online;

SharePoint LMS;

ShareKnowledge;

Forms of interaction:

Chat classes are training sessions conducted using chat technologies. Chat classes are conducted synchronously, meaning all participants have simultaneous access to the chat. Many distance learning institutions operate a chat school, in which the activities of distance teachers and students are organized using chat rooms.

Web classes are distance lessons, conferences, seminars, business games, laboratory work, workshops and other forms of training sessions conducted using telecommunications and other capabilities of the World Wide Web.

For web classes, specialized educational web forums are used - a form of user work on a specific topic or problem using entries left on one of the sites with the corresponding program installed on it.

Web forums differ from chat classes by the possibility of longer (multi-day) work and the asynchronous nature of interaction between students and teachers.

Teleconference - usually conducted on the basis of mailing lists using e-mail. Educational teleconferences are characterized by the achievement of educational objectives. There are also forms of distance learning, in which educational materials are sent by mail to the regions.

This system is based on a teaching method called “natural learning manner”. Distance learning is a democratic, simple and free learning system. Now actively used by residents of Europe to receive additional education. The student, constantly performing practical tasks, acquires stable automated skills. Theoretical knowledge is absorbed without additional effort, organically woven into training exercises. The formation of theoretical and practical skills is achieved through the process of systematically studying materials and listening and repeating exercises on audio and video media after the speaker.

Telepresence. There are many in various ways distance learning. For example, remote presence using the robot R.Bot 100. Now in Moscow, in one of the schools, an experiment is underway on this type of distance learning. A disabled boy, while at home at the computer, hears, sees, and talks with the help of a robot. The teacher asks him questions, he answers. At the same time, the teacher also sees the student, because there is a monitor on the robot. At the same time, the boy gets an almost complete impression that he is in the classroom with his peers during a lesson. During breaks he can also communicate with his classmates. If the experiment is successful, it could pave the way for a larger project to introduce this method of distance learning throughout Russia.

Distance learning is a relatively new form of education. Such education became possible with the advent of the Internet. The student gains knowledge online and with the help of textbooks, video recordings of lessons and other virtual teaching materials.

Development information technologies has a direct impact on the field of education in general and on distance learning at school in particular. It is generally accepted that “live” student-teacher interaction is very important and much better, but it’s impossible to do without distance learning modern world impossible. There are several reasons for this:

• In some regions of our country, access to school may be limited, for example, by floods or extremely low temperatures. In the Far North, children may miss up to one or two months of school due to frost each year;
• some schoolchildren would like to receive education at a school or lyceum, which is physically difficult to attend;
• not all children with disabilities health, inclusive education is preferable, and even those who attend school may miss a large number of classes due to health.

All this hints at the fact that, in a good way, to one degree or another, distance learning should be present in every school, because with the introduction of widespread inclusion, children with disabilities are studying everywhere. At any school, students can get sick and spend a long time at home, and no one has canceled the closure of the school for quarantine. You will learn more about working with children with disabilities at the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Prospects for the development of modern kindergartens and schools in conditions of constant change”, which will be held on November 20-23, 2018.

Advantages of distance learning at school

1. Individual approach and personalization of the educational process. The distance learning schedule can be tailored to each student and changed depending on the circumstances. At the same time, the training program can also be adaptive and take into account such characteristics of the student as the speed of perception of information, the level of initial training, motivation to learn, and predisposition to one or another form of perception of the material.
2. Improving the quality of training. This point can be called controversial because there are many dissenters who are ardent supporters of traditional forms of teaching. At the same time, hardly anyone will deny that the development of the Internet has simplified access to a huge amount of educational material for anyone. And this is also one of the manifestations of technological progress.
3. Expanding the boundaries and reducing the cost of components of the educational process. This is what was discussed above. Some schoolchildren will be able to save more than an hour of time every day, which they would otherwise spend on travel, and some will even be able to study at a school that is located in another part of the country. And just replacing printed educational materials with electronic ones already saves a lot of money.
4. Preservation of teaching experience. Unique proprietary courses, for example, when working with gifted children, will not disappear anywhere if they are recorded and saved.
5. Reducing the workload on teachers. According to RANEPA monitoring information, the number of teachers who work double-time from 2014 to 1017 almost doubled - from 7.3% to 13.8%. Let’s add 37.5% of teachers who work one-and-a-half times, and we come to the conclusion that that the load needs to be taken off them somehow. One solution is distance learning.

How to organize distance learning at school

The issue of introducing distance learning must be considered from three sides.

• Social. Everything is simple here, schoolchildren today actively use social networks, forums and chats, so the method of presenting information in DL will be familiar and comfortable for them.
• Technical. In terms of technical equipment, everything is fine in schools, there are enough computers and access to the Internet. But not every child has a computer at home. Another problem is that teachers cannot always organize, for example, a video conference on their own. In the regions of the Far North there are problems with the quality of the Internet; it is impossible to ensure the stability of distance learning there.
• Methodical. The main contradiction is that the use of distance learning makes sense only if it improves the quality of education as a whole, but this is difficult to do due to the lack of the necessary experience and any developments among the majority.

That is, any program for introducing distance learning must take into account all these aspects. The process itself can be divided into five steps.

1. Creation of a creative group of teachers who will be responsible for distance education at school.
2. Training of this group in special advanced training courses.
3. Preparation of a base of educational material that schoolchildren will use in the learning process and to independently consolidate what they have learned.
4. A comprehensive study of a distance learning system, for example, Moodle.
5. Developing distance courses on your own or attracting specialists and teachers from other educational institutions for this purpose.

We can also highlight five requirements that must be taken into account in the process of creating training courses.

• The student must be motivated to learn; for this it is important that the goals and objectives of the learning are clearly formulated. At the same time, what is required from the student must correspond to his level of knowledge.
• Preparing a child for preschool. This is realized with the help of supporting materials, for example, special manuals.
• The presentation of the material should be easy to understand. To do this, you need to use readability principles.
• There must be an opportunity for feedback, including individual ones.
• It is important to have a system of intermediate assessment of learning so that the student has an idea of ​​whether he is doing well or not.

When organizing distance learning at school, there are typical problems that are typical for all educational institutions. Many teachers, especially those in the humanities, have difficulty structuring and adapting educational material. Many teachers are characterized by conservatism, and they will resist in every possible way such an innovation as DL. They fiercely defend their point of view and defend traditional teaching methods.

There are also difficulties in selecting technical personnel who should deploy the system distance education and accompany her at all stages. It is important to select competent people for this role.

There are also certain requirements that schoolchildren must comply with during distance learning. They are required to be polite and correct in communicating with the teacher and with each other. They must learn not only to speak, but also to write good language, without mistakes, clearly and concisely formulate your thoughts. It is very important that schoolchildren do everything on time and do not abuse the time of the teacher and other children. Finally, it is necessary to develop their respect for copyright.

Moodle distance learning environment

The most common environment for a distance learning system in school is Moodle (a modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment). Its distinctive features are open source code, rich functionality, flexibility, reliability and ease of use.

An international team of developers led by the Moodle Foundation in Australia has been working on it for more than 10 years. It is known all over the world; today there are more than 60 thousand installations in almost all countries. This environment has been translated into more than 10 languages, including Russian.

PossibilitiesMoodle:

• stores all course materials, allows you to organize them using hyperlinks, tags and shortcuts;
• allows you to use not only text as educational material, but also any interactive resources, be it an article on Wikipedia or a video on YouTube;
• supports the exchange of files of any format between students and between student and teacher;
• Great opportunities for communication through forums, personal messages, comments, mailings, etc.;
• saves and maintains portfolios for all students, grades, teacher comments, forum messages;
• controls "attendance".

All this helps the teacher use his time most effectively, and this is one of the tasks that distance learning at school must solve.

What will change in the work of schools with the release of the new Federal State Educational Standard for Special Education? You can find out the answer to this question at the International design training seminar "Implementation of Federal State Educational Standards SOO" , which will take place July 23–26. Come to our training seminar and you will receive all the necessary tools and recommendations for the transition to a new standard.

* The calculations use average data for Russia

The organization of any project begins with a clear understanding of the development goal and identification of tasks, the solution of which ensures the achievement of the goal. So in our case, distance learning cannot in itself be an end in itself. The actual goals of introducing distance components into the educational process should be formulated first. Let’s try, based on experience, to formulate some of them, considering them objective, independent of the point of view of the administration of a particular educational institution

1. Individualization of training. A commonly found goal in the literature (i.e., theory). Sometimes people talk about adaptive learning. Ultimately, this goal comes down to the potential opportunity to improve the quality of training by taking into account the individual characteristics of students in relation to the statistical average. And the components of remote technologies act as a tool for individualization. The characteristics of students include: level of initial training, speed of information perception, preferred forms of presenting information, volume and depth of material, motivation to learn, subject area, propensity for group work and a number of others.

2. Personalization of the educational process. The most common goal in practice. The essence is training not within the framework of a study group, where the learning process is somehow synchronized between students (everyone works according to the same schedule), but training students according to an individual schedule. Moreover, this schedule can be quickly changed in accordance with the current employment of the student and his pace of perception of information.

3. Intensification or change in the nature of the teaching resource. Today in Russia, most likely, this is the most realistic motive for introducing distance learning. And, indeed, it has not been a secret for a long time average age teaching staff of higher education, constantly decreasing qualifications (for various reasons), increasing hourly workload. How can a teacher save his time? How to attract teachers from other universities by providing them with preferential working conditions? With this formulation of the issue, distance learning is perhaps the only way out of the situation, which, unfortunately, runs into the natural conservatism of both administrative and teaching staff.

4. Increasing the quality of training. The first thing that comes to mind when these words are uttered is new learning technologies. Perhaps this goal is the most vague and controversial. There are many emotional arguments for and many concrete ones against. Moreover, the main argument against is historical experience in the form of a countless series of conferences over decades, a whole “army” of professors, associate professors and programmers who believe that their technologies are best suited for this purpose. But, nevertheless, the use of new principles, techniques and technical means, which include access to non-traditional educational materials via CD, the Internet, etc., being a manifestation of technical progress, should ultimately, if used correctly, bring their fruits.

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5. Capturing new market segments educational services(for example, in remote areas). This goal is perhaps the most pragmatic of all. Indeed, if we consider training as one of the types of business ( paid training), then business goals should be set. In this case, distance learning, as one of the means that does not recognize boundaries, saves time for all parties and, because of this, brings, of course, more money into the educational process, acquires special significance. For example, the provision of educational services in those market segments where previously access to the demand segment was difficult due to distance, cost, or an unacceptable mode of service delivery (on-the-job training or on a fixed schedule).

6. Preservation and replication of pedagogical experience, knowledge and teaching methods. Indeed, unique original educational courses, delivered by teachers, disappear over time into nowhere only because they are not recorded or archived. Couldn't that serve a purpose? Maybe it should.

7. Reducing the cost of components of the educational process. One of the most pragmatically possible goals. It can be achieved, for example, through electronic rather than printed publication of educational materials. This is economically justified, since printing often cannot be carried out for financial reasons, which, in turn, is determined by both direct costs and relatively small circulations, and the short “lifetime” of such materials. This goal can be easily and easily achieved with existing services such as email.

8. Mobilization of administrative resources. In our conditions, this goal can be formulated differently - the creation of the right administrative resource. Often, the historically established administrative system is cumbersome, inconvenient, or does not meet today's requirements. By creating an alternative to it based on computer technology, you further stimulate the increase in the efficiency of the old administration, exposing it to the inevitability of competition with new technologies.

Objectives of distance learning

Tasks, unlike goals, are solved as they are implemented. The priority of solving problems is determined by the purpose of implementation, existing infrastructure, equipment and budget. Let's look at them briefly.

Compliance with traditional forms of education adopted in the educational institution, in other words, to what extent changes will affect the existing organization of the educational process and the activities of teachers. The distance learning system, for example, can be considered not as an independent alternative learning system, but as complementary to the traditional one, allowing to optimize the educational process in terms of the teacher’s workload. In this case, such integral components of the educational process as the academic department or the dean’s office will turn out to be secondary in relation to information resources, means of communication and the testing system.

If the distance learning system is considered as a new component, an alternative to traditional education, then, of course, the requirements for the created system must include an electronic dean’s office, synchronization of courses with each other, collection of statistics on the educational process and other traditional functions of the dean’s office.

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Organization of delivery of educational material to students. How to properly, quickly and cheaply organize students’ receipt of educational literature required to study materials, tests, etc. when students are remote from the teacher and, possibly, from the educational institution? To a large extent, the solution to this problem correlates with various technologies for delivering information and related media - the Internet, intranet, ADSL, CD-ROM, video cassettes, case technologies, mailing printed products, etc. and aspects of their application. At first glance, the choice of technical means is not so great (if you do not take exotic solutions, which are usually extremely expensive), but, on the other hand, even the traditional Internet integrates more and more different subtechnologies, taking into account which is necessary for the correct choice of solution. When solving the problem of delivering educational materials, it is necessary to pay attention to what type of information predominates - textual, graphic or other, as well as the amount of information necessary to adequately support the educational process.

Knowledge certification existing in traditional educational process in the form of tests and exams, is implemented in distance learning systems in almost the only way - interactive tests, the results of which are most often processed automatically. There are other types of organization of control and certification of knowledge, such as: test papers and exams completed by students offline. In this case, we are talking about organizing the return delivery of material from the student to the teacher. Here, the main critical point is not so much the organization of delivery itself (there are a sufficient number of technical means and proven solutions in this area), but rather ensuring the reliability of the fact that the materials received by the teacher from the student were actually prepared by these students without outside help. Today, none of the remote tools provides a 100% guarantee of this. Solving this problem is the main problem faced when implementing a distance learning system. Two standard solutions can be proposed:

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special allocated place ( class), whose service personnel guarantee the identification of students, their regime individual work at the time of certification and knowledge testing;
personal interest of the student himself, motivated, for example, by payment for learning results.
By correctly redistributing the certification load between the system of self-assessment of knowledge, correspondence assessment and full-time certification, it is possible to build a reliable educational process.

Organizing feedback with students during training. If the previous task was clearly related to testing knowledge at a particular point in time during the learning process, then in this case we are talking about accompanying (helping) students during the educational process. The essence of such support is prompt adjustment of the educational process and its individualization.

Therefore, it is important to have constant and prompt communication associated with natural and necessary discussions during the learning process, and with the help of the teacher when analyzing material that requires additional individual comments. To solve this problem, you can use face-to-face meetings, traditional telephone communications, IP telephony, e-mail, bulletin boards, chats, and conferences.

Conducting the educational process. In this case, we should talk about solving the problem of flexibility of the distance learning system, both as a whole and its individual components in relation to the participants (subjects) of the educational process - students, teachers, administration. Each of them makes its own, often conflicting, demands on the distance learning system.

Students may make (perhaps implicitly) demands on the form of presentation and nature of the material, on the depth of elaboration and speed of learning the material, on the frequency and nature of interaction with the teacher.

The teacher would like to modify certain parts of the training course in accordance with his own, author’s ideas about the nature of the material, its relevance, etc.

The administration requires the availability of up-to-date statistics on the educational process, tracking progress, and the quality of teaching and learning.

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This does not exhaust the tasks that arise during the educational process. One of the most difficult tasks in establishing a distance learning system is managing the educational process (dean’s office), which includes recruiting study groups, organizing individual training courses, recording progress, synchronizing the educational process, distributing the workload of teachers, drawing up final reports, issuing certificates, diplomas, etc. At its core, the task is close to the task of document flow and can be successfully implemented using existing specialized systems.

Components of distance learning

The main components when introducing distance learning are:

subject of implementation;
form of training;
training mode;
technological means;
budget.
As a rule, when introducing distance learning systems of one level or another, they are based on an already existing infrastructure, including the presence of one or another technical base and a traditional training scheme for the educational institution. After all, most people intuitively see the introduction of new technologies as a mechanical transfer of traditional methods of organizing the educational process to a new technological base. This point of view cannot be ignored when organizing distance learning, since the subjects of the educational process, both in the role of teachers and administrators, are people who consider distance learning as a continuation of full-time education and who know their subject from the point of view of conducting the traditional educational process. Therefore, it is extremely important to determine what is the subject of implementation from a training point of view. Let's consider the possible options:

a separate training course;
many offline training courses;
interrelated courses within the educational trajectory;
the entire distance education system as a whole.
A lot depends on the choice of one option or another.

If a separate educational course is chosen as the subject of implementation, the costs will be minimal; the implementation itself is motivated by a specific teacher and aspects of his work with his students.

In the case of deploying a distance education system, it is necessary to establish the entire technological chain of training, starting with the support of a separate distance course and ending with components related to the preparation and optimization of the class schedule, taking into account various forms of training, all typical and atypical situations, taking into account academic performance, the relationship of training courses, etc. In general, this task is enormous and without will and material support leadership cannot be resolved.

The next parameter is the forms of training. Traditionally these include: full-time, evening and distance learning. Distance learning has its own forms of learning. The student and teacher exist in the educational process both in parallel, using means of communication, and, accordingly, can simultaneously interact with each other (online), and sequentially, when the student performs any independent work(offline). A distance learning system can use either both forms of interaction (parallel and sequential), or can be built according to one principle or another. The choice of form will be determined by the specific types of classes, the scope of the course and the role of the teacher in it.

The third parameter is training modes. These should include modes of interaction between students both within the study group and within the framework of performing work in small groups.

Should students be grouped into study groups, as is traditionally done in, for example, higher school? Or should I maintain an individual training schedule? Both modes are not excluded in computer distance learning systems. The most common modes are those associated with study groups. However, there are successful examples of training on individual schedules. Besides, individual training possible both in a mode based on a strict schedule (schedule), and on constant synchronization of acquired knowledge and curriculum(“until he learns”).

Technological tools should include those solutions that affect the delivery of educational material to students, the organization of feedback and certification, communication between teachers and students, and management of the educational process. Strictly speaking, technical means exist in almost all components of distance learning.

The budget for a distance learning system can be divided into two parts. The first determines the initial investment in the deployment of a distance learning system (including costs for the technical part, software, and the development of the training courses themselves). The second is the costs of maintaining courses (equipment depreciation, channel rental, teachers’ salaries, etc.). Naturally, depending on the complexity of the task, which is determined by the subject of implementation, the ordinal values ​​of budgets for initial investments will vary significantly.

TO important aspects related to the budget should include not so much the implementation of the distance learning system itself, but rather the specific “filling” of the system with training courses. In this case, you should consider the question of who will be the authors of the courses - your own teachers (in which case you should additionally pay for the work to create high-quality course content) or external teachers (in this case we are actually talking about purchasing courses).

Another aspect is related to the work schedule of teachers involved in providing and maintaining training courses. Is the teacher permanent? Is it necessary to support the learning process? Does one teacher need to support the course or does he need assistants? How many? Is the support of a distance course constant or carried out at certain time intervals (at the beginning and end of the semester)? These are the questions that need to be answered when considering a particular distance learning option.

Typical problems of distance learning

In conclusion, I would like to note the problems that will be encountered when introducing distance courses or a distance learning system. These include the need for course authors to independently structure educational material, inevitably adapting it to the requirements of a personal computer. For many (especially humanists) this process is not obvious and is extremely painful.

Conservatism of the teaching staff is an equally difficult problem. It is one of the organizational ones and can lead to fatal consequences for the implementation of a distance learning system within an educational institution.

Laziness of the technical staff whose responsibilities include the deployment of the distance learning system. We have found that people with technology responsibilities spend an unreasonable amount of time discussing options rather than taking a proactive approach. Therefore, a competent person is required to deploy a distance learning system.

Opposition from those tasked with implementing distance learning. If a teacher implements individual components of distance learning, he may be told that this should be done within the framework of the corporate standard of the educational institution (and no one knows when this standard will appear!), or that it is methodologically controversial. If you are solving a problem within an educational institution, then there will probably be people (as a rule, not really doing anything, but who love to talk) who will say that all this is nonsense and should be done differently.

The need for constant course support. There is an opinion that, after the implementation of the distance learning system, its support will not be required. This is far from true. You will have to convince others of the need for constant costs in order to maintain and develop the direction of distance learning.

No matter how pessimistic various statements may be, nevertheless, today there are already a sufficient number of implemented distance learning systems. How did you manage to implement them? We think that it is a successful and harmonious combination of potential, opportunities and correct understanding of the role and place of distance learning in the traditional educational process. Not least of all here is the enthusiasm of the “pioneers” who, having once tasted the originality and promise of modern teaching methods, will continue to develop this progressive form of teaching.

Stages of building an LMS in a company. Organization of the distance learning process. Software and hardware. Educational materials.

Components of the Distance Learning System

To organize an LMS you need:

• Organization of the distance learning process. To organize the distance learning process, it is necessary to create an educational administration, organize the formation of groups, course development, appointment of teachers, create a class schedule, organize the processes of communications, training, testing, knowledge assessment, etc.

Academic administration is a structural unit within the Personnel Service or Training center company providing the distance learning process: these are employees (trainers, administrators, managers) who form groups, analyze learning results, draw up a schedule, etc.

• Software and hardware(own or rented). In order to organize distance learning and start classes, the company must have special software installed on special equipment (server).

Equipment – ​​dedicated server with network access. The server may belong to your organization and be located on your territory. Or it can be rented from some provider.

In addition, it is enough to have a regular educational room (auditorium, class) with an area of ​​40 - 70 square meters. m for conducting tutorials, TV, telephone, two or three computers (Pentium class and higher) with Windows-98/XP/2000 OS and standard MS Office package - for individual and group lessons of students.

Distance learning involves various forms of delivering electronic courses to the student, but the most modern and effective way delivery today is the Internet.

To work on the Internet and use the server, just install a modem on one of your computers and connect it to the telephone line. All this equipment is usually used in ordinary full-time training. For self-study, the student must have (be able to use) a computer and a telephone.

• Educational materials(courses) in a format corresponding to the LMS used. As a rule, the LMS supports courses that comply with international standards for interaction with distance learning systems (SCORM, etc.). Courses can be purchased ready-made, but a more effective solution is to develop courses based on those programs and training courses that the company successfully conducts in full-time mode .

Basiccomponents of the Distance Learning System

They may be optional, depending on the requirements of the company and the availability of this module from the supplier

1. Platform for organizing distance and blended learning. With its help, a company can configure and distribute roles, form groups and training plans, conduct training in synchronous (chat rooms, video seminars) and asynchronous modes, monitor training results, prepare reports, orders, and integrate with the database.
2. Educational content management system. Using this module, a company can plan development processes, allocate resources, and control the work being performed.
3. Information portal management system. This module allows you to create a single corporate information space that solves the problems of information and communication between employees, creating personal accounts and offices of structural divisions
4. Constructor of electronic courses, tests, trainings, exercises. This module makes it possible to create training courses and individual educational objects (tests, trainings, workshops, simulators)
5. Organization Tool collaboration and on-line training. Using this module, a company can organize webinars, web conferences, reports, lectures, educational seminars and trainings, conduct on-line meetings and presentations, negotiations, meetings, rallies and other events with minimal time and financial costs. This is the simplest and most understandable of the distance learning options.

These are the main, most common modules. In addition to them, there are also specific ones, “tailored” to perform certain tasks, for example, “Electronic Dean’s Office” or a module for personnel certification and assessment.

The specific set of components of the Distance Learning System depends on the goals of organizing distance learning in the company and on possible methods of integration with already installed software.

Stages of building a Distance Learning System at an enterprise

• Survey and analysis of the need for LMS components, to form the optimal configuration. Survey and analysis are necessary because each company has its own specifics and needs: the territorial remoteness of students, the need to reduce training costs, the availability of corporate standards and unique knowledge, which need to be preserved and transmitted, finally, training can be the subject of business and non-profit activities. Depending on the specifics of the organization, solutions may differ significantly.
• Assessment of existing technical and organizational infrastructure. For some organizations, the only solution may be to install their own server and have their own technical support staff; for other organizations, the best solution would be to rent a server and software or, in general, publish courses on a corporate website.
• Description of business processes occurring within the subsidiary. This will provide enterprise management with clarity and full control over the learning process, allowing it to easily expand or adapt activities depending on circumstances.
• Development of a feasibility study. A feasibility study (TES) allows you to estimate the payback period of the LMS implementation project and facilitates decision-making. This stage is necessary when it is necessary to justify and prove the economic efficiency of the implementation of LMS.
• Formation of a set of documents for the work of educational administration within the framework of additional education(statements, lists, reports, etc.). It is important for those organizations that did not have their own educational administration and are faced with this issue for the first time.
• Formation of the optimal configuration of the software and hardware complex. Each organization has its own specifics and for all of them it is possible to find the optimal configuration of software modules and hardware, in terms of price-quality ratio.
• Development of technology for a phased transition to distance or blended learning. If the learning process at an enterprise has been established for a long time, and distance learning is a continuation and development of activities, then it is necessary to introduce distance learning so as not to destroy the already established structure and practice.
• Training employees to work in the SDO. A new business process, new software - none of this will work properly without training.

About “free cheese” - or why is it better to “pay and sleep peacefully”?

Why “paid” LMSs are better than “free” ones or “the miser pays twice” (list of restrictions that companies that choose Moodle and other “free” LMSs will face)

1. The functionality of Moodle does not include and does not support the present requirements and specifics of Russian legislation and its immediate prospects - a credit training system, that is, for those companies for which training: this is a business, these systems pose a fundamental insurmountable limitation even before the start of work and this disadvantage cannot be subsequently to correct or "tweak".
2. Moodle functionality does not include a single centralized technology for the development and development of an educational portal
3. Moodle functionality does not include a level of management corresponding to the level of educational administration, dean's office, department - only management training course teacher. This means that learning analytics will be difficult to obtain.
4. Moodle functionality does not include tools for preparing the so-called. cases - off-line training modules.
5. By choosing Moodle along with a low entry price, the company faces high risks of implementation failure - because any implementation is the experience of the people who do it. It's like being your own dentist.
6. There is only free cheese... The final cost of implementation may be even higher than that of a commercial system because (it still exists - only in a hidden form) you will have to create an implementation group and bear the costs of its operation or outsourcing, etc. To draw an analogy, it’s like a semi-finished product - it still needs to be prepared somewhere - i.e. buy a stove, electricity...
7. No one bears guarantees for the results of implementation in the foreseeable future - If the people who implemented them leave, then no one is responsible for the project.

But not everything is so sad. In general, Russia is already sufficiently integrated into the world educational space, experience accumulates, successes appear, distance learning ceases to be perceived as exotic. In addition, information technologies are becoming an everyday reality and the level of their penetration into the lives of Russians is already sufficient to fully use modern methods training.

Expert: in Information Technology and Educational Video

Distance learning systems have been known to university teachers for quite some time. But schools have recently discovered e-learning. Using remote educational technologies You can not only shift a number of routine pedagogical actions onto the computer’s shoulders, but also organize truly high-quality, individual, differentiated training. Our article today is devoted to a review of the three most famous free systems and three paid ones distance learning.

Moodle distance learning system

Short description

We will start our review of distance learning services with Moodle - this is one of the most popular distance learning systems in Russia (abbreviated as SDO).

Advantages of this method:

• you don’t need to install anything - you register and get a ready-to-use system;
• there is a free plan;
• there is support for the Russian language;
• there is a video conference plugin;
• automatic update (a small thing, but nice).

However, you may encounter certain disadvantages of the cloud service:

• a third-level domain that is difficult for students to remember;
• only 50 registered users (for a school this is very little);
• there is no way to install your own modules;
• There are advertisements that cannot be turned off.

Edmodo

The next thing we will look at is the Edmodo web application, because... a special service on the Internet that does not need to be installed anywhere. Edmodo positions itself as a social network for education or Facebook for learning - it is built on the principle of social educational networks, and the interface resembles the appearance of Facebook.

Characteristics of Edmodo

The operating logic in this application is as follows. The teacher creates a group (in fact, it is an electronic course). The group has its own unique link and code, which must be shared with other participants in the educational process. A group may have learning elements such as notes (in the form of a test or files), quizzes, assignments, and polls. You can import content from other services, such as news feeds from a school website, videos from YouTube, content from other services.

There are no special bells and whistles in Edmodo, but there are simple and necessary elements– calendar (for recording educational events, a journal for grading, the ability to check homework etc.).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Edmodo

Let us outline the advantages of the service:

• free;
• no advertising;
• simple registration;
• users are divided into three groups: teachers, students, parents (each group has its own separate registration, its own access code).

There are also certain disadvantages:

• lack of Russian language - although the interface is simple and clear, English language may serve as a significant barrier to implementation;
• Edmodo groups cannot be combined, i.e. the student will have a bunch of inconvenient (and they are inconvenient) links, with a bunch of codes;
• in general, the arsenal of educational elements, although sufficient, is relatively poor - the same tests do not contain additional strategies, no thematic tests etc.

Edmodo has some admin tools. Perhaps they will create a single electronic environment schools based on this application, which can significantly facilitate the implementation of DL in an educational institution.

Google Classroom

Our review of free learning services ends with an application from one of the leaders in the IT industry. It should be noted here that Google previously had a large number of educational tools in its arsenal. At some stage, Google decided to combine all these tools into a certain platform, which resulted in the creation of Google Classroom. Therefore, Classroom can hardly be called a classic distance learning system; it is more of a collaboration feed - the same Google for education, only collected in one place. Therefore, Google Classroom is ineffective, it cannot be particularly surprising, and the organization of truly effective collaboration requires, in my opinion, a lot of effort from the teacher and, most importantly, a significant restructuring of the educational process.

Previously, Google Classroom had a relatively complex system for registering and accessing courses for users, but about six months ago Google opened up free registration and now access to Classroom is as simple as accessing Facebook.

Other features of Google include:

• using only Google tools (Google Drive, Google Dox, etc.);
• Participants in the educational process create a shared “Class” folder on Google Drive;
• The Class folder is available for both an individual student and the class as a whole.

Advantages and disadvantages

Among the advantages of Google's solution are:

• support for the Russian language (Edmodo has existed longer and has a better interface, but it never became popular due to the lack of support from the great and mighty);
• free;
• brand – everyone knows Google and the use of the world leader’s products looks solid;
• Google was created specifically for schools, unlike Moodle, which is more suitable for universities;
• Google's traditional functions are implemented well: it is possible to publish theoretical material, assignments, give grades in a journal, and there is a calendar.

Let us highlight the disadvantages of this solution:

• very poor arsenal of educational elements. One of the poorest sets of educational elements. On the other hand, if we consider it as a collaboration feed, then the main thing in Google will be the organization of collaboration, and not controlling elements such as tests (which, by the way, Google does not have);
• links to Classroom are not convenient;
• The interface leaves much to be desired.

Quizzes in Google Classroom

There are no tests in Google, so many people create tests based on Google Forms. It is designed to create surveys, but with a little imagination, surveys with a flick of the wrist ..... turn into tests. I recommend trying OnLineTestPad - an independent online service for creating tests.

OnLineTestPad

This is a free service for testing via the Internet. The networked nature of testing means that you store all the data about students' attempts, all their scores, all their correct and incorrect answers. Let us briefly outline the features of OnLineTestPad:

• The service has a large number of forms test tasks(no graphical questions only);
  flexible settings (there are educational testing strategies, there are random (thematic) questions, various restrictions, etc.);
• The main drawback is the huge amount of advertising. You can try to disable it using “legal” actions, but this requires additional labor.
• this service evokes positive responses from teachers and teachers, and is one of the best services for organizing testing.