Baku/15.06.21/Turan: Since March last year the education in schools and universities has mainly been conducted online due to the pandemic. Associate Professor of the N. Tusi Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University, Ilham Akhmedov told about shortcomings of online education in the Turan agency program "Difficult Question".
According to him, distance education has existed in the world 25 years before the pandemic. It has for a long been used in Europe and the CIS expanse; however, this system found no use in Azerbaijan even despite the fact that President Ilham Aliyev approved the "State Program for Informatization of the Education System in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2008-2012" under a decree of June 10, 2008.
In order to apply distance learning, a lot of work had to be done. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Education of the country has not dealt with the issue. However, lessons were conducted in online mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Akhmedov, results of the 15-month pseudo-distance learning failed to prevent damages caused to education by the pandemic. This is due to the fact that despite the above-mentioned decree, the country has actually imposed an embargo on distance education. When it became necessary to switch to online training, the Ministry of Education proved to be at a loss.
First, we decided to use the WhatsApp program to conduct classes. After making sure that it was not suitable, we switched to Zoom, then to Teams (Microsoft). However, all these programs are designed not for distance education but for conducting webinars, meetings, etc.
We also tried to conduct exams in online mode but again nothing changed - there was a problem with loading the program and controlling the examinees.
As for universities, for success on this track it is necessary to have an appropriate personnel. Besides, each university should have its own developed Internet portal, including an electronic resource base. Also, the curricula of universities should include virtual lectures and video conferences with students. We should also not forget about qualification level of university teachers which is to meet requirements of modernity, the expert believes.
To take real steps and create an effective distance education system in the country, the Ministry of Education should focus on studying into issues in the organization of education during the pandemic and identifying ways to solve them.
It is necessary to change the education. First of all, this is due to the development of new technologies and digitalization. Distance education is required to develop the education, the expert is sure. -0-
Difficult question
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