Virtual university: education as a lifestyle.

authors: Denys Svyrydenko, Valentyna Kyvliuk

Urgency of the research. The introduction of lifelong learning is an urgent need for human survival in the context of a modern civilization that seeks sustainable development or coevolution with nature. It is substantiated that objective processes of social development influence for reform and innovative updating of educational technologies. The virtual university is such resource that allows us to solve the maximum of the tasks of educational development with minimal investment.

Target setting. Implementation of the virtual university idea is an important issue of contemporary education discourse. This process contains a complex of problems of legal, psychological, economic, pedagogical and social nature. Realization of any idea, even under unequivocal justification of its importance and expediency, requires a harmonization of huge amount of detail. Searching for the optimal model of the virtual university together with the necessity to fit it into the general context of the social and political structure of a particular region, state, educational space as such is also a complex and ambiguous issue.

Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. K. Edwards analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of a virtual university, which is a natural link in the evolution. L. Vlaceanu and J. L. Davies discover the transformation of classical university into virtual. S. Guri-Rosenblit distinguishes models of distance education at a virtual university. F. Terrazas-Arellanes, L. Strycker, E. Walden, and A. Gallard discover the problem of the 21st century skills formation at the virtual university. The features of organization of the cloud-based educational and research environment were researched by Ukrainian researchers (V. Bykov, A. Hurzhii, O. Spirin, M. Shyshkina and others).

The research objective. The authors aimed to discover the problem of rethinking the role and content of educational processes through the prism of forming a virtual university concept as a lifelong-learning strategy implementation.

The statement of basic material. The concept of the virtual university is relatively new and it is necessary to distinguish a number of contradictory points in its verification. Firstly, it is the quality of the education received. The problem of educational process content at the virtual university, organization of control and level of accomplished tasks, issues of intellectual abilities and critical thinking development, reflexivity of consciousness are the subject of heated discussions of both the supporters and opponents of the virtual university idea. Secondly, there is the question of the way of thinking. The virtual space involves a network mode of organization characterized by openness of the structure, poly-variability of determination and expediency of modal logic. The phenomenon of virtual university is the result of responding to the needs of social transformation. In such model, the content of the social roles of the teacher and the student changes significantly. The competence of the modern teacher is not limited to knowledge. After all, the most experienced academician is not able to absorb all the information in a certain science, and obviously loses in the volume of assimilated information to any search engine.

Conclusions. The main problem of modern education lies in the fundamental inability of a specialist perfect preparation to the changing social and cultural context and impossibility to predict the state of technologies, even in the near future. In addition, contradiction between understanding of learning as a business proposal in response to available demand, or a profitable investment in future social and economic well-being and traditional ideas of education as formation of a personality in accordance with a cultural model and ideal leads to a general trend of dehumanization of education. Solution of this contradiction by a volitional choice is impossible. The fact is that virtualization of learning is already taking place. Therefore, we consider that learning should be understood as a way of life of a modern person. The virtual university is an adequate and effective model of formation of the 21st century skills requested by our dynamic society.

Keywords: virtual university, lifelong learning, visualization of culture, virtualization of everyday practices, 21st century skills.

 

References:

  1. Bazaluk, O 2017. ʻThe Strategies of Systematization of the Theories of Education. The Main Meaning and Features of the Theories of Education of Plato’s and Isocrates’ Linesʼ, Future Human Image, Vol. 7, p. 11-27.
  2. Binhas, A 2019. ʻShared Living in Israel – Higher Education as an Agent of Change in a Conflicted Societyʼ, Ukrainian Policymaker, Vol. 5, p. 17-23. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.29202/up/5/2>. [11 December 2020].
  3. Bykov, V, Vernygora, S, Hurzhii, A, Novohatko, L, Spirin, O & Shyshkina, M 2019. ʻThe design and use of the open cloud based learning and research environment of a universityʼ, Vol. 74, № 6, p. 1-19. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.33407/itlt.v74i6.3499>. [15 December 2020].
  4. Edwards, K 2001. ʻVirtual Versus Classical Universities: Liberal Arts and Humanitiesʼ, Higher Education in Europe, Vol. 26, № 4, p. 603-607. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.1080/03797720220141942>. [15 December 2020].
  5. Guri-Rosenblit, S 2001. ʻVirtual Universities: Current Models and Future Trendsʼ, Higher Education in Europe, Vol. 26, № 4, p. 487-499. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.1080/03797720220141807>. [18 December 2020].
  6. Guzmán-Valenzuela, C 2018. ʻUniversities, knowledge and pedagogical configurations: Glimpsing the complex universityʼ, Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol. 50, № 1, p. 5-17. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2017.1313717>. [15 December 2020].
  7. Jasmini, V 2017. Online learning statistics and trends. eLearning industry. Available from: <https://elearningindustry.com/online-learning-statistics-and-trends>. [20 December 2020].
  8. Kyvliuk, OP 2012. ʻVirtualization of the educational space as a pragmatic component of the development of information pedagogyʼ, Vyshcha osvita Ukrayiny. Teoretychnyy ta naukovo-metodychnyy chasopys, № 1, p. 25–30.
  9. Ling, L & Ling, P 1998. ʻThe virtual university: To be and not to beʼ, Melbourne Studies in Education, vol. 39, № 1, p. 27-42. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.1080/17508489809556308>. [18 December 2020].
  10. Możgin, W 2019. ʻThe Condition of a Modern University – Is There a Problem?ʼ, Future Human Image, Vol. 11, p. 56-65. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.29202/fhi/11/6>. [20 December 2020]. 
  11. Myronchuk, N 2020. ʻInformation and communication technologies as a means for the educational process actors’ self-organizationʼ, Information Technologies and Learning Tools, Vol. 75, № 1, p. 202-211. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.33407/itlt.v75i1.2537>. [20 December 2020].
  12. Oliynyk, VV 2010. Theoretical and methodical principles of development of system  of increase of professional and technical education on the base of distant technologies: study manual, Kyiv: NAES of Ukraine, UEM.
  13. Savenkova, L & Svyrydenko, D 2018. ʻAcademic Mobility and Academic Migration Issues: The Case of Ukrainian Higher Educationʼ, Interdisciplinary Studies of Complex Systems, № 13, p. 57–65. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.31392/iscs.2018.13.057>. [11 December 2020].
  14. Siddiq, F, Gochyyev, P & Wilson, M 2017. ʻLearning in Digital Networks – ICT literacy: A novel assessment of students’ 21st century skillsʼ, Computers & Education, Vol. 109, p. 11-37. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.01.014>. [15 December 2020].
  15. Terrazas-Arellanes, F, Strycker, L, Walden, E & Gallard, A 2017. ʻTeaching with Technology: Applications of Collaborative Online Learning Units to Improve 21st Century Skills for Allʼ, Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, Vol. 36, Issue 4, p. 375-386.
  16. The Largest Universities in The World by Enrollment. Available from: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/universities-with-the-largest-enrollments-in-the-world.html>. [11 December 2020].
  17. Twenty-first century skills (UNESCO). Available from: <http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/glossary-curriculum-terminology/t/twenty-first-century-skills>. [16 December 2020].
  18. Vlasceanu, L & Davies, JL 2001. ʻVirtual and Classical Universities between Complementarity and Contrastʼ, Higher Education in Europe, Vol. 26, Issues 4, p. 475-485. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.1080/03797720220141799>. [15 December 2020].
  19. Wardani, D, Martono, T, Pratomo, L, Rusydi, D & Kusuma, D 2019. ʻOnline Learning in Higher Education to Encourage Critical Thinking Skills in the 21st Centuryʼ, International Journal of Educational Research Review, Vol. 4, Issue 2, р. 146-153. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.24331/ijere.517973>. [15 December 2020].
  20. Zou, C & Gao, W 2019. ʻVirtual Ontology: To the Question of New World Orderʼ, Philosophy and Cosmology, Vol. 23, p. 53-61. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/23/5>. [15 December 2020].