First Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Evgenia Zhdanova becomes an expert on the discussion platform MIEF-2020

On May 28-30, on the improved digital communication platform mmco-expo.ru, the second stage of the Moscow International Education Fair-2020 “MIEF - Educational Solutions Map” was held. As part of the business program of the second stage, more than 80 events took place - clusters, virtual exhibitions, panel discussions, etc.

On May 30, a panel discussion entitled “Volunteers of digital education or how to help a university change” was held online, dedicated to the best practices of leading Russian universities to activate the online work format during the COVID-19 pandemic. The moderator of the site was Alexander Molchanov, curator of the MIEF-2020 “Higher Education” and “Secondary Vocational Education” clusters, a well-known expert in the field of distance learning. Panel discussion experts were Anthony Shvindt, Director of the Digital Development Department of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Alexander Kozharinov, Vice-Rector for Social and Educational Work at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Ilya Yaskov, Deputy Vice-Rector for Development of Far Eastern Federal University, Azamat Lyuev, Deputy Vice-Rector of the North-Caucasus Federal University. The representative of the flagship Altai State University was First Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, Evgenia Zhdanova.

During the work of the online platform, the participants discussed the phenomenon of digital volunteering, its best practices that helped universities - teachers and students, to plunge into the world of digital knowledge in the conditions of force majeure caused by the pandemic.

“According to 2019 statistics, about half of all teachers are over 50 years old. Of course, the working load during the self-isolation period increased. They needed help. Our universities were able to organize such work in the first weeks. Somewhere unique practices appeared. Today, colleagues from universities gathered here who were able to rebuild such work and scale up such experience! ” outlined the main topic of the panel discussion, Director of the Department of Digital Development of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Anthony Schwindt.

Evgenia Zhdanova shared the distant education experience of Altai State University and spoke about the projects within the framework of the digital volunteering concept, which were implemented during the period of self-isolation and keep functioning successfully today.

“In the early days of working in the remote format, we encountered some difficulties. Many teachers, professors had technical problems when working with online courses. The IT department did not have enough human resorces to quickly help everyone. Then we attracted  senior students and graduate students of the first year of training in digital areas to this work. The students even had to go to professors’ apartments wearing masks and gloves to configure the software” said Evgenia Zhdanova. “At the time of the transition to the remote mode, some of the students were already involved in training and production practices. And here, our digital volunteers helped to quickly set up practical training for students at the enterprises of our partner employers. Volunteers also assisted the administrative staff, who had to work remotely, to connect them to the university's information systems and databases from home”.

First Vice-Rector emphasized that the digital volunteering in AltSU is successfully scaling up to all processes. For example, it has been transferred to the pedagogical process. Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the victory, the 47th anniversary of Altai State University took place entirely on-line. Students of all university’s institutes were already involved in supporting these events. The IT Department conducted training for volunteers. At the same time, AltSU digital volunteers helped support the smooth operation of government agencies during the period of self-isolation. So, students of the Institute of Social Sciences at the Employment Center of Barnaul helped to process the data of everyone who wants to register in the job centre.

Evgenia Zhdanova also spoke about AltSU's digital projects in the near future.

“The admission campaign 2020 will be held in a remote format. Our university is a participant in the federal project “Enter the university online”. Any applicant through the Gosuslugi service can apply for state-funded places to a bachelor's program at AltSU remotely. But we do not stop here. Now we are finishing the creation of our own digital service based on artificial intelligence. This is an analogue of Alice, but it focuses on the requirements of the admission campaign at AltSU”, said First Vice-Rector.

As Evgenia Zhdanova reported, the University analyzed the experience of digital volunteering. It was decided to scale up the accumulated positive experience. After the pandemic has been over and restrictions have been removed, a regional center for training in digital volunteering will be created on the basis of AltSU.

Based on the results of the panel discussion, the successful experience of Altai State University in implementing digital volunteering projects was highly appreciated by all experts.