Trends in economic education in the new conditions were discussed in the IEM
This is the second discussion platform in the current academic year, dedicated to the topic of teaching economic disciplines in modern conditions.
What knowledge is needed now - fast or slow?
Evgenia Nekhoda, Director of the IEM in a program report, outlined a deep problem facing not only economic education but also the entire university community: slow philosophical knowledge vs rapidly applied knowledge.
She noted that authoritative scientific research shows that rapid knowledge and the rapid pace of scientific and technological progress undermine the foundations of science, religion, culture, which have always called for thinking about reality, and therefore not as fast as progress dictates. And socio-economic development is aimed at extracting and applying rapid knowledge, since it is, they that act as engines of scientific and technological progress.
“Everywhere we see a call to live "here and now" - to act, to do, to introduce... But already today we see, among other things, the catastrophic consequences of scientific and technological progress, - said Evgenia Nekhoda. - The exacerbation of socio-economic inequality, environmental degradation, climate change, digital inequality is becoming more and more urgent... Rapid knowledge and acceleration of the pace of scientific and technological progress without appropriate analyses of the nature of social and economic consequences have already influenced and will affect the situation in the world”.
For higher education, the question of the balance of slow and fast knowledge becomes incredibly relevant. Should a university give basic fundamental knowledge, forming the personality of students, teaching them to learn, systematizing knowledge? Or should higher education focus on rapidly applied knowledge, which graduates will successfully apply in practice immediately after graduation?Evgenia Nekhoda emphasized that in Russia, the discussion is in line with the traditional discourse of Russian rhetoric "or - or":
“We rarely try to find a middle ground. The world is divided into those who support the rapid pace of technological progress and the technologization of education, and those who advocate the fundamentality of higher education”.
Since there are no ready answers yet, she proposed three main problematic points for discussion:
1. Is it possible to find a balance between fast and slow knowledge? Do they depend on specific socio-economic conditions?
2. Is there a balance between digital and real communities, and spaces? Where is the boundary between work and personal life, physical space, and digital space?
3. Should there be a balance between digital and traditional learning? How much do we use digital progress? We are quickly switched to a new format, but use only small instrumentation. Yes, we translated the lectures into a virtual audience, but digital learning is, first of all, new content.
On a humanistic approach to digital technologies Manager Yevgeny Zhernov (Kemerovo), Department of Economics, Kuzbass State Technical University, in his report Ethical Problems of Digital Economic Education, developed the topics raised.
It is obvious that digital technologies change not only relations in different societies and the world (widening the digital gap between countries is a fact) but also the concept of what is ethical and what is not. The ethics of digital technology should be the subject of discussion. The forum of university cities at TSU will also contribute to the world discussion on this topic, the speaker said.
In his opinion, discussing the ethical problems of digital technologies is a way to minimize potential risks and think about development paths in an advance. One of the tasks of the university community is to conduct a social examination of projects and thus develop applied ethics.
Evgeny Zhernov suggested relying on the "shoulders" of the pillars of humanism - Da Vinci, Galileo, Copernicus, Bacon, Petrarch, Michelangelo, and many others. All of them offered humanity as a measure of social relations. In the history of economic theory, there are also many examples of humanistic orientation - Adam Smith, Indian economist Amartya Sen. In modern economic science, there are also many adherents of a humanistic approach.
"Spiritual and moral laws should underlie any economic system," said the expert from Kemerovo.
He proposed an applied analysis of the modern state of the digital educational environment: the main digital educational channels, the main changes in the educational process from the point of view of ethics, as well as a comparative analysis of the digitalization of education (for and against).
Speakers also highlighted five main ethical issues that relate to the digitalization of education.
1. Digital education is a form of stratification that manifests itself in unequal access to education.
2. Ubiquitous introduction of educational business. Student projects become focused on solving specific applications of a particular business. What does not bring income becomes unnecessary, and education loses its main function - the formation of a worldview.
3. Online education is one of the key elements of the restructuring of consciousness. The threat of the loss of educational sovereignty and the struggle for human capacity at the global level.
4. A university teacher turns into a digital profession. Can artificial intelligence replace a teacher?
5. Collection and processing of student data. Will it use for its designated purpose?
“On the one hand, most of the problems posed do not yet have an unambiguous solution. And new technologies should be introduced with great caution, considering their potential benefit or harm, - concluded Yevgeny Zhkrnov. - Modern economic education should not serve narrow economic interests, including transnational companies that begin to integrate into university education. Using digital technologies, we must give preference to the development of the individual and the entire socio-cultural space. Higher education, in addition to vocational training, should give students concepts about basic moral values”.
Challenges and barriers to the digitalization of education
Dmitry Khloptsov, Head of the Department of Economics at the Institute of Economics and Management of TSU, Doctor of Economics, shared his observations on trends in the digitalization of education.
“It turned out that in a pandemic, the economy of university cities suffered more than the economy of ordinary cities. In our supermarkets, revenue decreased by 17%, since foreign and non-resident students do not come and do not buy anything. University buildings are empty, but they must be heated and guarded. We were lucky - the landlord of our building reduced the fee by 30%, but this also suggests that the incomes of entrepreneurs in the university city fell more than in any other, " - said Dmitry Khloptsov.
The expert added that if earlier they said: "We do not have enough audiences," now there is an excess of them, and in the conditions of digital education they are not needed at all - there has been a change in demand structures. In Tomsk, demand for residential real estate grew, and for non-residential property fell. In this regard, the structure of investments in the university city should fundamentally change.
“On the other hand, I will give an example: a graduate of TSU Mikhail Gorodilov a few years ago went to a master's school in London, he studied economic journalism, economics. And he told me that the most valuable thing in London education is not even teachers' lectures, but connections with other students. It is they who create an environment of entrepreneurship that should be born after economic education. Now students are sitting at home, they do not communicate with each other. The university in the classical sense gave an environment of communication, it laid down further conditions for the development of entrepreneurship, - said Dmitry Khloptsov.
The speaker identified 5 barriers that, in his opinion, interfere with the digitalization of higher education:
1. Distrust of distance among students and teachers.
2. Weak competencies of teachers and students and weak IT infrastructure.
3. Lack of time for teaching staff training in new technologies.
4. Lack of communication with students. Some teachers have not seen their students for the second school year.
5. Organization of practice. How to do this qualitatively online?
“What is digitalization in education? This is not the training system itself; it is only a tool that can be used in this system, " - said Dmitry Khloptsov.
He also gave examples of the possibilities of digital education: how the active study and inclusion of IT technologies led to a shift in the ratio of educational formats, a wide range of opportunities appeared.
"I recently attended a conference in "Sber" - "Learning in a new normality." One conclusion: the teacher cannot and should not master all the new products at once, because each platform has its tools. He should understand several programs well and use them qualitatively, " - Khloptsov said.
In addition, the teacher today not only transfers knowledge, but also receives it, at the same time the role of the student has grown: the student can instantly get some information and demonstrate the answer to the question, suggest something.
About the time of further discussion, the head of the Department of Organizational Behavior and Personnel Management of IEM TSU, Svetlana Litvina, asked whether the educational process itself, formats, regimes should be changed?
Marina Ryzhkova, Professor of the IEM Department of Economics, in turn, spoke about the experience of using the Linoit electronic board in the educational process. On it, with the help of color stickers with notes, students can present the results of work - so the whole group can see the work of their colleagues.
Translated by Anastasia Danilova