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5EFFECTIVENESS OF THE VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Polumeeva I.
Saint-Petersburg University of Management Technologies and Economics
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6594685
Abstract
The article by Polumeeva I.N. considers the issue of creating by a teacher an effective learning environment that has a positive impact on both the teaching process and the learning process, indicates the need to maintain personal contact established between the teacher and the student, draws attention to the use of visual tools to improve the effectiveness of the learning environment.
Keywords: distance learning, effective learning environment, personal contact, visual tools
Nowadays, there are several forms of higher education, and applicants make their choice, justifying it with a specific reason. Many opt for full-time education in order to immerse themselves in the educational environment and gain fundamental knowledge in the chosen direction with personal contact with teachers. According to the press center of the Administration of St. Petersburg in 2021, more than 709 thousand applications were submitted to the universities of St. Petersburg for full-time education. The average competition for state universities was 17 people per place. In 2020, the average competition was 14 people per place. [1]
Due to the epidemiological situation, higher education institutions have repeatedly made a temporary transition to distance learning. During the transition, personal contact with the teacher is lost, and students are faced with solving problems of self-discipline, self-organization, and at the same time, students need to remain interested in the learning process and make progress. The opportunities that the programs have for organizing online meetings help the teacher to keep in touch with students in various ways. So, Microsoft Teams offers such an opportunity as to call a meeting participant who did not join the session, the list of absent students of the group is indicated at the bottom of the list of all listeners. Of course, here we are talking about maintaining contact in small groups.
With a temporary transition to distance learning, classes are held according to a schedule, as if they were held in classrooms and it is not easy to spend six hours in front of a computer screen from the teacher's point of view. But on the other side of the screen there is a student who spends the same number of hours of study
time in front of the computer screen. The teacher prepares for classes, spends extra time on posting material and checking assignments on the educational portal, and the student spends extra time on completing assignments in all subjects and tries to keep up with the deadlines set by the teachers.
Maintaining the contacts established by the teacher with students and a favorable climate in the group becomes one of the tasks of the teacher in distance learning. There are objective reasons that the teacher cannot influence, for example, technical problems that arise on the educational platform, or the student does not have a favorable learning environment, which undoubtedly entails a decrease in the effectiveness of the educational process. However, creating an effective favorable environment during the webinar is the task of the teacher. The teacher analyzes the possibilities of the educational platform and selects the tools suitable for each specific lesson that will involve students, and they will not remain indifferent to third-party listeners. [2, p.68]
The degree of involvement in the educational process, according to a survey of groups of listeners, is increased by visual tools. It was proposed to evaluate the visual tools used in foreign language webinars: multimedia tools, mental maps, clusters and infographics. The presentation of the lesson, compiled using multimedia technologies, such as audio-video fragments, animation, received the largest number of votes in the survey - 34%. Infographics took second place in the poll with 30% of the votes. 22% of the survey participants gave their preference to mental maps as the most effective means of visualizing educational material. And 14% was given to clusters.
■ Multimedia ■ Infographies ■ Mental maps ■ Clusters
Chart. Students' assessment of the effectiveness of visual tools.
As we can see from the chart by the percentage ratio, all visual tools have found a response among students, in their opinion, the use of such means increases interest and facilitates the perception of the educational material offered by the teacher. As a result, the effectiveness of the educational environment created by the teacher increases. "The creation of visual tools is based on various ways of processing information, allowing it to be presented in a compact and easy-to-understand and use form." [3, p. 70] Conclusion
During the distance learning period, in addition to the functions that the teacher performed by organizing the learning process in the classroom, the teacher assumes the functions of the organizer of the virtual learning environment, increasing its effectiveness by visual
means. The teacher organizes effective communication in a virtual environment, guides students, monitors their progress, helps solve emerging problems, provides emotional support.
REFERENCES:
1. The official website of the administration of St. Petersburg URL https://www.gov.spb.ru/press/gov-ernor/220069 / (date of request: 04/28/2022)
2. Kaigorodtseva N. V., Luzgina V. B. Formation of teachers' competencies for conducting webi-nars. // Omsk Scientific Bulletin. Series. Society. History. Modernity. 2017. No.2.
3. Izotova N.V., Buglaeva E.Yu. System of visualization tools in teaching a foreign language.// Bulletin of the Bryansk State University. 2015 (2).
