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THE EFFECT OF DISTANCE LEARNING ON STUDENTS'
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL HEAITH 1 2 Kushkyan A.M. , Baghdasaryan A.A. (Republic of Armenia)
1Kushkyan Alina Maxim - Doctor of Medicine, Associate Professor, The Chair of the Board of Trustees; 2Baghdasaryan Armine Agvan - Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Рrofessor, head of department DEPARTMENT OF PRECLINICAL DISCIPLINES, EREBUNI MEDICAL ACADEMY FOUNDATION, YEREVAN, REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
Abstract: today, distance learning through telecommunications is an objective necessity arising from the priority of further development of society. Our study found that the distance learning format is still not safe enough for learners, as respondents have a relatively high rate of deteriorating health, both physically and mainly psychologically.
Keywords: distance learning, physical health, mental health, IT technologies, distance format.
ВЛИЯНИЕ ДИСТАНЦИОННОГО ОБУЧЕНИЯ НА ПСИХОФИЗИОЛОГИЧЕСКОЕ
ЗДОРОВЬЕ СТУДЕНТОВ 12 Кушкян А.М. , Багдасарян А.А. (Республика Армения)
1Кушкян Алина Максимовна - доктор медицинских наук, профессор, Председатель Попечительского Совета; 2Багдасарян Армине Агвановна - кандидат педагогических наук, доцент, заведующий кафедрой,
кафедра доклинических дисциплин, Фонд Медицинской Академии Эребуни, г. Ереван, Республика Армения
Аннотация: сегодня дистанционное обучение через телекоммуникации является объективной необходимостью, вытекающей из приоритета дальнейшего развития общества. Наше исследование показало, что формат дистанционного обучения все еще недостаточно безопасен для учащихся, поскольку респонденты имеют относительно высокий уровень ухудшения здоровья, как физически, так и в основном психологически.
Ключевые слова: дистанционное обучение, физическое здоровье, психическое здоровье, IT-технологии, дистанционный формат.
Introduction
The year 2020 was an unprecedented challenge for education. Armenia and the whole world faced the crisis of COVID19, as a result of which all the schools of Armenia passed to the distance learning format. Distance learning was indeed the best option in the current situation, which ensured the educational process's continuity, flexibility, and accessibility. Still, here we faced several problems from a health point of view.
Today, distance learning through telecommunications is an objective necessity arising from the priority of further development of society. It is formed as a social order, ensuring the accessibility of education [1, 144].
Many years of experience using online courses have shown that the "knowledge" component is relatively well-formed with distance learning technologies. In contrast, the individual component can form the emotional-voluntary part of professional readiness. As for the cognitive and motivational features that are important for the specialist, when using distance learning technologies, they are noticeably deformed due to the lack of communication with the teacher, who, as they say, is the bearer of the inherited professional environment [4].
The pedagogy of ICT solves several important issues of the pedagogical process, including the problems of making education attractive, accessible, and high-quality, which are essential for modern education, and activating the cognitive activity of learners in the learning process. However, ICT should be used with caution, always taking into account the health requirements of the child's age [2, 166]. Research question
Talking to schoolchildren of different ages in schools, their parents, and teachers, as well as studying various scientific studies conducted to date, we came to the conclusion that from a health perspective, distance learning can lead to a number of problems, in particular:
1. Dry eye syndrome, eye pain, localization spasm (due to overexertion of eye muscles), which leads to deterioration of vision and the development of myopia.
2. Scoliosis (in children), osteochondrosis and sciatica (in teachers) - can cause back pain as a result of prolonged immobility.
3. Physical inactivity in the lower extremities can cause numbness, swelling, and varicose veins as a result of venous blood flow.
4. Neck pain associated with muscle strain.
5. Disorders of the nervous, cardiovascular, immune and endocrine systems are possible.
6. Radiation also affects the nervous system, causing headaches, dizziness, insomnia, depression, and stress.
7. Causes fatigue, resulting in memory impairment.
8. Based on the influence of stress it is possible to develop vegetative vascular dystonia (VVD) as well as hypertension (due to increased levels of adrenaline in the blood). [5, 120]
9. Weight gain associated with improved appetite.
In order to get the real picture of the impact of distance learning on students' health, we also conducted a survey, which was attended by a total of 193 students and 122 teachers of the secondary school of Astghadzor village of Gegharkunik region, 5-12 grades of a number of schools in Yerevan. Tools such as interviewing, conversation, mathematical and statistical methods were used during the research.
Results
According to the survey results, we have the following results:
1. 20.4% of students observed fatigue, mood swings, and laziness during distance learning. Parents reported that children often did not want to play in the yard or socialize with other family members after school. 12.6% of teachers experienced indifference during this period, and 87.2% felt tired.
2. 37% of students with physical inactivity reported feeling numb, and about 67.2% of teachers reported having swelling in the lower extremities. About 17.7% have varicose veins due to venous blood flow. Talking to the teachers, it turned out that many of the teachers had higher blood pressure more often.
3. 64.1% of all respondents mentioned that they used some medicines (painkillers, eye drops, heart regulators, etc.) for various health problems, and 47% of students and 63.6% of teachers went to the doctor.
4. The survey found that only 23.8% of students and teachers exercised during breaks. More detailed survey results are given in Table 1.
Table 1. The impact of distance learning on students' health.
Questions Answer options Students % Teachers %
Did you suffer from insomnia during distance learning? Yes, very often 11,8 52,2
Yes, but not often 41,8 38,6
No 46,4 9,2
Did you notice vision loss during distance learning? Yes, very often 48,2 46,2
Yes, but not often 19,1 21
No 33,7 32,8
Did you experience back pain during distance learning? Yes, very often 20,9 43,7
Yes, but not often 40 37,8
No 39,1 18,5
Did you experience pain in the leg muscles during distance learning? Yes, very often 11,8 47,6
Yes, but not often 56,4 38
No 31,8 14,4
Did you experience pain in the vessels of your legs during distance learning? Yes, very often 20 59,2
Yes, but not often 37 27,6
No 43 13,2
Did you experience eye itching and pain during distance learning? Yes, very often 42,7 42,3
Yes, but not often 43,7 38
No 13,6 19,7
We think that when referring to distance learning, it is necessary to take into account the psychological factor as well. The mental and physical health of the learner is directly related to the emotional security of the educational environment. The integration of distance learning and innovative computer technologies in the education system can affect the emotional state of learners. A. V. Minakov points out the negative consequences of the use of information technologies that psychologists and psychotherapists face today. These include: technostress, computer phobia, internet addiction, narrowing of the scope of interests, transformation of identity, underdevelopment of social intellect, impoverishment of the social component of communication, etc. [6] Given the prevalence of mental health problems in children, the issue becomes very worrying.
To the question whether you have noticed nervous system disorders during online training (depression, stress, etc.), we had the following picture:
■
■ Yes, but not oft
■ Nc
Chart 1. The effect of distance learning on learners' nervous system.
■ Yes, very often
■ Yes, but not often
■ IMO
Chart 2. Impact of distance learning on teachers' nervous system.
According to Minakov, more than 20% of children aged 9-17 suffer from diagnosed mental disorders or are prone to the latter, which leads to at least some disability [6].
Students in distance learning often have fear or confusion when switching on the camera, and at the same time it is difficult for teachers to take into account the psychophysiological and individual characteristics of students. It is now quite difficult to predict how this will affect students' academic progress and intellectual development in the future.
According to Akhmetova, the negative impact of distance learning on the psyche can have consequences such as the possibility of developing Internet addiction, the emergence of social infantilism, social immaturity and maladaptation [3, p. 12].
Psychiatrist Andrey Kurpatov, in a report presented at a forum in Davos in January 2020, provided interesting information on the digitalization of learning. According to him, as a result of digitalization of education, students are eliminated from systemic and analytical thinking. He showed that our brain works in three modes. In one mode, information is consumed and the central nervous system is responsible for it. In another mode, the situation is oriented, in other words, the value detection network is connected. In the third mode, mental activity takes place, researchers call it the default system.
The biggest problem of digitalization, according to Kurpatov, is to suppress the default system of the brain. Moreover, all three modes of the brain contradict each other. If one of the systems is activated, the others are suppressed. "In a situation where you are constantly consuming content, you have an active central nervous system. This means that energy is not supplied to the parts of your brain that are responsible for thinking. So basically your brain goes into hibernation" [7].
Speaking about the digital vision of childhood, the expert clarified that in children the mental apparatus not only hibernates, but "simply does not form".
According to the expert, this state of society is an epidemic of "digital autism", when young people are not able to maintain a long-term psychological connection with each other, are not interested in another person's inner world and do not see him. As a result, a person develops "social vigilance, aggression, and internal tension." [7].
But the most important problem discovered by Kurpatov, in our opinion, is the so-called "distant vision phenomenon". According to him, "if the default system does not work, then the person loses distant vision, that is,
The survey among the teachers gave the following result:
the ability to look forward." The brain of such a person is not able to build a picture of the future, so a person "cannot set goals" [7].
Thus, our study found that the distance learning format is not yet safe enough for learners, as respondents have a fairly high rate of deteriorating health, both physically and mainly psychologically.
It is noteworthy that very few parents tend to associate fatigue, drowsiness, irritability, nervousness, headache, and sharp eye pain with distance learning. Here we attach importance to the close cooperation between teacher and student from the point of view of sanitary and hygienic safety.
As much as it is a priority to meet the need for technology education in the context of modern education challenges, it is still necessary to thoroughly study every issue in the field of distance education so as not to harm learners' mental and physical health.
References / Список литературы
1. Hakobyan G. Distance Learning Issues in the Context of Modern Education Challenges // Media Technologies in the Elementary School Pedagogical Process. Educational-methodical manual for pedagogues and parents / Topuzyan A. O., Gyulamiryan J. H., Asatryan S. M., Poghosyan L. M., -Yerevan, "Pedagogue" publishing, 2020, -168 p.
2. Topuzyan A.O. Pedagogy of Information and Communication Technologies as a Powerful Means of Activating Cognitive Activities of Students // Information Technologies in Elementary School. Educational-methodical manual / A.O. Topuzyan, J.H. Gulamiryan, S.M. Asatryan, L.M. Poghosyan, L.A. Antonyan, M.Z. Ghazaryan -Yerevan. Pedagogue, 2018 . -167p.
3. Akhmetova D.Z. Distance learning: from idea to implementation / D.Z. Akhmetov; Institute of Economics, Management and Law (Kazan). - Kazan: Cognition (EUP Institute), 2009. - 176 p.: [Electronic Resource]. URL: https://biblioclub.ru/index.php?page=book&id=258034 (дата обращения: 20.01.2021). - ISBN 978-5-83990307-4.
4. Chvanova M.S., Khramova M.V. Pedagogicheskiye aspekty modernizatsii sistem distantsionnogo obucheniya dlya podgotovki spetsialistov naukoyemkikh spetsial'nostey [Pedagogical aspects of the modernization of online learning systems for the training of high-tech specialists]. Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnyye nauki - Tambov University Review. Series: Humanities, 2011, no. 6 (98), pp. 45-56. (In Russian).
5. ShulyakA.S. Computer and health // Smolensk medical almanac. -2015. - №3. - P. 120-122.
6. Minakov A. V. Psychological characteristics of individuals prone to Internet addiction, Voronezh. [Electronic Resource]. URL: http://hosting.vspu.ac.ru/~imago/publ5m.htm/ (Date of issue: 20.01.2022).
7. [Electronic Resource]. URL: https://новыйкурс.рф/doktor-kurpatov-tsifrovizatsiya-prevratit-shkolu-v-konvejer-durakov/ (Date of issue: 16.04.2022).
