Analysis of Tomsk State University’s survey

Most universities are processing research work on various topics and the theme of the application of digital communication platforms in higher education is widespread especially today. Moreover, scientists and usual people were doing their assumptions about that for many years before. The survey was done by Tomsk State University (TSU) in 2016 where one hundred eighty-three students took participation from different faculties of the institution. Although the survey includes the analysis not only students but also professors, there was taken only statistical data conducted from students’ answers for the research.

The survey has seven multiple-choice questions with the goal to find the level of integration of students and professors through social networks. The first question was aimed to discover most of the possible ways of how students are using the digital communication platforms for learning purposes. Markedly, the main social network at the TSU is Moodle which is the most useful for learning purposes. Important to realize that 74, 3 percent of respondents (around 136 people out of 183) chose the option “Checked our paper works which were sent them in LMS Moodle and left comments for those paper works”. (see. Fig.5.) Meanwhile, the second most popular answer was “Professors used digital communication platforms during offline lectures to show and comment tasks from their electronic course”, the option was marked by 59 percent of people. (see. Fig.5.) The most similar choices were the fourth

(26,8 % of respondents), seventh (20,20 %) and eights (18 %) one. (see. Fig.5.) As an illustration, all of them mention that LMS Moodle was used during offline lectures in lecture halls for organizing tests and quizzes and for providing professors’ comments for evaluation of already checked paper works of students. The third selectable answer was posting news on social networks; the fifth and the sixth are about organizing consultation through private chats in LMS Moodle and through common forums. (see. Fig.5.) All those leads to the idea that professors were not navigating online lectures even for electronic courses and the social network, LMS Moodle, was used as a tool for uploading works of students, for doing tests and quizzes, communicating and posting internal news. Nevertheless, eleven and half of students answered that professors took participation in online discussions while nine and three percent selected the option that teachers did not use digital communication platforms in their work at all. It shows that not such a big amount was not using electronic network system for their work while 90,70% was sure that their professors are active users of the social network. (see. Fig.5.)

The next part of the student’s survey was about issues with which they have faced in the application of digital communication platforms for education purposes. The most selectable options were “the existence of deadlines for doing tasks” (42,10% of students answered

“yes”) and “lack of time for education through social networks” (41,50% of students answered “yes”) what is actually is a problem for students not just by educating online but also in offline form. (see Fig.6.) Another difficulty was technical issues in work with the learning management system Moodle and every third person answered affirmatively for the given possible issue in the survey. (see Fig.6.) To be more precise, it means that there were issues in the work of the social network webpage, some mistakes in logging in procedure and many others. What is also interesting is that more than twenty seven percent mentioned the yes option for the question if they have not enough skills for studying online with help of Moodle network. (see Fig.6) This is fifty people out of one hundred eighty-three of those who took a participation in the survey and those fifty students are not feeling comfortable in the application of social networks. (see Fig.6.) Another point is that almost twenty percent of respondents answered “yes” on the issue of slow Internet, which shows that every fifth student had the issue. (see Fig.6.) Other difficulties are connected with lack of study

Figure 5. Application of digital communication platforms in education at TSU (IDO TSU, 2016)

materials for tests and redundancy of students’ homework which includes tests, tasks, and a lot of reading materials. (see Fig.6.)

Figure 6. Difficulties of students in application of electronic courses/digital communication platforms in education (IDO TSU, 2016)

Must be remembered that the research was conducted in 2016 and it is already five years from now. Equally to previous figures, there is a need to see the total time which respondents spent per one week at digital communication platforms for educational purposes. With attention to this comparative analysis can be done in order to see the trend from 2016 and 2021 what allows to track increase or decrease of time spent by students in social networks. All things considered, 37,7 percent of respondents spent up to one hour during one week at LMS Moodle network while 32,3 percent selected option from one to three hours per one week. (see Fig.7.) Correspondingly, only 17,5 percent answered that they spent even more than three hours in a week learning through the social network while 12,6 percent selected the option “other”. (see Fig.7.) The most compelling evidence is that almost seventy percent (69,9%) required not more than three hours for online studying in 2016. (see Fig.7.)

37,70%

32,20%

17,50%

12,60%

Up to 1 hour per week 1-3 hours per week More than 3 hours per week Other

Figure 7. Time which was spend by students in digital communication platforms for education (IDO TSU, 2016)

Lack of skills for studing through LMS Moodle Slow Internet connection Technical issues in work with LMS Moodle Lack of time for education through social networks Redundancy of tasks and materials Lack of materials for doing tests/tasks in social…

Existance of deadlines for doing tasks Obligatory participation in evaluation of other…

NO YES

The next key factor was to detect the attitude of students to digital communication platforms in learning processes that can definitely be different. Markedly, the second dominant part responded strongly positive for the idea it was 27,3 percent of people. (see. Fig.8.) Otherwise, 14,8 percent of respondents were sure that it is undoubtedly not needed for their education activities. (see. Fig.8.) Meanwhile, 35 and 19,1 percent were not certainly confident in their answers. (see. Fig.8.) The first group which is the prevailing one responded that digital communication platforms are an essential part of university education but just as a source of materials. (see. Fig.8.) Although 19,1 percent claimed that it is probably not needed. (see. Fig.8.)

The last figure is representing students’ thoughts about the future replacement of offline to online classes where there will be used the social network LMS Moodle. Surprisingly, the higher number of students selected the option that they evaluate it negatively and it was almost forty percent of respondents. (see Fig.9.) While 35 percent mentioned that they agree with such future replacements and only 23 percent of people found it difficult to answer the given question. (see Fig.9.)

27,30%

35%

19,10%

14,80%

Yes, it is definitely neded Yes, it is need but just as a source of materials Rather, it is not needed There is no necessity in it

Figure 8. Attitude of students to usage of digital communication platforms in education (IDO TSU, 2016)

35%

39,90%

23%

Evaluating it positively Evaluating it negatively Find it difficult to answer

Figure 9. How students evaluate future possibly to replace offline lectures on online lecture through LMS Moodle (IDO TSU, 2016)

Undoubtedly, the digital communication platforms were not the main part of teaching at the TSU as not all professors were using the system actively. As well as LMS Moodle was used only as an instrument for partial communication of students and professors, posting news, uploading materials, and homework, and some other activities. However, it was not used for doing online lectures. Indeed, the analysis of the survey shows that there is a positive trend in the way of future application of digital communication platforms at universities and even for replacement offline learning on online learning with help of social networks. Despite the fact that most of the respondents were disagree with the idea but it still gives the chance for future digitalization of Russian universities. Point often overlooked, the research of Tomsk State University was designed in 2016 and it is able to clarify the changes in responses of students in surveys from 2020 and 2021 which will be analyzed below in the research.