Digital technologies are gradually penetrating into all branches of human activity, including education, contributing to the development of the individual and society. This makes it necessary to research and use the advantages that these technologies can bring to the education system. The use of digital technologies is often associated with the automation of processes and the reduction of human interaction, although in education they will never replace the role of a teacher. Nevertheless, without the use of videoconferencing and Internet technologies, it would be difficult to imagine how universities could cope with the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, technology can be an effective tool to help reduce the workload and increase the productivity of teachers, remove barriers to quality and inclusive education, as well as provide tools to support lifelong learning and improve student academic performance.
Although the use of technology does not always have a positive effect, choosing the right approach can bring benefits such as simplification and automation of tasks and processes, improved cooperation and access to information, as well as data collection and analysis for effective management of the learning process.
The OpenCourseWare project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, initiated in the early 2000s, as well as massive open online courses (MOOCs), launched almost simultaneously on the Coursera and EdX platforms in 2012, significantly influenced the development of online education in the world. The development of online education and the study of educational technologies began to engage not only universities with a distance learning format (for example, The Open University), but also such supporters of the traditional approach to learning as Cambridge University and Oxford University. The prospects of these areas are confirmed by the constant growth of MOOCs and students in global online learning platforms.
