Digital transformation will change the content, forms, and methods of education

Digital transformation will change the content, forms, and methods of education. The opinion was voiced by Rector of the Belarusian State University Andrei Korol during the International Innovation Day in Tashkent, BelTA has learned.

The official said: “In response to challenges of the age of formation and development of the economy of knowledge the Belarusian State University has started implementing a large-scale digital transformation program, which affects all the aspects of the university's operation. The program includes a set of measures meant to modernize the content, forms, and methods of instruction and develop the university's information and communications infrastructure.”

The rector noted that the digital university should not be simply viewed as a university where all the teaching materials are available on digital media and information technologies are used as part of the education process all the time while the content and forms of instruction remain unchanged since the first medieval universities were established.

According to the source, digital transformation is supposed to change the content, forms, and methods of education. “We intend to give quality education, which is in demand in conditions of the economy of knowledge and digital technologies. It is necessary to detect and realize the individual potential of students. It is necessary to fulfill the society's order for training a specialist, who will stay competitive in a rapidly changing world. It is necessary to develop creative capabilities of people, who, in the course of getting educated, will create their own educational products and will discuss the process with other students,” said Andrei Korol.

Modern students cannot be and will not be a tabula rasa waiting to be filled with knowledge. “It is necessary to rely on peculiarities of individuals to give them the ability to create and compare their educational projects with results achieved by other people. The approach allows training creative graduates, who know how to ask questions, set goals, defend views, organize their work today in addition to being able to change to meet challenges of tomorrow,” stressed Andrei Korol. “Modern digital technologies only offer a tool. They are secondary to the meaning and goals of education. These technologies are effective when they are used to fill education with new content, to use new forms and methods of education, which nurture the creative potential and abilities of students.”

Huawei Company is the primary organizer of the International Innovation Day. Top executives of the Chinese company, heads of government agencies, top Uzbek universities, and experts offered their vision of digital transformation prospects during the forum. Apart from that, the Belarusian State University rector met with top Huawei executives. Prospects of cooperation with Uzbek colleagues were also discussed.

The International Innovation Day gathered over 200 people from 13 countries, including representatives of OOO Bel Huawei Technologies.