St Petersburg University takes part in the Global MOOC Alliance Board meeting
Vladimir Starostenko, Director of the Centre of E-Learning Development of St Petersburg University, has shared with international colleagues the University’s experience of using the online invigilation system to monitor examinations for online courses. He also spoke about plans to create an academic integrity association in Russia.
The annual Board meeting of the Global Alliance for Massive Open Online Courses and Online Education (Global MOOC Alliance) was opened by Professor Wáng Xīqín, President of Tsinghua University and Chairman of the Board of the Global MOOC Alliance. He stressed the importance of international cooperation in the development of affordable online education and innovation. He urged to draw public attention to the fact that the digital transformation is the key to the education of the future. Indeed, digitalisation poses new challenges for educational organisations, which can be solved only through joint efforts and cooperation. The transparency in the education system and academic integrity are the guiding principles to be followed.
For the convenience of the meeting participants, located across different time zones, the event was held in three sessions. One of the sessions brought together representatives from: Tsinghua University; Zhejiang University; the XuetangX platform (China); the Thai MOOC platform (Thailand); the Mongolian University of Science and Technology (Mongolia); and St Petersburg University.
The head of the Global MOOC Alliance Secretariat Ms Wāng Xiāoxiāo gave a detailed report on the activities of the organisation and the initiatives implemented over the past year. Within the framework of the Digital Literacy Project, the Global MOOC Alliance has worked to help universities to expand their educational resources in order to digitalise the education process and build a more inclusive and equitable higher education system. In particular, lectures and practical seminars focused on digital skills were offered to both students and teachers. Also, in 2022, the Global MOOC Alliance launched a series of Online Education Dialogues, where experts from member organisations had the opportunity to share the best practices and solutions to the challenges in online education with their colleagues. In total, the events attracted over 470,000 participants.
During the session, representatives of universities and other organisations — members of the Alliance shared their latest achievements and developments in the field of online learning. Thus, Mr Wáng Shuàiguō, President of the international online learning platform XuetangX — where online courses authored by St Petersburg University are also hosted — noted that in 2022, XuetangX has accumulated over 100 million users worldwide. Representatives of the Thai MOOC platform reported a variety of functionality updates to their services for students. Professor Wú Jiàn, Vice-President of Zhejiang University, shared her experience of using augmented reality technologies in teaching hybrid classes.
St Petersburg University was represented at the meeting by Vladimir Starostenko, a member of the Global MOOC Alliance Executive Committee, Acting Senior Vice-Rector for Digital Transformation and Information Security, and Director of the Centre of E-Learning Development of St Petersburg University. Vladimir Starostenko stated the position of the University’s leadership on ensuring access to education. St Petersburg University, as the largest university and centre for the development of online education in Russia, considers extending assistance to everyone seeking to acquire knowledge as a priority objective and an integral part of its activities.
The University has been making efforts to uphold the principle of equal access to education after the suspension of all content from Russian universities on the international educational platform Coursera.
Vladimir Starostenko, Director of the Centre of E-Learning Development of St Petersburg University
‘Having observed the students’ interest in continuing their education in the online courses offered by St Petersburg University, we did our best to give this opportunity to them as soon as possible. Thus, the University quickly transferred more than 100 digital learning products to the national OpenEdu platform, and also provided support to international audiences by offering free access to all English-language online courses authored by St Petersburg University,’ said Vladimir Starostenko.
In his presentation, the Director of the Centre of E-Learning Development of St Petersburg University addressed the issue of ensuring transparency and integrity in the assessment of academic knowledge in the context of current digital transformation in higher education, which he had already raised at the previous Board meeting of the Global MOOC Alliance. Online courses of St Petersburg University with remote test invigilation are actively implemented in the blended education model both by the University and other universities. Thus, in the 2021-2022 academic year, 48,918 final assessment tests were conducted with the use of the online invigilation system. The accumulated experience enabled us to identify challenges and imperfections of administering university examinations remotely, while also promoting the initiatives that contribute to solving these issues.
According to Vladimir Starostenko, 2022 has been especially productive in this respect for St Petersburg University. Significant results have been achieved. In particular, at the initiative of St Petersburg University, the Association of Leading Universities of Russia approved the Uniform Guidelines for administering remotely invigilated interim and final assessment procedures. The adoption of the Uniform Guidelines aims to: achieve maximum fairness of online assessment; resolve the current difficulties; and facilitate the assessment procedures for both students and universities.
Another vector of growth for St Petersburg University this year has been the development and promotion of the initiative of opening an academic integrity association of institutions of higher education in Russia — The League of Academic Integrity of the Russian Federation. Its main objectives are to: improve the quality of education by promoting the principles of academic integrity and ethical behaviour; assist in the implementation of the academic integrity initiatives; and also to build and expand mutually beneficial cooperation between universities. The activities of the League will be based on the principles of openness, fairness and respect for the rights and freedoms of all participants in the education process. In conclusion, Vladimir Starostenko invited those in attendance to join the working group on opening the League of Academic Integrity, and also to consider the prospect of developing a global system for the remote assessment of students’ knowledge.
The proposals of the Director of the Centre of E-Learning Development of St Petersburg University were met with approval by the organisers and the meeting participants. They showed keen interest in the topic of the presentation, which followed by an active discussion. The participants confirmed the relevance of the issues of procedural fairness and transparency in online assessment practices, both as a measure for improving the efficiency of education, and as a serious step towards the development of global online education. In this regard, the idea of creating a working group on international online assessment standards was widely supported and regarded as a strategic initiative for achieving common goals.
At the end of the meeting, Professor Péng Gāng, Vice-President of Tsinghua University, expressed hope for further fruitful cooperation and focusing common efforts on developing online education at the international level.