Online Learning in the Age of Digital Transformation

Introduction

Cloud-based technology is pervasive and is becoming more integrated into education. Rapid expansions in access, new technologically enabling applications, the daily use of technology by “digital natives,” who are influencing attitudes toward active co-creation rather than passive participation, and the effects these factors are having on the design of learning spaces are what cause these changes. As a result, there is a rising expectation of greater levels of immersion and engagement. All educators, including K–12 teachers, college professors, and administrators, must be well-equipped to keep up with the exponential expansion of access. Many of today's youth have grown up using mobile devices, smartphones, computers, tablets, and rapid internet access regularly.

They claim that student traits, including intelligence, motivation, and computer experience, are critical to the success of online learning. It is not acceptable to consider all students will arrive at universities with prior computer knowledge since some students may be intermediate or beginning users of computers. There must be organized training for the students if their abilities are, at best, intermediate. The training burden will fall on the overworked academics if adequate training is not implemented. The requirement for academics is seen as technological skill enhancement, such as learning how to make a better presentation and upload it to an e-learning system, rather than learning new E-teaching techniques to enhance and facilitate student learning (Islam et al., 2015).

Online learning has been incorporated into the global higher education system to make higher education more accessible, user-friendly, and appealing to students and their learning requirements. Additionally, according to the UNESCO Guide for Policy Makers in Developing Countries, “governments generally view online and blended education as a new and flexible way to educate at a large scale without significantly increasing costs (sometimes even increasing education quality while maintaining total costs)” (Jansen & Schuwer, 2016). As reported in the New Federal State Educational Standards of Higher Education 3++ and laws in the Russian Federation emphasize the significance of e-learning implementation throughout all phases of higher education, including bachelor's degree programs, Master's degree programs, postgraduate studies, and professional training (Federal State Educational Standards of Higher Education, 2019).

The pedagogical innovations and online learning environment encourage student interaction and the personalization of the learning experience. Students can select or create their customized learning trajectories by integrating digital technology and e-learning tools following their needs and requirements. They may keep tabs on their academic progress and manage their learning process. Blended learning is one of higher education's most widely used teaching methods. The UNESCO Guide claims that blended learning gives students freedom and support by combining online and in-person learning methods (Jansen & Schuwer, 2016). The use of ICT, e-learning resources, and distance learning educational technologies combined with conventional face-to-face contact is generally referred to as “blended learning” (Caner, 2012; Dziuban et al., 2018; Graham, 2013; Picciano, 2017). It is frequently seen as any distribution technique that integrates technology. According to Hrastinski (2019), “...almost all methods of education that involve some part of face-to-face learning, and online learning is classified as blended learning in the literature” are considered to be blended Learning (Hrastinski, 2019).