Article about “Distance learning in Kazakhstan”

Article

Distance learning in Kazakhstan

ARU named after K.Zhubanov

Foreign language:two foreign languages

Meirimkhanova Ayazhan

Distance learning plays an increasingly important role in the educational process. Modern education is impossible without the Internet, which is firmly embedded in our lives. Specialists of all professions need to constantly improve their knowledge, skills and abilities in order to meet the high professional level dictated by the needs of our modern society. In the context of the pandemic and the strict quarantine, vital issues related to training and education in general have arisen. And this need has led to the search for new methods of knowledge transfer and learning technologies. To organize the educational process, all teachers and students are provided with access to electronic platforms. Video tutorials, independent online work, and online courses are used as a tool. A lot of work is being done to download educational and methodological complexes, tests, and digital educational resources.

Teachers at colleges and universities still have to perform their duties remotely. For Kazakhstan, the introduction of high-quality distance education technologies and open education is also a solution to an important social problem. Our republic has a large territory, which, with a relatively small population, causes its low density in the country. A significant part of the population lives in villages and localities that are remote from cities, regional and district centers. There are settlements in which small schools operate. There are also those where there are only primary schools. With the emergence of small farms and livestock farms in remote pastures, family groups are formed in which children do not have the opportunity to attend school. In such cases, providing the population with even compulsory general secondary education becomes a difficult problem. To this must be added the disabled and people with disabilities, also experiencing difficulties in obtaining education. This is a completely new format. The TV channels "Balapan " and" El Arna " provided the Ministry with their airtime. Filming began during the school spring break. In total, more than 2000 video tutorials on the main subjects were filmed.

Classes are held through specialized Internet platforms. Previously, access to the educational content of these companies was paid, but the Ministry of Education agreed that children would receive all the information and use these systems for free. These digital systems allow students to view the previous lesson or the topic they discussed earlier, conduct online lessons, webinars, conferences, receive feedback, and create an opportunity for individualization and gamification of learning. This format will also allow testing and evaluating the knowledge gained.

Distance learning is a really serious challenge for our education system. At first, there was a lot of criticism, both from the parents of students, students, and from teachers.

On the part of the Ministry of Education, various questionnaires and surveys were organized, and as a result, the necessary measures were taken to increase the availability of distance learning. In the modern world, an increasing number of people prefer distance learning.

The state of emergency in connection with the COVID-19 outbreak was introduced in Kazakhstan for the period from March 15 to April 15. For schoolchildren, an early school holidays were announced from March 16 to April 5. In order to ensure the continuity of the educational process, schoolchildren and students were transferred to the distance learning format, in accordance with the approved academic load, plan, program and schedule. At the same time, the dates of the Republican Olympiad of schoolchildren in general education subjects, the National Intellectual Olympiad for rural schools and other competitions have been postponed. Until April 5, the Ministry of education and science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter – the Ministry) has conducted organizational work and preparation for the transition to distance learning, including content provision of information systems, teacher training, testing services, etc. The experience of other countries that have transferred students to distance learning was studied. During this period, school teachers have already started to work remotely, performing methodological and preparatory work while at home. Teachers were transferred to the remote format of work with the preservation of salaries on the same terms and in the same amounts as in the usual time. Teachers have prepared for 1.5 months, took online courses, and have been learning to use digital technologies. On April 1, teachers have conducted trial distance lessons, on April 2, parents' meetings have been held online, and on April 3, class hours were held throughout the country. To prepare for the transition to distance learning the Ministry has created a working group to conduct preparatory work in several areas: A) Information systems that provide sending the task, task completion verification, evaluation, and feedback. B) Systems that provide access to video lessons, tasks, assessments, tests, discussion and problem solving; if necessary, teachers can use video streaming services with their classes. C) Classes via dedicated TV channels, where video lessons will be broadcasted according to the schedule. This is especially important for rural schools that have insufficient Internet capacity and lack of equipment. TV channels for this purpose have already been allocated to the Ministry. At the same time, the Ministry sought to create an effective format for distance learning, which should not be identified with online learning. According to the Minister of education and science of Kazakhstan Askhat Aimagambetov, "the distance learning is much broader and involves the use of several methods and tools at once. It provides a large field for gamification, opportunities for self-organization, and, most importantly, personalization of learning." So, for example, more than 400 video lessons were prepared for airing on television, as well as on the YouTube platform.

References:

1.Aguiar A, Chepeliev M, Corong E, McDougall R, and van der Mensbrugghe D (2019). The GTAP Data Base: Version 10. Journal of Global Economic Analysis, 4(1), 1-27. Retrieved from https://www.jgea.org/resources/jgea/ojs/index.php/jgea/ article/view/77.

2.Arndt, C. and J. D. Lewis (2001). The HIV/AIDS Pandemic in South Africa: Sectoral Impacts and Unemployment. Journal of International Development 13(4): 427-49. Barker, W. H. and J. P.