Connecting Russia to the World

1
Connecting Russia to the World

• Through Distance Education
• Dr. Diana Muir, Gregory Morse
• AMDG, Inc., Atlanta, GA, USA
• 1 July 2007

2
History of Education in Russia

• Began with foundation of the universities in
  Moscow and St. Petersburg 1750s
• Soviet times all population had at least a
  secondary education
• More than 50 of people have a higher education
• Many universities offer distance education
• Academic Year - 1 Sep to Mid June.

3
History of Education in Russia

• Soviet government operated all schools
• Creativity and individualism were discouraged
• 5 point grading system
• Formal and regimented classrooms
• After 1980 reform called for
• New curricula
• Textbooks
• Teacher methods

4
Status of Education

• Literacy Rate 98
• Compulsory Basic Education
• 9 years
• Graduates can move on to Secondary general
  Education or Vocational School
• Ongoing Higher Education
• Bakalavrs Degree (B.S.)
• Magistrs Degree (M.A., or M.Sc)

• kandidat Nauk Degree (Ph.d)
• Doktor Nauk Degree (Professor)

5
Status of Education 1990

• Facilities were inadequate
• Overcrowding
• Equipment and materials were in short supply
• Funding was inadequate
• Ideological purity smother new pedagogical
  creativity
• 1992 removal of state control from education
  policy
• Sought to promote life-long learning and
  continuous education
• Vocational training to complement economic
  reforms

6
Training of Teachers

• Pre-Primary and Primary Schools 2 - 4.5 year
  programs at technikums and colleges.
• Secondary School Teachers 5 year program at
  University level institutions
• Higher Education Teachers must have at least a
  Kandidat Nauk (Ph.d)

7
Status of Schools

• 21 of students attended schools with
• No central heating
• 30 with no running water
• In 1993 closed 20,000 schools because of
  inadequacy
• In 1994 50 of students were attending schools in
  shifts
• Immense shortage of teachers because of low pay

8
Status of Schools

• Policy of expelling students 14 who were
  failing. 200,000 had been expelled by 1992
• 400,000 - 600,000 had dropped out of school
• 3/5 of people had finished secondary education
• 8 had finished higher education
• Schools can award diplomas in only 3
  languages Russian, Tartar, and Bashkir

9
Education and Society

• Education very important to status
• Primary Education graduates non-skilled jobs
• Secondary School graduates skilled labor or
  low-level white-collar work
• University diploma a requirement for professional
  and bureaucratic positions
• Higher ed proportionate to social and financial
  situation of the student
• Better primary and secondary schools
• Ability to tutor

10
Goals of Russian Education System

• Strengthening the social and economic priority of
  education
• Ensuring accessibility and continuity of
  education
• Preserving the good breeding of education
• Supporting national idiosyncrasy and culture of
  people of Russia through education
• Developing mechanisms of state and public
  governance in education
• Increasing role and responsibility of subjects of
  education
• Introducing educational standards and benchmarks

11
Trends of Educational Policy

• Providing modern contents and optimizing the
  educational structure
• Ensuring accessibility of education and its
  continuity during mans whole life (life-long
  learning)
• Increasing the role, status and ensuring state
  and societys support for the educational system
• Ensuring state support for education, providing
  resources
• Subjects of educational policy, responsibility
  management.
• Focus on vocational training

12
Programs in Place

• E-Learning Support Project (ID P)75387 2 Mar
  2004 100 min
• Goals-
• Learning Materials creation, acquisition,
  storage and maintenance of digital learning
  resources
• Teacher Training in IT
• Development of a Network of Interschool Resource
  Center

• Education Reform Project (ID 050474) 50 min
• Goals
• Improve educational efficiency
• Preserving improving equitable access
• Promote the efficient use of scarce public
  resources
• Modernize educational network
• Improve flexibility and market-relevance of
  initial vocational education

13
What is typically taught at Secondary Level?

• Languages and literature
• Mathematics
• Sciences (Biology, Physics, Chemistry Computer
  Studies)
• Humanities (Geography, World and National
  History, Civics)
• Arts (Music, fine arts)
• Technology
• Physical education, health, and safety

14
New Courses being introduced

• Economics
• Civics
• Environmental studies Ecology
• Computer science
• Culture Studies
• Ethics
• Law (Russian constitution, major international
  acts, Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
  fundamentals of democracy and law)
• Religious Studies
• Fundamentals of Business
• World Religions
• Human Values of the European Civilization
• Modern World
• Folk Culture
• Sporting and Art activities

15
Quick Facts

• Population (millions). ...143.1
• Population growth (annual ).-0.5
• Life expectancy at birth, female ......72.4
• Life expectancy at birth, male......58.9
• GDP (current US billions).763.72
• Unemployment ( of total work force)....7.9
• Internet users per 1,000 people....152

16
ICT Sector Structure (2004)(Russia vs. Europe as
a whole)

• Mobile subscribers (per 1000 people).517 - 487
• Internet Users (per 1,000 people).91 - 115
• Personal Computers (per 1,000 people).........113
  - 73
• Households with TV ()...98 - 92
• Secure Internet servers per 1 mil
  people.......2.1 6.4
• Schools connected to internet ().65 65
• International Internet bandwidth (Bits per
  person)
• ....101 - 148

17
Summary

• Important Points
• Russia lacks secure Internet Servers
• 65 of schools are connected to the Internet
• Large failure and drop out rate after age 14
• Need for teacher training
• 98 of homes have Television
• Only 10 of homes have computers (9 internet)

18
How Can We Help?

• Provide Televised Distance Learning Courses
• Improve Teacher Training in IT
• Provide modern curriculum and more variety in
  elective courses via school internets
• Provide remedial and optional training for at
  risk students with improved pedagogy and
  methodology
• Provide vocational training via distance learning
  for life-long-learning
• Provide multi-lingual, multi-cultural aspect in
  curriculum

19
References

• AMDG Course Catalogue http//www.niteo.org/vhs/com
  mon/catalogue.htm
• AMDG Home Page http//www.amdg.ws/
• Greg Morse, CEO, gregmorse_at_amdg.ws
• Dr. Diana Muir, dianamuir_at_amdg.ws