Efficiency and problems of distance learning: Experience of Russia and Kazakhstan

The last decade has been marked by large-scale and rapid changes in education, taking place on the basis of modern infocommunication and digital technologies, new hardware and software, as well as teaching methods updated in accordance with this. The limited mobility of citizens due to the coronavirus pandemic further intensified these processes, when, even with a low readiness of educational institutions to switch to distance (electronic, remote) technologies, teachers and students had to quickly master these technologies and use them in practice. The resulting experience allows us to identify not only problematic, sometimes even negative, features of distance learning, but also to make sure of the undoubted advantages of these technologies. The article points out the need for a systematic analysis when deciding on the use of e-learning, taking into account both technical and methodological, as well as personnel readiness for the implementation of this technology.The article analyzes these problems using the example of teaching both technical and humanitarian disciplines. The experience of distance work is analyzed on the example of cooperation between the Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics (Russia) and the L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan), which in its practical activities purposefully invites foreign professors to deliver lectures, guide undergraduates, etc., including those based on distance technology. The data of an anonymous questionnaire survey of students of these universities are given, allowing to assess the effectiveness of the decisions made, as well as to clarify the existing problems.