TOMSK, Mar 16 – RIA Tomsk. Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) is ready to help other universities in Tomsk to transfer students to distance education, in particular, to provide a digital platform for online learning, the first vice-rector of TPU Andrey Yakovlev told reporters on Monday.
It was previously reported that an outbreak of pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was recorded in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019. The disease is called COVID-19. According to Izvestia, as of on the evening of March 16, more than 170 thousand people were infected in the world, more than 78 thousand were cured, and more than 6.5 thousand died. In Russia, the diagnosis was confirmed in 63 patients, including two in Kemerovo.
© РИА Томск. Павел Стефанский
It was also reported that the Ministry of Science and Higher Education recommended universities to organize student learning using digital technology in connection with the unfavorable situation on a new coronavirus infection. On March 16, Tomsk State Pedagogical University transferred students to distance learning, and other universities of Tomsk announced their readiness to switch to online education.
TPU on Monday began testing systems to transfer students to online learning on March 17. At the moment, the university has developed more than 1200 online courses available at LMS Moodle.
"Digit" for all universities
According to Yakovlev, during this week TPU employees will test distance education to identify failures that may occur during online classes and refine the digital platform.
“From tomorrow (from Tuesday) our students will receive full-scale education using digital technologies ... We don’t see any risks. If other universities encounter difficulties or they do not have online courses, we will share, including the digital platform", - the first vice-rector of TPU said.
How do online classes go
According to the TPU vice-rector for digital affairs Alexander Fadeev, about 8 thousand students are currently studying intramural at the university, about 4 thousand are studying at extramural courses. In their electronic schedule, instead of the audience number, a link to a specific digital platform will appear where the online lesson will take place. "Classes will be held in webinar mode, as we usually communicate on Skype", - he noted.
In addition, the university has a large number of virtual simulators, where students can perform laboratory tasks.
“We also have the opportunity to quickly create simplified courses. For example, in a day we are ready to open a digital platform, host educational material and start working with students ... In addition, we developed many online courses for extramural students, today we are adapting them non-stop for intramural education. They become more fulfilled, more complex", - Fadeev said.
He added that Polytechnic University uses third-party software, and the university can simultaneously hold about 200 online lectures. At the same time, TPU today holds about 100 lectures in classrooms simultaneously.
"A webinar teacher can organize full interactive communication with students. By default, except for the teacher, no one has the right to broadcast sound from his microphone to all participants, but the teacher can transfer control of the webinar, for example, so that the student can answer questions or demonstrate a presentation", - Fadeev said.
Where to find TPU online courses
Earlier, the press service of the university reported that all TPU online courses are available for students and teachers on three platforms (http://stud.lms.tpu.ru, http://eor.lms.tpu.ru, http://design.lms.tpu.ru). In addition, TPU video lectures are available to everyone on the TPU Lecture platform, and 12 TPU distance lectures on all-Russian platforms are available in the format of mass open online courses (https://stepik.org, https://online.edu.ru/ru) and TPU platform (http://openedu.tpu.ru).
Tomsk Polytechnic University - is the leading technical university of the country. It's founded in 1896 as Tomsk Technological Institute of Practical Engineers of Emperor Nicholas II. It became the first engineering university in the Asian part of the country. Today TPU - is the largest technical university beyond the Urals; enters the top 10 universities of Russia and the top 400 universities of the world. Since 2013 participates in the "5-100" program to increase competitiveness in the world.