DEVELOPMENT OF DISTANCE EDUCATION IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Computerized distance education has been introduced in Ukraine for more than twenty years now and developed quickly due to the necessity to organize the learning process online during the COVID-19 pandemic and wartime. The use of new technologies and the efforts of the governmental and educational institutions contributed to the fast-evolving distance learning in Ukraine. The paper emphasizes that despite a significant number of works studying remote learning in Ukraine, the history and development of distance education have not been covered in pedagogical literature. It has been attempted in this work to study the main stages of distance education history in Ukraine. As the first type of remote teaching, we regard learning by correspondence, which developed since the end of the 19th century due to the development of regular mail and for many people was the only opportunity to get a degree. In the 20th century, every university organized a special correspondence department in an attempt to combine correspondence and face-to-face education. The official start of distance learning in Ukraine was at the beginning of the 21st century when the distance learning experiment was launched in several universities in big cities, regulated by several presidential and governmental decrees. However, it has been noted in the paper that our country currently lacks a single coordination centre for the implementation of the state policy in distance education development and consequently caused certain mistrust in the society towards this form of studying due to some technological limitations, lack of adequate infrastructure and experienced specialists, ready-made computer programs and materials. Nevertheless, distance learning difficulties have only stimulated students to become independent learners and facilitated a dialogue between all sides of the educational process. The work has attempted to analyze the historical experience of distance education and suggested ways for further effective improvement in the national educational system.