Digital Learning in Russian Higher Education: What Are Lecturers Attitude and Fears Toward Online Courses Adoption?

Abstract

Online courses changed the landscape of higher education in the World, but their acceptance by lecturers in Russian universities is incomplete. The study aims to reveal a general attitude of online courses among lecturers in Russian universities; to quantify factors that motivate lecturers to create and modify online courses; to identify lecturers' fears regarding their employment status due to the widespread adoption of online courses into the practice of higher education. The quantitative study is based on the results of a lecturers’ survey, which was conducted in 2020 in Russian universities. We filled 134 questionnaires using the Google form. The result contributes to (i) a scientific discussion about the role, meaning, and effects of online courses inclusion into educational programs (in the context of factors and motives for creating and addressing them by the lecturers), and it enriched the scope of scientific literature, dedicated to e-learning in higher education, and (ii) empirical results confirmed that acceptance of online courses in the systems of higher vocational education is viewed through the prism of employment threats.