Education in the digitalized world: opportunities and prospects

The article focuses on some of the most crucial social and cultural consequences of information and communication technologies as an increasingly important element of educational practices in Russia. Digital technologies and their role in the contemporary culture are analyzed from a sociological and philosophical perspective. Designed to give the human mind more freedom, "smart" devices and gadgets have moved beyond their functional limits. Today, they are one of the factors to form the mindset of younger generations. The article focuses on how key elements of educational practices have been changing under the influence of digitalization. The following aspects of these changes are analyzed: replacement of traditional text-based communication with multidimensional audio and video media; wide-spread mechanisms of knowledge acquisition at a superficial introductory level only; passive and speculative strategies of learning; simulative and theoretical self-development practices, commonly accepted and associated with non-differentiating between the real and the virtual worlds. The article is concerned with the consequences of the qualitative transformation of the major ways of data production, storage and transfer due to the rapid growth of information technologies. In the field of education, these processes are especially easy to notice and, sometimes, difficult to deal with. Teaching subjects that require concentration, extensive reading and memorizing is a challenge now. The article claims that the digital culture has superseded the traditional "book culture" as a result of the "digitalizing" of an individual's mental world. Linear printed texts have been increasingly replaced with multidimensional digital images. As a result, traditional forms of self-identification are becoming irrelevant. An individual can have a wide range of identities. It is known that computer technologies open a real possibility of making adjustments to the "human nature" by means of "digital replacement" of sensations and mental functions. In these circumstances, the teacher is forced to assume the role of Manager, constructing educational environment and managing the flow of information, at the same time, improving their ability to continuously learn from their students. The article gives reasons as to why it is necessary to shift educational strategies from the successive reproduction of cultural patterns to a new goal "introduction to freedom" which means teaching learners to think independently and act under the conditions of diversity and uncertainty.

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