Problems of Student Communication in Online Learning

Despite the lifting of epidemiological restrictions, online learning has not lost its relevance. There are noted the development of hybrid forms of education, the integration of traditional and remote work formats. In this regard, the relevance is the study of the communication process, which becomes a predicate of many dysfunctions in the education system. It is the communication between students and the teacher that is subject to the greatest transformations in the conditions of online learning. The purpose of the author's research is to analyze the experience of online learning for students of Russian universities, to identify the problems of communication between participants in the educational process in the new conditions. The authors used a set of general scientific research methods and analytical procedures (document analysis, comparative analysis, analysis of arbitrary contingency tables using the x2 criterion, etc.). A questionnaire survey of students of Russian universities was chosen as the key research method. Empirical data are presented by the results of two measurements: N1 = 1553 (2020) and N2 = 1107 (2021). The results of the study showed that in the conditions of online learning, students for the most part highlight such negative trends as "deterioration of communication skills" and "decrease in skills for live communication with a teacher". The personal experience of students during the pandemic led to a decrease in "technological optimism" and increased the importance of personal interaction with the teacher. Respondents who rated the quality of teacher feedback excellently feel less of such online learning problems as "routine" and "heavy workloads". The authors established the relationship between the choice of the form of education (online or traditional) and the assessment of feedback between students and the teacher. In the course of the study, an inverse relationship was established between the involvement of students in the educational process and the opportunity to ask a question (or make a comment during the lesson). Students with a high level of involvement in the learning process were in the most vulnerable position in terms of maintaining communication. It is concluded that communication dysfunctions are the main limitation of the effectiveness of online learning, reducing student satisfaction from the educational process.