News in Press-centre

Professors of the Institute of Oriental Studies  - School of Regional and International Studies of Far Eastern Federal University have adapted the teaching methodology in specialized disciplines in connection with the transfer of the educational process to the online environment. How are the listening and hieroglyphic classes conducted now, whether the new format affected attendance and academic performance and how to give the task to prevent the online translator from helping students? Here are the ideas of the professors:

Evgeny Pustovoit

Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies - School of Regional and International Studies

“Our school, along with the entire university, switched to e-learning. Teachers were notified, instructed. 98% of them chose the recommended Microsoft Teams platform, several people chose Zoom. In addition, we have teachers from Asian countries who decided to conduct classes in the popular Chinese platform. Its plus is that it allows you to see all the participants in the conversation at the same time, which is important on control and other test classes.

All problems in connection with the new educational format were quickly resolved - the FEFU Call Center, IT volunteers and the Student Council of our school helped. If in the first two days out of the total number of classes, failures were noted in 10-15 cases, then by the end of the week there were only 2. In addition, it was possible to improve the conduct of language classes and minimize glitches in sound. Everyone was actively involved, many of the students even liked the new format.”

Elena Goryacheva

Senior Professor of the Institute of Oriental Studies - School of Regional and International Studies

“For us, of course, the news of conducting classes remotely was unexpected. But we quickly rebuilt, and by the beginning of the second week, we were working in such a regime as if it had always been so. There were no problems with the transition. I am very grateful that detailed instructions for professors were posted on the FEFU website. After viewing them, any questions disappeared, although I was completely not familiar with Microsoft Teams. I believe that a certain “challenge” is now taking place for professors: we need not only to think about how to conduct the lesson effectively but also how to evaluate it. Therefore, I develop test assignments in which the student must not only translate the text but also use creative thinking, which online translators and dictionaries will not help with. At the same time, I want to note that academic performance in the second week has become higher."

Anna Boyarkina

Senior Professor of the Institute of Oriental Studies - School of Regional and International Studies

“I observe a positive emotional background, those guys who previously missed classes began to study better. Most valuable, thanks to the online environment and distance technologies, a new culture of classes is being formed. Everyone listens attentively to each other, does not interrupt, understanding that this may affect the transmission of sound from groupmates. If they want to enter into a discussion, they write in a chat about the desire to speak out and even decide who will speak. Students learned to listen to each other. "

Alexander Sboev

Senior Professor of the Department of Chinese Studies

“The process of conducting classes for me and many of my colleagues has become easier at some points. Helps Microsoft Teams feature "share the screen." I used to print out to students texts that they had to translate from a sheet. Now I just “show” it from my computer. I also note that the ability to write hieroglyphs in a special platform chat is more convenient than on a blackboard in any classroom. Because far-seated students can be poorly visible, glare at someone, and someone just can’t make out my handwriting. This is especially true for elementary courses, just beginning to study grammar"