=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2861/paper_12
|storemode=property
|title=Digitalization of Education: Perspective Achievements and Socio-Anthropological Risks
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2861/paper_12.pdf
|volume=Vol-2861
|authors=Olga Skorodumova,Ibragim Melikov
}}
==Digitalization of Education: Perspective Achievements and Socio-Anthropological Risks==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2861/paper_12.pdf
Digitalization of Education: Perspective Achievements and
Socio-Anthropological Risks
Olga Skorodumova a, Ibragim Melikov a
a
Russian State Social University, 4 Wilgelma Picka Str, bld. 1, Moscow, 129226, Russia
Abstract
The aim of the study is to analyze the consequences of large-scale digitalization of education,
to identify new constructive trends that appear under its influence and accompanying socio-
anthropological risks.
The main research methods are dialectical, comparative and systems approach.
As a result of the study, the advantages of wide digitalization of education were shown,
facilitating access to information, allowing for detailed and individualized learning process.
At the same time, the side processes associated with the formation of such socio-
anthropological risks as: the risks of atomization of society and the extreme individualization
of its members, oriented in the process of obtaining education only on their own success,
deepening inequality, including at the level of education, were identified and characterized,
associated with the use of different educational models for developed and developing
countries, the risks of losing connection with the natural world and replacing it with an
artificial one.
The conclusion reached by the authors is that when implementing the global digitalization of
the educational environment, which is objectively the need of modern society, it is important
to take into account potential risks and develop strategies to reduce them.
The novelty of the work lies in the study of the side effects of digitalization of education,
identifying the specifics of the accompanying risks.
The methodological basis of the study was made up of modern specialized studies on this
topic both in the field of fundamental and applied sciences, targeted programs, rating studies
of the digitalization of society in various countries. On the basis of the dialectical method, the
contradictions associated with the digitalization of education were identified. The
comparative method made it possible to identify the advantages and disadvantages of
traditional approaches to education in comparison with modern ones. Based on the system
analysis, the interdependencies of the digitalization of education processes and their side
effects were revealed.
Keywords 1
Digitalization, gamification, risks, digital technologies, exocortex, artificial intelligence,
virtual, big date.
1. Introduction
The formation and development of a network society [12], which is defined as a new type of social
organization, involving the unification of networks and the implementation of interaction between
them in digital form, leads to fundamental changes in all areas of activity. In the global economy,
digitalization is being carried out most intensively. A new type of digital economy is emerging, which
is significantly ahead of other areas of economic activity in its development, with an increase of 10%
SLET-2020: International Scientific Conference on Innovative Approaches to the Application of Digital Technologies in Education,
November 12-13, 2020, Stavropol, Russia
EMAIL obsel@mail.ru (Olga Skorodumova); immelikov@gmail.com (Ibragim Melikov).
ORCID: 0000-0002-8962-0155 (Olga Skorodumova); 0000-0003-2092-5134 (Ibragim Melikov).
©️ 2020 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
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per year [16]. The need for digitalization of education is closely related to the digitalization of the
economy. Some researchers [16 ] compare digitalization with the GOELRO plan in the USSR in
terms of significance and potential social consequences, the implementation of which allowed the
Soviet Union to become a superpower in the future and compete on equal terms with the United
States. In modern Russia, digitalization is also receiving close attention. In 2017, the Digital Economy
program was adopted, the goal of which is the digital modernization of Russia. The implementation of
this project requires complex efforts not only of an economic, but also of a social cultural plan, since
without the training of high-level specialists capable of creative innovative solutions, the
implementation of this task is impossible. The country's competitiveness, the ability to maintain its
own independence directly depends on the degree of digitalization. The Chinese company Hauwei
analyzed the degree of development of digitalization in various countries. According to 2016 data,
Russia took the 26th place in this rating. Such indicators are due to the fact that, despite the fairly high
level of Russian specialists in the field of information technology, over the years of perestroika, the
communications industry in Russia was destroyed. The use of foreign technologies, most of them
American, in the context of cyber wars, the purpose of which is global networks, leads to dependence
on the largest corporations closely related to the US military structures. In this situation, there is a
need for a breakthrough, a kind of leap towards creating the latest infrastructure based on our own
developments. The solution to this problem is impossible without modernization of the system of
higher professional education and training of personnel of a new formation.
A big problem in the training of highly qualified specialists in Russia is the practice of leaving
specialists trained on public funds to work in foreign companies or emigration to European countries
and the USA. The development of targeted training of students at the expense of interested firms,
although taking place, is still insignificant. Insufficient work is being done to attract the most talented
schoolchildren for education and work for the needs of the state.
The widespread use of telecommuting, which makes it possible to carry out activities anywhere in
the world with the availability of high-quality communication means, leads to increased competition
for attracting talented specialists, which in turn requires painstaking work with potential employees,
identifying and maintaining relationships with talented children, starting from school and student
audience before starting an independent professional activity. A good example in this regard is the
practice of Japanese firms and corporations that maintain long-term contacts with schoolchildren and
students, creating the basis for subsequent professional activities within the firm.
The needs of the economic sphere stimulate the digitalization of the education system. In modern
research literature, there are heated discussions about new opportunities and their attendant risks [21,
11].
Two extreme positions are standing out: firstly, the absolutization of positive effects from the
introduction of information and technological innovations into the education system [11, 21, 20].
Secondly, an extremely cautious attitude towards digitalization due to fears of destruction of the
cultural and moral foundations of the educational process and the transformation of knowledge into
one of the types of services that function according to the laws of purely market relations [9].
Representatives of the third position, while not denying the positive effects of the introduction of the
latest opportunities generated by the development of information technology, at that time consider it
important to preserve the traditional foundations of university education associated with corporate
values, real, not virtual communication, a special atmosphere of unity and trust, which is
characteristic for many universities [2 ]. This approach seems to be the most balanced. This particular
one that allows you to analyze both the innovative possibilities of digitalization in education and
predict the risks associated with them.
2. Achievements of Digitalization of Education
In modern scientific studies analyzing the shortcomings of the existing education system, special
attention is paid to the fact that its basic approaches were formed and correspond to the era of an
industrial society with its orientation towards a mass person, standardization, average indicators and
insufficient attention to a non-standard talented person. It is assumed that modern digital technologies
will be able to create a platform for the development of individual programs and educational
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algorithms for each student. Biometric recognition technologies are actively developing. Already,
many banks, in particular Sberbank, carry out identification by voice and facial features. Work is
actively underway to determine the psycho-emotional reactions of a person using artificial
intelligence systems when perceiving this or that information. Integration into a single system of
"smart watches" [measurement of pulse, pressure, etc.] allows you to receive data on physiological
reactions directly related to human brain activity. Based on artificial intelligence systems, it becomes
possible to record not only the degree of attention of the student, his interest, reactions to various
forms of information presentation, but also the assessment of its content. The collected statistical data
processed by big date technologies allow you to create adapted educational courses that take into
account both the individual characteristics of the student and his state at the moment [9]. The
absolutization of this approach generates risks of atomization of society. As a result, extreme
individualism and variability of learning can lead to an even greater increase in inequality,
consolidation of the status of an outsider, and extreme polarization of hierarchical statuses. The idea
of mutual support, assistance, joint solution of educational problems is completely leveled. Given the
nonlinearity of the educational process, the influence on it of many external factors that cannot be
taken into account and analyzed by artificial intelligence systems, such an individualization of
learning creates insurmountable obstacles to the intellectual leap that arose under the influence of a
sudden interest, a factor random for the system. In addition, the very logic of the development of new
network technologies requires collective creativity, which implies mutual enrichment and support.
The intensive development of network technologies, project-oriented activities in the modern
networked society give rise to the need to develop the ability to collectively interact. Teamwork
comes to the fore. The focus on competition, individualism, the desire to dramatically increase their
status in the hierarchical structure are becoming less relevant than solving a common problem. The
most demanded qualities of a professional are the ability to work in a team, interact fruitfully with
colleagues, and be ready to neglect personal interests in order to achieve a common goal.
The intensive growth of information in modern network structures leads to the fact that specialists
are unable to analyze the sources published on their subject. This leads to the demand for expert
systems of specialists based on technologies of "collective intelligence" [19]. New network
technologies provide an opportunity to create specialized professional associations within the network
structures of the global level, using synergistic principles of self-organization. Such networks
combine and process, on the basis of artificial intelligence technologies, the currently available stock
of knowledge and heuristic ideas produced by specialists included in such a network.
Automated search engines are able to find structure and correlate the necessary information
necessary to solve a specific problem. Professional activity becomes impossible without the use of
such networks. The system monitors the contribution to the solution of a common problem of each
participant, performs ranking depending on the ability to fit into the team and contribute to the
solution of a particular problem. It is based on activity in the network and contribution to solving
common problems that the status growth of a member of the network community depends. There is an
objective need to merge this kind of smart grids into larger structures in order to enhance their
intellectual capabilities. Potentially available knowledge and its carriers can create a single system,
which is called collective intelligence [5, 10]. Thus, a contradiction arises between the possibilities of
orienting certain structures of modern society towards the ultimate individualization in education and
the need for collective forms of creativity.
2.1. Socio-Anthropological Risks of Digitalization of Education
Digitalization processes allow converting any parameters of a person's and organization's activity
into digital. On the one hand, this makes it possible to trace dynamics, identify growth trends, and
conduct comparative analysis based on various ratings. At the same time, standardized ranking
systems do not allow capturing the versatility of the educational process, the flexibility of human
activity, which leads to distorted and often unjustified conclusions about educational processes. The
famous American mathematician K. O'Neill in his book “Murderous Big Data. How mathematics
turned into a weapon of mass destruction ”[13] shows with vivid examples how the use of formalized
ratings in the United States led to the layoffs of many talented teachers, and personnel machinations
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of a university in Saudi Arabia allowed him to enter the top ten universities the world. A serious
danger is the tendency to minimize or even eliminate the human factor in assessing the knowledge of
schoolchildren and students [3, р. 156-157]. The pedagogical community is actively discussing the
initiative on the need to cancel all exams with the student's electronic biography, in which, throughout
his life, starting from school, all aspects of his educational activity, answers, grades, absenteeism,
participation in circles and olympiads, etc. are recorded in the system. Based on the processing of
these data, a final assessment is derived, which has an average value, about the degree of its
preparation. In the future, already at the university, this biography continues to expand. This does not
take into account side factors, emerging force majeure, social and cultural context, etc. It is no
coincidence that this approach is assessed as an attempt to organize totalitarian control and leveling
the human factor [3].
The risks of totalitarian control over a person are also associated with the active development of a
new communication environment - Neuronet, based on new neurocomputer interfaces, virtual reality
headsets, and the use of elements of hybrid intelligence. For such a complex system, it becomes
possible to analyze the user's emotional state [6], his unconscious reactions to certain stimuli and,
ultimately, the creation of “exocortex” technologies, representing an external map of the human
psyche, which is actively involved in learning [1].
Connection to an integrated communication system of virtual voice assistants, such as Siri, Alice,
Cortrana, etc. based on self-learning computer neural networks makes it possible to control and direct
the process of socialization. Starting from childhood, the choice of fairy tales, cartoons, and topics for
conversations can be carried out purposefully. In the future, this may lead to a deepening of the
already existing risk of inequality, now not only in access to material goods and digital technologies,
but also in an orientation towards acquiring knowledge. A significant part of the new generation will
receive information in a ready-made, already packaged form and will not seek to find a new one.
However, according to the authors of the ambitious project "The Future of Education: a Global
Agenda", this is a natural process. From their point of view, “new human material” arises: “the
proportion of students who do not see any special value in education and have no particular interest in
the content of the educational process is increasing” [19,р. 7]. To attract them to the educational
process, it is necessary to compete with the media, which ultimately leads to the gamification of the
educational process. In this regard, a non-creative, zombified majority is formed, capable of
assimilating only "package solutions". The second category is "the conscious part of students who are
looking for their own path and understand the meaning of self-development." For this potential elite,
all conditions must be created that can be created only in the most developed countries [19]. Total
digitalization, which provides quick access via smartphones to prepared "package solutions",
potentially leads to the establishment of a kind of "educational imperialism", which sets the demand
for new types of competencies and new forms of training. Since new digital technologies, according
to the authors of the report, are transnational and transcultural, i.e. are able to penetrate everywhere, it
is necessary to create and implement new educational forms, provided that the old ones are destroyed,
the standard versions of which are the forms developed by the countries of the so-called North.
Standardized "packaged" solutions are being prepared for developing countries.
Digitalization processes within the framework of the fourth industrial revolution [15] also create
specific risks of losing connection with the natural world and replacing it with an artificial one [7]. In
education, augmented reality pitchforks are gaining increasing importance [1], which leads to a loss of
understanding of the borderline between the real and virtual worlds. Already now there is a big
problem of selecting information, separating it from pseudoscientific and fake information [14].
Modern digital technologies make it possible to simulate any type of reality, create virtual
personalities [17], imitate science and substantiate the most extravagant ideas. The widespread use of
MOOCs in the modern educational environment as open online courses, on the one hand, provides
access to high-quality resources. However, on the other hand, it creates a danger in the pursuit of
attracting customers, and since obtaining a certificate is usually payable, falsifying the submitted
material by presenting it in a fun way, sometimes having nothing to do with science. The orientation
towards education as a commercial service, which must be imposed on the consumer in any way,
using such new approaches as neuromarketing [1], leads to the threat of devaluation of the
information content of many such courses. The policy of gradual abandonment of the teacher as a
mentor, which is openly stated in the report on the project "The Future of Education: a Global
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Agenda" blurring the line between reality and virtuality. We can agree with V. Kutyrev that
technological progress should not lead to human regression.
2.2. Social and cultural problems of digitalization of education
The implementation of digitalization of education allows us to remain at the forefront, providing
science, technology and production with qualified personnel. At the same time, it is necessary to resist
attempts at extreme globalization of this process, based on the policy of neoliberalism and the
ideology of transhumanism. It is extremely important, on the basis of cultural and national specifics,
to create barriers for manipulating the socialization of the individual, leading to extreme
individualization, the destruction of any ties in the educational process to the national and cultural
identity of the country. Passion for the pace of digitalization often does not allow realizing the
significance of this factor. Although there are positive examples. Virtual assistant Alisa trained on the
texts of Russian classical literary works. Unfortunately, the significance of this approach is not fully
understood. The importance of the teacher's personality is also often ignored. Projects of replacing
him with a virtual tutor carry tremendous destructive power. At the same time, in our opinion, harsh
criticism of technocratic transhumanist projects will make it possible to find balanced decisions that
will provide Russia with an independent and worthy place in the digital world.
The study showed that the digitalization of the education system is due to an objective need
associated with the development trends of a networked society and the fourth technological
revolution. At the same time, socio-anthropological risks were identified associated with the
absolutization of the possibilities of new information technologies. Extreme individualization of the
educational process, ranking of students based on big date and emotional artificial intelligence can
lead to the disintegration of social ties and the atomization of society. Further strengthening of
inequality is unacceptable: the division of students into a creative elite and a zombie mass capable
only of consuming clichéd packaged information. There are real threats of manipulating learners in
the process of socialization by virtual voice assistants based on self-learning neural computer
networks. The filling of their content should be controlled by both the public and government
agencies. It is inadmissible to replace a real teacher with a pronounced worldview and value position
with virtual mentors. These measures can reduce the risks of total control over an individual by
corporations developing intellectual programs of a new generation. The approach to the educational
process as the sale of educational services, its assessment mainly from the standpoint of economic
efficiency, calls for special discussions. It is extremely important to preserve ties in the educational
process to the cultural and historical context, historical memory and moral values. It is important to
cultivate a respectful attitude towards the natural environment, towards living things as the highest
value.
3. Acknowledgements
The work was carried out within the framework of an internal grant from the Russian State Social
University based on the results of the research "Analysis of the target markets of educational services
of the university." Lot 1, order dated April 30, 2020 No. 530, order dated May 26. 2020 No. 593.
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