Ukrainian education is rapidly transitioning to a digital format. Online learning, which was seen as a temporary solution just a few years ago, has become the new reality. Ilya Filipov, founder of the EdEra educational platform, discussed how the approach to learning has changed in the podcast “What’s New in Education,” hosted by teachers Artur Proydakov and Petro Sitek.
Educational technologies: between methodology and innovation
The concept of EdTech is much more than just using computers in the classroom. It involves the organic combination of teaching methods and technological solutions, in particular the use of specialized platforms, which is especially relevant in the age of artificial intelligence. EdEra is a prominent representative of this trend in Ukraine, developing not only content but also its own learning management system (LMS), product development technologies, and specialized solutions for corporate training.
EdEra was born out of a desire to improve education: Ukrainian experts have always demonstrated a high level of knowledge, but often failed to refine the form in which the material was presented. The goal was to create an educational product where the form of presentation is no less important than the content, which requires close collaboration with expert authors.
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Three pillars of effective online learning
Ilya Filipov emphasizes that transferring traditional 45-minute lessons to an online environment is ineffective. This approach had already proven its failure in 2001 with MIT OpenCourseWare, until a radical overhaul of the format took place in 2012, leading to the creation of MITx. According to him, a high-quality online lesson should be based on three principles that completely restructure the learning process.
First, the key condition is microlearning, which involves presenting material in complete meaningful blocks. An effective learning piece should consist of three phases: strategic, which motivates the student and explains the goal. The second is the performance phase, which contains the actual video or content with a complete thought, and the third phase is self-assessment. There, through testing and gamification, a sense of progress is formed. At the same time, it is worth remembering that after six minutes, concentration on the video decreases sharply.
Secondly, online content requires a higher pace and concentration. Internet users are accustomed to perceiving information quickly, often listening to videos at double speed. High-quality educational content is not usually listened to at this speed, as it is already as rich and concentrated as possible.
Thirdly, the functional use of formats is important. It is necessary to clearly understand the function of each element: why video is needed, where it is more effective to place text, and where to place interactive illustrations. The same applies to testology: high-quality test tasks must be constructed in such a way that students cannot obtain a certificate simply by using the process of elimination or guessing.
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Artificial Intelligence: A Motivational Challenge
When considering the implementation of artificial intelligence, Ilya Filipov draws a parallel with interactive whiteboards: technology is neither evil nor good in itself. It all depends on how it is used. However, AI poses a fundamental challenge for education as a whole — a crisis of motivation among students who ask, “Why should I learn this when I can just ask AI?”
The answer to this challenge should be to teach not how to ban technology, but how to use it. Educators must convey the importance of building one’s own neural connections. The expertise demonstrated by AI in response is always limited by the level of expertise of the person asking the question. Therefore, learning remains necessary for the formation of an adequate level of competence.
The Evolution of Perception and the Laws of Physics
The educational environment also faces internal problems. There is a crisis of motivation among educators themselves, caused by low wages, rapid generational change among students, and constant pressure to meet demands. At the same time, EdTech has gone from complete rejection to widespread acceptance over the past decade. Nine years ago, the EdEra team had to explain to teachers over the phone how to create an email account, whereas today the EdEra community on Viber has 300,000 members, making it one of the largest in the country.
Reflections on the future of education lead to the conclusion that the motivation of all parties — from students to teachers — must remain unchanged. The future of the educational process lies in active interaction. Ultimately, any developer of educational solutions must remember Newton’s Third Law, adapted to the field of education: if you create a high-quality educational product by putting in the necessary effort, then this effort will pay off in the form of students mastering the developed material.
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