International Conference "Educational Ecosystems: A Condition for New Quality of Education and a Resource for Development"

As part of the conference "Educational Ecosystems: A Condition for New Quality of Education and a Resource for Development," an expert symposium titled "Did the Pandemic Deteriorate the Quality of Russian Education?" was held.

International Conference "Educational Ecosystems: A Condition for New Quality of Education and a Resource for Development"

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed numerous issues within the education system, bringing two key themes to the forefront: digital transformation and quality. Over the past two years, research groups and the expert community have engaged in analyzing the problematic situation arising from the forced transition to distance learning and have developed comprehensive measures addressing all fundamental and auxiliary processes in education management. Research has shown that, on one hand, the education system has withstood the stress test and managed to adapt quickly in several segments; on the other hand, the situation has exposed acute institutional problems within existing educational practices and management. One problematic area is the lack of readiness among system stakeholders for horizontal communications, inter-institutional, inter-level, and inter-agency cooperation. Notably, it was during the pandemic that the potential of emerging ecosystem relationships in education and the socio-economic environment was particularly evident, presenting an opportunity for significant restructuring of educational content and teaching methods, expanding the understanding of quality educational outcomes and the means to achieve them, and enhancing the role of initiative groups and informal communities in addressing current educational challenges and managing strategic development.

The conference "Educational Ecosystems: A Condition for New Quality of Education and a Resource for Development" aims to facilitate professional discussions and provide scientific and methodological justification for managerial actions at the national, regional, and sectoral levels regarding the development of education quality in the context of emerging ecosystem relationships between education stakeholders and representatives from other sectors.

Thematic Tracks of the Conference

1. Quality of Higher Education: What Did We Learn During the Pandemic and How Do We Work with It?

   What educational outcomes are important and necessary for students, employers, and universities at the present stage? How can these outcomes be ensured in the transition from traditional formats to blended learning; from institutional forms of implementing the educational process to networked ones; and from administrative-hierarchical management to associative forms and expert-analytical systems supporting managerial decisions?

   The discussions will focus on the results of a network research project titled "Scientific and Methodological Support for the Development of the Quality Management System in Higher Education in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond." This project was implemented by Tomsk State University in partnership with 18 Russian universities at the request of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. The track will present the findings of sociological surveys and research based on big data analysis regarding the quality of education during the pandemic, as well as recommendations developed by expert groups for changing the quality management system in higher education in both operational and strategic frameworks.

   Participants in this track are invited from among educators, administrators, higher education researchers, representatives of employer companies, government bodies, and associative structures involved in sectoral and regional development.

2. New Perspectives on Educational Outcomes: Current Practices and Hypotheses for Future Education Management

   This track will provide an opportunity to analyze why competencies related to self-determination and the organization of one's educational journey, skills in self-organization and self-education, future literacy, critical thinking, and constructive communication gained particular importance during the pandemic. How does digital transformation in education and social life facilitate or hinder the achievement of these outcomes? What are the substantive, organizational, managerial, and institutional conditions for ensuring educational outcomes and their diagnostics? Individualization and personalization as a new reality in education. The potential of ecosystem scenarios in managing the quality of educational outcomes.

   Participants in this track are invited from among specialists in general, vocational, and higher education, parents, representatives of public-state education governance structures, and developers of new educational products and environments.

3. Educational Ecosystems: Analyzing Precedents in the Formation of Ecosystem Relationships in Russian Education in the Context of New Understandings of Quality

   The analysis and discussion at this track will focus on cases reflecting the content and challenges of establishing educational ecosystems and their potential to influence the development of education quality under new conditions.

   • Urban environments and new quality of education, including schools as agents of socio-cultural development; universities for cities; informal educational environments, etc.
   • Digital transformation and new quality of education: the potential of digital ecosystems to ensure diversity in educational strategies and trajectories in the context of lifelong learning.
   • Ecosystem for the development of human potential and capital in the region: scenarios for interaction between education stakeholders and the labor market, systems for supporting employment, and innovative professional communities as subjects of socio-economic development in the region, aimed at forming a new educational culture, developing talents, and improving quality of life.

   Participants in this track are invited from among stakeholders in informal educational practices, innovative practices in continuing professional education, network interaction projects such as "school-university," "school-vocational education-university-employer," developers of digital products and platforms, designers of socio-cultural changes in the territory, and researchers of the establishment of ecosystem relationships in education and society.

4. The University as a Subject of Humanitarian Management in the Formation and Development of Educational Ecosystems

   Events in this track reflect the project and research agenda facing several leading universities, particularly included in the Roadmap for the Development of Tomsk State University and the strategy of the "Big University" project in the Tomsk region.

   How is the perception of universities and university education changing within the ecosystem paradigm? Should educational ecosystems be viewed as a means to solve ultra-complex problems and to shape ultra-complex individuals? What management challenges arise for universities, and what concepts and models enable the realization of ecosystem scenarios?

   Within this track, an open lecture titled "THE ECOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY: A PLACE WHERE COMPLEXITY IS BORN" will be delivered by Ronald Barnett, a social philosopher, professor at the Institute of Education, University of London, and author of the book "The Ecological University" (which was translated and published by Tomsk State University in 2019).

The conference will be held in a mixed format.

Registration for participants without presentations will open on November 15, 2021, on the conference landing page and on the website www.tsu.ru.