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The paper deals with the problems of contemporary engineering education, which were discussed at the 41st IGIP International Conference on Engineering Pedagogy, and the 15thInternational Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (September 26–28, 2012 inVillach, Austria).It describes the main global and local trends in engineering education development discussed by the conference participants from 63 countries of the world. Special attention is given to global partnerships in engineering education in a number of large world class universities in the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Portugal. Successful projects ofexpress training models for engineering university faculty are analyzed.The paper dwells upon examples and methods of using interactive educational technologies for training future engineers, which were discussed in the reports of Kazan National Research Technological University professors.

This paper describes new approaches to renew the methodology and content of KNRTU education process taking into account an interaction of education, science and industry. The paper represents the main principles of education process arrangement. Networking with Russian and foreign education and research institutions, as well as industrial companies, is emphasized for the purposes of education programs. The author underlines the importance of e-learning and distance education technologies.

The paper analyzes the proceedings of the 42nd IGIP International Conference onEngineering Pedagogy “Global Challenges in Engineering Education”, 16th ICL conferenceand International scientific school “Engineering education for a new industrialization (plenary sessions reports, learning seminars, subject specific seminars, and experts’ seminars ). Conclusive recommendations of the International scientific school formulated by the conference participants for the authorities and expert community, for the Ministry of education and Science of the Russian Federation, for the representatives of scientific organizations, business structures, engineering companies, and industrial enterprises, for university administration are adduced in the article.

The paper discusses the problem of e-learning accessibility for persons with disabilities. Development of e-learning content accessible to all students is gaining special relevance in the context of global trends in higher education related to the massive transition of learning to distance and hybrid formats. Based on the analysis of the official websites of 25 world’s top universities (according to the QS World University Rankings 2021), data on university digital accessibility services were systematized. The data search was carried out by total browsing of university sites’ structure and headings and by keywords. Data on 14 checklist categories were registered. Signs of administrative and project activities in the field of digital accessibility were found for 20 universities (80%), among which 10 (40%) have specialized structural subdivisions for digital accessibility. The content of digital accessibility web services contains data on the following topics: training in digital accessibility for educational content for authors and developers (14 university sites – 56%); a guide for authors (15–60%) and web developers (12–48%); consulting and assistance for authors and web developers (17–68%); accessibility examination (5–20%); legal norms (11–44%) and accessibility standards (16–64%); accessibility testing guide (16–64%); procurement requirements for accessible web products and services (8–32%); frequently asked questions (6–24%), etc. Based on the results of the analysis, the model of university digital accessibility services was developed and corresponding web site was published. It seems important to create similar web resources and corresponding structural subdivisions in universities of the Russian Federation, as well as to approve the intra-university local acts regulating the mandatory fulfillment of digital accessibility requirements in the development of educational content and the procurement of digital products and services. GOST R 52872-2019, based on WCAG 2.1, should be used as the basis for local legal regulations.

Learning Management System (LMS) analytics data is proposed to be used in developing algorithms for evaluating students’ self-studies. Development of such algorithms is relevant considering annual growth of disciplines that apply blended learning. In blended learning model selfstudy can be done online in LMS which makes it possible to analyze patterns how students interact with learning materials and perform exercises of various complexity. Different criteria and indicators are aggregated into numeric metrics that following designed methodology evaluates self-study performance of each student. Designed methodology uses algorithms that evaluate self-study results by using empirical LMS analytics data. Developed algorithms allow us on one hand to interpret empirical data for self-studies evaluation, and on the other hand to correct and improve students’ learning path. This paper presents results of using developed methodology deployed in LMS BlackBoard on the example of Information Technology blended learning course in Far Eastern Federal University.

One of the areas of the theory and practice in the modern pedagogy is providing conditions and guarantees in socialization and equal access to education for all members of the society including persons with special educational needs. Persons with special educational needs (SEN) are the subjects of inclusion who have atypical features in their development or living conditions. These atypical features may be the cause of uncomplete realization of the right to education. Online courses may be viewed as a resource of inclusive education since they have great potential for educational process organization and implementation for the learners with special educational needs – subjects of inclusion. The paper discusses the possibility and potential benefits of using online courses for different categories of SEN learners. In particular, online courses can serve as instruments of additional pedagogical support in designing student’s individual educational trajectory as well as instruments of socialization.

The paper studies the problem of developing the massive open online courses (MOOCs) that conform to the content accessibility principles for persons with disabilities. Using the browsing of MOOCs platform catalogues, a total of 56 Russian-language free MOOCs in mathematical disciplines hosted on 5 platforms has been received. By automatic testing using Web Accessibility Checker, the accessibility of the functional and informational content of the MOOCs was evaluated. 73% of MOOCs were found to conform to the syllabus subjects “Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics”, “Discrete Mathematics” and “Algebra and Geometry”; 8 basic disciplines of higher mathematics education are not covered by online education; 96,4% of the courses have accessibility limitations, especially for people with visual impairment. Accessibility problems are related to shortcomings of the platforms and MOOC developers’ errors. The results show a weak coverage by MOOCs of the basic mathematical disciplines included in the higher education curriculum in Russia and indicate the low content accessibility of the mathematical MOOCs for students with disabilities. The results of the work imply the need for: expanding the range of MOOCs to cover all basic mathematical disciplines; troubleshooting the accessibility in existing courses (pursuant to WCAG); prescription to platforms and developers to strictly adhere to WCAG in future courses.

Online course study is relevant due to their active integration into higher education in Russia and the variety of ways they can be used to implement the concept of life-long education. With the development of e-pedagogy theoretical analysis of online courses as an educational resource becomes a matter of research interest and is the aim of this paper. We analyzed pedagogical scientific works to sum up the characteristic features of online courses, define the term “online course”, break online courses up into groups, describe them as a type or form of education. We suppose online course should be considered as an organized aim-directed educational process based on principles of e-pedagogy and supported by means of modern ICT; a complete, logically and structurally solid educational unit provided with a unique system of electronic means of training resources and means of monitoring. We have worked out a classification of online courses taking the following six criteria: pedagogical approach, interaction of students, period of study, organization, purpose of learning, access to the course. Types of online courses are grouped into categories based on the criteria. The types are catalogued and characterized in the descriptive part of the classification.

The different points of view presented at the World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF 2014) are discussed. The subjects of discussion in this paper are as follows: what should be in our day objectives, content, methods of teaching and learning tools, as well as methods for assessing educational achievements in engineering education. We have distinguished the dominant points of view: the goal is to prepare engineers able to create and implement projects under the ideas of «sustainable development», the content is determined by a multidisciplinary educational programmes designed taking into account the views of all interested parties, the main idea of the methods - student-oriented approach, wide using of e-learning, m-learning, evaluation of educational achievements in terms of developing the necessary competencies.

MOOCs are becoming increasingly popular all over the world and the means by which learning is measured, evaluated, and accredited has become topic of controversy in higher education. The objective of this paper is to investigate the models of massive online open courses, their technological, administrative and methodological peculiarities. The best samples of foreign and Russian projects on MOOCs are highlighted and analyzed. MOOCs will continue to play a major role in the rapid evolution of higher education so it is necessary to analyze and put into practice of Russian universities and colleges the pedagogical potential provided by this new educational phenomenon.

The paper explores emerging trends of modern society that have created tremendous impacts on higher education, both in worldwide and national scales. Implementing e-learning initiatives as the response of higher education institutions to major challenges isdiscussed. Educational process reforming through the use and development of e-learning technologies at the National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University is shown.

Abstract. This paper highlights the features of web-based project management system Trello that could be used to develop various tools for educational web-sites. The authors show some practical examples of Trello use for learning and self-learning. The elements of Trello’s boards can be easily combined to form highly flexible educational workflow.