Keyword: «медиаграмотность»

In the context of the media environment digital transformation and the growing role of communications technologies in the professional activities of advertising and public relations specialists, developing comprehensive media literacy and digital competences in future professionals is becoming critically important. A historical and pedagogical analysis of the evolution of teaching digital communications disciplines in Russia allows us to reconstruct accumulated experience and identify key trends determining modern standards for training personnel for the media industry. The aim of this study is to trace the evolution of digital communications teaching in Russian higher education from an instrumental and technological model to a strategic one, identifying consistent patterns, key stages, challenges, and development vectors. The study is based on a systemic and historical-genetic approach, implemented within the framework of historical and pedagogical methodology using primary source analysis, comparative and contrastive analysis, and problem-based analysis, as well as scientific generalization. The author is the first to propose and substantiate a four-stage periodization for the development of digital communications teaching in Russian universities. The study identifies and systematizes five persistent challenges in teaching digital communications: terminological ambiguity, the gap between academic knowledge and industrial requirements, a shortage of active learning methods, faculty staffing issues, and the ethical and value-driven dilemmas of digital tools. An analysis of teaching practices, curricula, and scientific discussion allowed us to trace the shift in educational paradigms—from an instrumental-technological model to a modern competency-based and integrative model focused on strategic thinking and communications management in the digital environment. Theoretical significance: a deeper understanding of the development patterns of media education pedagogy. The practical significance lies in the possibility of using the findings to modernize curricula and methodological packages, as well as to substantiate priority areas for modernization: project-based learning, integration of industrial partners, simulation technologies, development of critical thinking, and the development of hybrid competences. Prospects are seen in strengthening interdisciplinary integration and the implementation of project-based and simulation technologies aimed at improving the quality of training communicators in the digital economy.