Keyword: «quality of higher education»

The use of distance learning technologies is one of the priority areas in the strategy for the development of the higher education system. In accordance with the federal state standards of higher education and the Federal Law «On Education in the Russian Federation», the means of implementing distance learning is the electronic information and educational environment (EIEE), which provides students with access to scientific and methodological materials and allows participants in the educational process to interact. The potential of EIEE in the context of organizing distance learning is significant, since this integration of software and Internet services makes it possible to implement a high-quality educational process for students and undergraduates, as well as for the scientific activities of the teaching staff. The authors take into account the existing in modern science analytical and systematic approaches to the definition of EIEE criteria that affect the quality of distance learning. The purpose of this study is to determine the criteria that allow optimizing diagnostic methods for assessing the quality of the electronic information and educational environment of a university. One of the main indicators of the quality of the EIEE organization as a sociotechnical system is the high level of interaction through the EIET between the subjects of the educational process. The authors made a content analysis of domestic and foreign scientific works devoted to the development of diagnostic methods to assess the quality of the EIEE organization in the context of distance learning in a higher educational institution. From the position of systemic, personality-oriented, activity-based and environmental approaches, an analysis of domestic and foreign scientific works was made, which highlighted the results of testing the authors’ diagnostic methods developed to identify the quality levels of the university's EIEE organization. As a result of the analysis, the criteria were identified, the methods corresponding to them were determined (three of which were developed by domestic researchers; one by foreign ones), with the help of which empirical data were obtained in the framework of the diagnosis of the EIEE of the Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University named after I.N. Ulyanov. Each methodology reflects certain quality criteria for the EIEE of the university, which can be examined using the appropriate indicator questions. As a result of the correlation, cluster and factor analysis of empirical data obtained with the use of four methods, questions were identified that duplicate each other in terms of semantic load, i.e. containing a number of several criteria features. During the analysis of empirical data by statistical methods, the condition was fulfilled to exclude the phenomenon of multicollinearity. Thus, the study made it possible to reduce the number of questions and the corresponding criteria for assessing the quality of the EIEE, leaving the most informative for each method. The theoretical significance of the study lies in substantiating the criteria for optimizing diagnostic tools, which can be used to assess the quality of the electronic information and educational environment of the university. The conclusions and provisions of this study contribute to the theory of organization of distance learning in higher education. The practical significance of this study lies in the fact that the results obtained will make it possible to develop a unified methodology for assessing the quality of EIEE based on the optimal number of the most informative criteria.