Digital Transformation of Educational Services in COVID-19 Pandemia: Social and Technological Aspects
This article focuses on the socio-technological aspects of the digital transformation of education as the most critical and relevant subject in the context of a pandemic COVID-19. The purpose of this study is to identify the problems of digital transformation of educational services and the factors that determine its prospects based on an analysis of the technological and social aspects of digital education during the emergency transition of the higher education system to distance and online education in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The methodological basis of the study was the theory of marketing, information technology, educational sciences, sociology, as well as desk and field marketing research of the behavior of international and Russian digital consumers of educational services. The main findings of the study were: presentation of the author's definition of the category “digital consumer” and updating the definition of “consumer behavior” in the context of digital consumption; systematization of digital resources for online learning, based on the involvement of universities in the academic and research multi-gigabit Internet network; setting the global social and technological problems based on the “digital divide” (digital gap), insufficient security and protection of personal data of students and teachers, and the social well-being of digital consumers; the features of the behavior of the digital consumer of educational services were revealed; the socio-technological factors influencing the prospects for the digital transformation of educational services have been identified.