XIX. Situations.

1British or American students have arrived in Astrakhan. Describe to them the structure of ASTU.

2You meet students from Canada at ASTU. You talk about student’s life.

XX. Make up your own dialogues on the topic “astu”. Say a few words about your first impressions (your time-table, teachers, etc.). Part II

THE NEW ROLE OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

SOME INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET DISTANCE EDUCATION

Today Russian universities and higher educational institutions are not only centres of science and culture but they are centres of business activity as well. Thanks to telecommunication networks students can not only increase their informational potential, but also get a unique possibility to communicate with their colleagues all over the world. In fact, Russia’s students can graduate from foreign universities while remaining in Russia. At the same time many countries abroad study the Russian language and get engineering and humanities education using information network. The creation of the Unified System of Distance Education with the use of both available now and newly developed technical aids is crucial for Russia. Distance learning based on the use of computer telecommunication network provides constant student-teacher link.

There are more than 150 “Information Technological Centers” which have access to the internet. Nowdays it is necessary and urgent for education to implement the new technological achievements. They present completely new possibilities for creative work, for the acquisition of job skills as well as new teaching techniques in practice. The use of information technoligies has been supplying a lot of good to the mankind.

Notes to the text:

engineering and humanities education- техническое и гуманитарное образование,

crucial [ #kru:Sjəl]-решающий,

acquisition [ֽækwi#ziSn]-приобретение.

Read the text, translate it and write three or four questions dealing with the information given in the text. Work in pairs.

The internet distance education

1. Read and translat the text, using the dictionary. Be ready a) to illustrate different meanings of the italicized words with the examples of your own; b)to speak on the topic “The internet distance education”.

For the decades universities and colleges have been looking for ways of offering courses to students who do not have access to the university campus, usually because of physical distance. The World Wide Web (WWW) is beginning to see and develop activity in this regard and this activity increases dramatically every year. The Internet offers university-level courses to all registered students, complete with real-time seminars and exams and professors’ visiting hours. The Web is flexible and its distance presentations and capabilities are always up-to-date. The students can get the text, video and audio of any subject they are willing to have.

Many educational resources already are available through the Web. Universities are posting information about degree programs in the Web and libraries are adding their catalogues. The Web helps to find any research document containing information about any subject. Soon, travelling to a library to find this information may become a near obsolete venture. Instead students can find any information sources they need without leaving their tables.

The possibilities for education on the Web are amazing. Many institute, academy and university classes presently create Web pages for semester class projects. Research papers on many different topics are also available. There are other Internet applications: scheduling, inter-personal communication, meeting, international conferences and congresses- can be particularly valuable to teachers, students and others with an interest in education. Many Internet and education specific resources make great inroads into creating information “on demand”. This page can be of special interest to college students or those who are heading for the university.

The Russia’s access to the Internet has been increasing greatly: in 1996-half million students egistered, in 1997-two million, according to the table published in the press. The students all over the world have appreciated and enjoyed Internet first-class training programs. Windows 95 company has made great inroads and created information “on demand” available on its sites. Openness, motivations, interactiveness, starting knowledge and skills, identification and educational terms are the main principles of distance education.

The Internet may represent the most important educational resource in the world if every student has got a computer. Web pages can offer access to.a world of information about and exchange with other cultures and communities and experts in every field. Not only written information from books and scientific articles but oral forms-lectures, discussions, and conferences-are also available on the Web channels. So, distance education is a well-organized with definite goals interactive process of interactions and interrelations between educaters (teachers,tutors) and students, among students themselves, and educational means irrelative of their residence and time.

Though the distance education is rather expensive, it is reasonable for residence in far-away towns. Nevertheless, millions of students all over the world have been studying and the distance education is quite successful.