The Current Level of Competence of Schoolteachers on How to Use Cloud Technologies in the Educational Process During COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukrainian War

Abstract

During the period of total lockdown, teachers had to move to distance learning to organize a continuous educational process, which is not possible without the active use of modern information and communication technologies, including cloud services. Because of this, at the beginning of the pandemic, Zhytomyr Polytechnic State University conducted several free distance online courses for teachers, which included studying the possibilities of using cloud technologies in teaching in a pandemic. Somewhat later, some secondary schools in Zhytomyr expressed a desire to take the same courses, but in person. 98 teachers of schools of the city of Zhytomyr were covered by training on courses “Cloud technologies in the educational process in the conditions of quarantine”. After face-to-face courses, teachers in Zhytomyr schools have significantly increased their competence in the use of cloud technologies in the educational process in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only has their level increased in general, but the horizons regarding the variety of cloud services that should be used in distance learning have expanded. Course training, organized according to scientifically sound methods, helps to increase the motivation of students (teachers) to self-study, as well as to the future use of cloud technologies in the educational process. The two-year pandemic and the start of a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine contributed to the fact that teachers of secondary schools began to actively engage in self-education and self-development. If earlier (at the beginning of the pandemic) it was difficult for teachers to switch to online learning, then with the outbreak of war, teachers were already ready to use various online tools in their practice. As the study showed, all the interviewed teachers continued their self-education in different ways, studied a large number of services that can be used in the educational process, and provided the authors with ideas for further expanding the courses according to their desires, which should be used in the educational process. It should be noted that it is important that all the respondents unanimously approved that they use the acquired competencies in their professional activities during the period of Russian aggression. In addition, in additional comments, teachers noted that among their acquaintances there are many teachers who want to take such courses since at one time they had no desire or motivation.