This Is Robot Speaking: A Social Scientist’s Perspective on Human-Robot Interaction
Whether we like it or not, talking with a robot on the phone is now part of our everyday lives. What is the right way to respond to a mechanical voice, who should we blame when communication fails, and could AI make an ideal conversationalist? HSE sociologist Alisa Maksimova answers these questions and more, based on findings from her study of interactions between humans and robots presented in the book Adventures in Technology: Barriers to Digitalisation in Russia.
A Weak Foundation: How Secondary Education Affects University Dropout Rates
Right now university students are taking their fall semester final exams. For various reasons, some students drop out. This is especially the case in advanced fields of study such as engineering. Researchers from HSE University’s Institute of Education Evgenia Shmeleva and Isak Froumin have published a paper on the decisive factors that cause students to abandon their university education.
‘Students Lack the Ability to Organise Themselves’
Russian students are not particularly independent or self-disciplined. A recent study shows that this has been one of the problems with the transition to remote learning. Researchers presented their findings at the Sociology of Online Learning session of the international eSTARS conference held at the Higher School of Economics in partnership with the Coursera global platform. In an interview, Ulyana Zakharova — session moderator and research fellow at the HSE Centre of Sociology of Higher Education’s Institute of Education — told IQ how students develop their character, teachers stop being translators and remote learning tests everyone’s abilities.
‘ Regulatory Restrictions Result in Hybrid Master’s Degrees That Are Like a Cross between a Rhino and an Elephant ’
The COVID-19 epidemic has clearly shown how important digital competencies are for students — both in their studies and in everyday life. Master’s degree students, many of whom combine work with study, can give a detailed account of which IT skills employers expect. The question is how to teach those competencies and how a ‘digitalised’ master’s degree should look. HSE Institute of Education Research Fellow Daria Shcheglova discussed this question with IQ at the Digital Transformation in Higher Education — Modern Trends session of the eSTAR Conference that HSE University hosted in partnership with the Coursera global platform.
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Key Takeaways of eSTARS: Higher Digital Education
Students need digital skills, both in life and in their future work. But many universities are not yet ready to provide students with them, despite the current circumstances in which universities have had to transition to online learning due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The development of online formats has been uneven: there are bright leaders and the rest modestly ‘stand aside’. They lack resources, confidence in digital education, and a regulatory framework. At the eSTARS International Conference organised by HSE University in partnership with Coursera, experts discussed the challenges of digitalisation in higher education.
Home Study or Home Suffering? Lessons of the Pandemic for Primary and Secondary Education
Online learning for schoolchildren — a temporary solution authorities have implemented due to the COVID-19 epidemic — has generated a lot of heated debate. Families worry about the quality and outcomes of online learning, and teachers worry about the excessive workload. School heads have their own headache about how to organise the remote learning. A year has passed since the start of the pandemic, and students have been attending their classes online since March — it is already possible to take stock and look at the situation in a comprehensive and impartial manner, which is what a team of HSE researchers has done. Here are the main results of their study and their proposed solutions to the most pressing problems.
Academic Dishonesty: Fear and Justifications
End-of-term exams have just finished in many universities operating on the modular system. Some students passed because they worked hard while others passed by cheating. Why do some students cheat by looking over someone's shoulder, furtively searching for test answers on the internet, using cheat sheets during exams or paying others to complete their coursework? A study conducted by the HSE Centre for Sociology of Higher Education offers some answers.
A Dossier of Deities: HSE University Scholars Create Electronic Database of Chinese Mythological Characters
The Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies (IOCS) at HSE University is developing an electronic database of Chinese mythological characters and motifs. Because nothing like it has ever been compiled, it meets an enormous demand. Project originators Elizaveta Volchkova, Olga Mazo, Aglaya Starostina and Alevtina Solovyova told IQ what they are attempting to accomplish and why Chinese mythology is both complicated and fascinating.
Spouses’ Common Religion Helps in Intercultural Marriage
When partners are of the same religion, it helps to compensate for any differences in their values, while monocultural couples are more satisfied with their marriage.
'State Owes Me': Social Justice, as Seen by Russian University Undergraduates
'I am the state' ('L'etat c'est moi') is a phrase attributed to French king Louis XIV. For Russian undergraduates today, the motto seems to be 'the state owes me'. According to many of them, the government must support younger people above all else, and this is what they understand by social justice. Read on to learn what else Russian undergraduates think about justice and why they are not willing to make sacrifices to achieve it, based on a paper by HSE political scientists Valeria Kasamara, Marina Maximenkova and Anna Sorokina.