The Problems of Development of Distance Education in Kazakhstan Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 182 ( 2015 ) 15 – 19 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect 1877-0428 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.729 4th WORLD CONFERENCE ON EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCHES, WCETR- 2014 The Problems of Development of Distance Education in Kazakhstan NurmukhametovN.a, TemirovaA.b, BekzhanovaT.c* aNurmukhametov N.,Sh. Ualikhanov St. 11, Astana 010011, Kazakhstan bTemirova A.,Sh. Ualikhanov St. 11, Astana 010011, Kazakhstan cBekzhanova T., 29-31-75, Aktau 130003, Kazakhstan Abstract The purpose of the research is the identification of the most efficient approaches to the organization and management of distance education in the field of humanitarian education with the use of Internet technologies and the development of practical suggestions for their implementation and improvement. Methods of obtaining, processing and interpretation of information, including document analysis, the method of observation, expert interviews and questionnaires were used in the study. The analysis of formation of the system of distance education in our country and abroad enables to conclude the interdependence and interrelation of correspondence and distant educational technologies and provides reasons to believe that the experience, accumulated in the field of distance learning today, is the basis for the formation of the modern model of distance learning. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center. Keywords: distance learning, education 1. The problem of the study The relevance of the researched topic is due to the necessity of implementation of innovative approaches and methods of distance learning in the modern education system and solutions of the problems related to the use of fundamentally new opportunities in the work of scientists and teachers, aimed at the realization of education and self-education of the representatives of various social groups in terms of information society development. Modern scientific and technological progress and its social consequences lead to rapid obsolescence of the knowledge and require constant updating and replenishment, creating a qualitatively new system of non-stop * BekzhanovaT. Tel.: +7-10-7-7292-42-57-77; fax: +7-10-7-7292-42-57-77. E-mail address: toty_bekzhanova@mail.ru © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center. http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.729&domain=pdf http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.729&domain=pdf 16 N. Nurmukhametov et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 182 ( 2015 ) 15 – 19 professional education. At the same time, nowadays there is a real opportunity of focused training and retraining of people with different physical disabilities, almost regardless of their age, skill level, health status, working conditions, etc. Such training can be implemented by providing the educational services remotely, using new information technologies and the Internet that will allow raising the general educational level of the population; create the conditions for successful socialization of people with disabilities; open new ways for training and retraining of specialists in various fields of knowledge and realize many other ideas. It should also be noted that today the distance learning develops in the field of technical education mainly, which is mainly connected with the character of educational material of humanities disciplines, which is difficult to formalize and, secondly, with greater competence of scientific and pedagogic staff of technical education in the use of new information and communication technologies and modern software. In the field of humanitarian education, the first steps are only done in the investigated area. The purpose of the research is the identification of the most efficient approaches to the organization and management of distance education in the field of humanitarian education with the use of Internet technologies and the development of practical suggestions for their implementation and improvement. 2. Methods During the study of the problem, an interdisciplinary comprehensive analysis, including the sociological and historical, and other approaches, as well as research methods and techniques of management and education were applied. Methods of obtaining, processing and interpretation of information, including document analysis, the method of observation, expert interviews and questionnaires were used in the study. The development and application of distance education technologies is becoming increasingly important.The progress in this area is an important factor of the reform and improvement of the national educational system, which brings it into the compliance with international requirements and integration into the international educational space. Its provision should be considered as an urgent task, and one of the main aspects of the state policy in the field of education, which is fully correspond to the strategic objective of entering Kazakhstan the top fifty most competitive countries in the world, aimed by The Head of State NursultanNazarbayev. The large-scale introduction of high technologies of distance education in Kazakhstan represents the actual and urgent task, for its solution the real prerequisite sare created. The following facts are saying about it. Nowadays literate population of Kazakhstan is 99.5%. According this indicator, we are in 14th place out of 177 countries. According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, in the course of an international monitoring "Overcoming inequality is the main role of governance" Kazakhstan won the 1st place among 129 countries on the index of the development of education for all by indicators such as "Primary school enrollment", "The literacy rate for adults" , "Gender index", "Survival rate to grade 5."According to the Human Development Index (HDI) of our country has moved from the 93rd to the 73rd place for 12 years. All this testifies that the population of the country as a whole is prepared for the introduction of new educational technologies based on the latest achievements of scientific and technical progress, particularly, on information and telecommunication technologies (Grebnev, 2010). At the same time the education system itself issufficiently prepared. The state allocates the significant and increasing volume of funds on its development. So, in the past 2008, the public expenditure on education increased by more than 2.8 times as compared with 2004. Their share in total GDP was 3.7%, which is quite high indicator. An updated legal and regulatory framework was created within the framework of the reform of the education system. It is based on: the new Law of Kazakhstan "On Education", adopted in July 2007; State Program of Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2005-2010; State Program on development of technical and vocational education for 2008-2012; State program "Integrated computerization of the education system of Kazakhstan for 2007-2010." 3. Results The positive attitude of scientists, professionals and students to the prospects and expediency of application of online distance learning technologies in the field of humanitarian education, especially in the field of supplementary 17 N. Nurmukhametov et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 182 ( 2015 ) 15 – 19 and the second higher education, and in the improvement of qualification for education of people with physical disabilities, people, who wish to study abroad, and people living in remote areas or forced to relocate frequently was identified in the study. Contemporary Education, based on the distant IT-technologies, goes beyond the national boundaries, transforming into an open space, providing the opportunity to obtain high-quality education for every person around the world, regardless of its location and accommodation. At the same time it is an additional opportunity for each country to declare itself in the international environment, to spread its cultural and political influence, to increase their competitiveness. For Kazakhstan, the introduction of high-quality distant educational technologies and open education is also a solution of important social problems. Our republic has a large territory, which at a relatively small population determines its low density in the country. The considerable part of population lives in villages and towns which are far from cities, regional and district centers. There are settlements in which small schools operate. There are such settlements where there are only primary schools. With the emergence of small peasant farms and livestock farms in remote pastures the family groups are formed, children in such groups do not have opportunities to attend school. In such cases it becomes a very complicated problem to provide people with even compulsory general secondary education. The disabled and people with disabilities are also experiencing difficulty in obtaining an education. The Similar problems can be observed in the professional education. The institutions of technical professional education (colleges and universities) are concentrated mainly in the big cities, where there are highly qualified teaching personnel. Mean while, on the periphery there is a shortage of specialists of all categories which cannot be satisfied without solving the problem of providing the opportunity for the population in obtaining a professional education, without leaving home. These important social problems in which there is an element of a violation of the constitutional rights of certain categories of citizens, and discrimination on the basis of their place of residence and physical health. Understanding it, the government is seeking opportunities and taking all measures to solve these problems. At the same time, the introduction distant educational technologies are considered to be the priority. The practice shows that the leading position in this matter is occupied by the educational institutions that provide higher education programs. Nowadays the majority of universities, in the one way or another, introduce elements of distance education based on modern information technology and telecommunication systems. The electronic and the educational resources in the form of e-learning systems, virtual laboratories and simulators, electronic textbooks, etc. are created and implemented. Today practically every university has its representation in the Internet that allows introducing distance learning elements. Only the low activity of individual higher education institutions remains a problem that can be explained by the lack of well-developed resource base and highly qualified specialists in the field of information technology and distance learning at their disposal (Kunanbayev, 2007). The most advanced on the part of the introduction of distance learning technologies such institutions as KazNTU named after K.Satpayev, East Kazakhstan State Technical University named after D.Serikbaev, Atyrau Oil and Gas Institute, Karaganda State Technical University, Karaganda Economic University, South Kazakhstan State University named after M. Auezov can be considered. The certain achievements can also be marked in the system of secondary education. Today, more than 60% of the subjects of the school curriculum are digitized. For comparison, in Estonia the figure is 80%; in the Netherlands is 96%. In order to execution of the order of the President on the implementation of systems of training in on-line regime in 2007, 1,600 schools were equipped with interactive classrooms, in 2008, 1,000 more schools were added to this number. The work on the creation of the Kazakhstan resource for interactive lessons in three languages is being done. The systematic training of teaching staff on the use of interactive technologies in the educational process is carried out. On September 3, 2007 the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan held an interactive lesson for students in 1000 schools across the country. Since last school year, the best teachers of the republic began to hold such lessons weekly. Currently, the public authorities at the level of ministries and agencies hold interactive lessons on the President's Address weekly. 18 N. Nurmukhametov et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 182 ( 2015 ) 15 – 19 4. Conclusion and recommendations The analysis of formation of the system of distance education in our country and abroad enables to conclude the interdependence and interrelation of correspondence and distant educational technologies and provides reasons to believe that the experience, accumulated in the field of distance learning today, is the basis for the formation of the modern model of distance learning. The use of computer and of Internet technologies allows us to pass to a new stage in the development of the distributed cooperation and integration of educational institutions in the organizational, educational and scientific research areas in different regions of Kazakhstan and all over the world, and the most efficient model of distance education in the field of humanitarian education is scientific methodological associations that are basic for a number of educational institutions, which use the Internet, serving the specific integralelement of a common information space. At the present time a long-term program for the development of education until 2020, in which the questions of computerization of education, including the introduction of distance educational technologies are considered as a priority, is being developed. Within the Program of reducing the information inequality in the Republic, the Kazakh educational portal was created. Its main purpose is to provide a communication link to the whole population with of MES RK, the implementation of the rapid exchange of information between the regions, the automation of a number of important procedures for information exchange. It is assumed that Internet - broadcasting of educational programs of educational television will be done through the portal. Based on experience in the field of electronic and distance learning, the basic guidelines of long-term education development program up to 2020 in terms of computerization of education have been identified. This program stipulates that by 2020, the Kazakh education system will operate as part of a global informational and educational space. At the same time technologization of educational process, its personification with orientation to an individual learning path, transparency and access to education will be provided (Koustova, 2009). The computerization of education on the basis of world achievements in the field of IT-technologies will provide a template of innovative advanced development of Kazakhstan's education. Taking this into account a consistent system policy on the main directions computerization of education is defined as a strategic objective. These trends include: regulatory support; computerization and updating of computer park; software; internet access for educational institutions and management; creation of domestic digital educational resources; automation of system for monitoring, analysis and management of educational institutions; training of teaching and managerial staff. The strategy in the field of computerization focuses on achieving global indicators of educational institutions with modern computer technology to meet the needs of educational practice. The software front provides the preferred use of software tools, based on the ideologies, principles and means of the open systems of the international community Open Source Community, as well as the recognized world leaders’ products. Policy in the field of using Internet in the educational institutions and educational management at all levels is aimed at comprehensive development of information and communication of the educational environment.100% connection of educational institutions and administration to a global network based on different communication channels (satellite, dedicated, mobile, broadband, wireless, etc.) of high through put should be provided. The establishment of zones of wireless Internet access, and research and education network based on technology Wi-Fi and Wi-Max on the territories of educational institutions and their subsequent association in the area of continuous coverage of territories of educational institutions on the national scale is planned. Introduction and development of Wap-access technologies to Internet resources through mobile phones of cellular communication, integration of regional information and education of corporate computer networks into a single countrywide information and education computer network is envisaged (Kunelekova, 2006). In the structure of the global Internet, Kazakhstani educational segment with its own infrastructure and its own 19 N. Nurmukhametov et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 182 ( 2015 ) 15 – 19 educational content, adapted to the system of distance education in Kazakhstan must be implemented. The creation of domestic industry of digital scientific and educational resources is considered as the strategic priorities. In Kazakhstan, the production of its own electronic educational resources that meet the needs of the education system and meet the qualification requirements should be established. According to available information, the need of vocational and technical education in the modern electronic educational resources only on subjects of professional and special training cycles is currently about 2780 units. The need of colleges in vocational subjects and special cycles - 7,455 units, for higher educational institutions in the disciplines of basic and profiling cycles it amounts 5,347 units. All resources must be developed in three languages - Kazakh, Russian and English. One of the strategic directions of computerization of education in the Republic of Kazakhstan is the creation of high-tech automated system of monitoring, analysis and management of educational institutions. It should provide an efficient documentary interchange and support of system database of strategic data corresponding to the reporting forms of educational institutions. Qualitative monitoring of the objective state of the education system as a whole and for each area of production and educational activities should also be provided. A key role in the field of information and education is given to pedagogical managerial staff. In accordance with the strategic objectives, it should be focused on the widespread use of IT-technologies in their professional activities. The courses on the methodology of education, based on IT-technologies, are recommended to be introduced in the curriculum of teacher training in secondary, technical and vocational, and higher education. These strategic directions cover all the practical aspects of the computerization of education, development of distance and open education. This is evidence of an integrated approach to solving the problem, which allows hoping for success. We must consolidate our joint efforts for their fruitful implementation. References Grebnev L. (2010). Russia in the Bologna Process: the middle of a long journey, Higher Education in Russia, 317, 31-34. Koustova N. (2009). Bologna process: a look at the problem, University Vestnik. Paper #A21. Kunanbayev S. (2007). Bologna Convention and international scientific and educational space - a round table, Economics Vestnik, 121,64-67. Kunelekova G.(2006). Distance Education in Kazakhstan, Megapolis, 85, 35.