The possibility of implementing distance learning in the secondary education system is being studied in Belarus

May 28, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. The possibility of introducing distance learning into the general secondary education system is being studied in Belarus, Gennady Palchik, Associate Professor, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Director of the National Institute of Education, told a BELTA correspondent. He is taking part in the international scientific and practical conference "Pedagogical Innovations: Traditions, Experience, Prospects" in Vitebsk. "The modern environment is characterized by significant information flows, so when organizing the educational process today, it is necessary to use the potential of information resources that are also highly accessible," noted Gennady Palchik. For example, the possibility of organizing the educational process in schools using distance learning tools is currently being tested at an experimental level. In other words, a student with access to a computer at school or at home should have the opportunity to access an interactive learning environment, explained Gennady Palchik. In addition, specialists from the institute are actively working on creating national prototypes of electronic learning tools. Belarus has created a national book publishing system, the high methodological and scientific level of which has already been recognized in the CIS countries. "Now we have gone further in developing interactive learning tools that will accompany our national educational standard," said Gennady Palchik. This involves the creation of information materials, electronic textbooks, information banks, and virtual training laboratories. Specialists from the National Institute of Education have already developed about 200 prototypes of electronic learning tools, which are being tested and introduced into the educational process. Learning materials should be interesting for students, and teachers should be ready to use such learning tools. This implies the need to introduce innovations into the system of training and retraining of pedagogical staff, noted Gennady Palchik. The development of innovative educational technologies will be dedicated to a fundamental research project under the general title "Innovative Development of Education Systems in the Information Society," which the National Institute of Education plans to conduct in 2011-2015. At the conference, scientists, teachers from educational institutions of Russia, Ukraine, Poland, China, and representatives of universities from all regions of Belarus are discussing innovative processes in the educational sphere, technologies, and methods for organizing innovative activities of educational institutions. The focus of the participants of the scientific forum is on theoretical and methodological issues of pedagogical innovation, and problematic aspects of implementing a multi-level system of vocational and pedagogical training, and the innovative culture of pedagogical staff. The main goal of the conference is to comprehend the innovative processes taking place in the country's education system and to generalize the accumulated experience for its further use in the practical work of educational institutions of all types. The conference is organized by the Ministry of Education of Belarus, the Department of Education of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, and Vitebsk State University named after P. Masherov. -0-