Online education as a temptation: unobvious challenges

Abstract

The article is devoted to the phenomenal and procedural aspects of online practices implementation in modern education systems on the example of Ukraine. Using a number of sociological studies of educational practices in the Kharkiv region and Ukraine, the authors rethink effects and results of the intensification of educational online practices. Online is interpreted as a temptation that generates both large groups of supporters and many opponents. The consequences of online practices are represented in the form of non-obvious challenges, which are often interpreted in sociological and administrative discourse as advantages and positive effects, however, as the researchers demonstrate, they carry implied dangers. Specifically, the authors explore a number of temptations: less effort, less engagement, mobilization of participants in the educational process, commodification of education, symbolic struggle over the quality of education, unification of education, reforms in education, privatization and liberalization, the formation of an "attention economy". In this light, the authors isolate a number of dimensions and aspects of online education as a temptation, using the ideas of J. Habermas, N. Luhmann, Z. Bauman, S. Zizek, J. Ritzer, T. Eagleton and others. Separately, the article presents and discusses the conclusions and prospects for further research on this issue.