UNDER SUPPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL RENAISSANCE FOUNDATION, THE UNINTERRUPTED FUNCTIONING OF THE E-LEARNING PLATFORM “ALL-UKRAINIAN ONLINE SCHOOL” HAS BEEN PROVIDED DURING WAR
Under support of the International Renaissance Foundation, in January-April 2024, the scientists of the Institute of Educational Analytics implemented the project G 55331 “Providing the Uninterrupted Functioning of the E-Learning Platform “All-Ukrainian Online School” in the Context of War”. The project aims to develop scientific, methodological and practical approaches to ensure the smooth functioning and development of the distance and blended learning platform “All-Ukrainian Online School” (hereinafter referred to as the AOS) to guarantee equal and free access to quality educational content for every Ukrainian student and teacher in the context of russia’s large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. The possibilities of improving the efficiency of protecting personal data of registered users of the AOS and educational content posted on this platform have been studied, methodological approaches have been developed to identify the location (including the country of residence) of students as well as to assess the degree of coverage of general secondary education by students from among internally and externally displaced people in the context of war.
The implementation of the G 55331 project is very relevant. Russia’s large-scale military aggression against Ukraine has led to the massive displacement of Ukrainian citizens both within the country and abroad, which has created significant difficulties for school-age children in ensuring their access to education. Much of the educational infrastructure has been destroyed and damaged, and threats to the physical safety of schoolchildren have significantly limited access to functioning schools. In addition, due to the active phase of the war and regular rocket attacks, many regions of Ukraine are experiencing blackouts and limited access to the Internet, which directly impedes e-learning in schools. Therefore, for a certain category of participants in the educational process, the use of the AOS electronic platform has become the only way to have guaranteed access to Ukrainian education. In this regard, it is extremely important to ensure its sustainable, uninterrupted and effective functioning.
A number of activities were carried out as part of the project, including:
- a comprehensive study of the factors of sustainability of the AOS functioning in the face of blackouts and cyberattacks was conducted to develop appropriate methodological recommendations and countermeasures, including those to ensure the smooth and efficient operation of the AOS;
- an audit of the security of the AOS was conducted to identify potential improvements in the development of methodological and practical approaches to protect personal data of registered AOS users as well as information from educational content in the context of russia’s large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine;
- methodological and practical measures were taken to technically modernise the e-learning web platform to ensure its sustainability under martial law.
The International Renaissance Foundation made it possible to conduct such a comprehensive, all-round, and highly relevant study for Ukrainian education.
The most important results achieved during the project implementation are as follows:
– risks have been assessed, identified and systematised to improve the resilience and ensure the uniterrupted functioning of the AOS in the context of russia’s large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine;
- a security audit of the AOS has been conducted to identify potential improvements to the web platform to improve its data protection;
- computer support has been provided to ensure the sustainable functioning of the AOS in the face of blackouts, cyberattacks and other negative impacts caused by russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine;
- methodological approaches to strengthen the protection of AOS registered users’ personal data and protection of educational content in the context of large-scale armed aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine have been developed;
- technical specification to update AOS web-based e-learning platform in order to provide its uninterrupted functioning under martial law;
- methodological approaches to identify the country of residance of Ukrainian refugee students have been developed to assess the protection of personal data and evaluate the degree of general secondary education coverage by internally displaced students.
Thus, thanks to the support of the International Renaissance Foundation, the All-Ukrainian Online School electronic platform is gaining a greater power reserve whereas Ukrainian students have a guaranteed access to Ukrainian education despite the extraordinary circumstances caused by the war.