Annotation-The article presents the results of a study (interviewing, questioning) of students of higher professional education to identify the positive and negative aspects of distance learning and its place in the educational process. The answers of respondents to the questionnaire questions about the effectiveness of the use of digital technologies in the conditions of quarantine measures from 2000 -early 2022 are analyzed. The purpose of the study: to find out the opinion of students about the quality of educational activities in the distance learning format during the COVID-19 pandemic and other periods; to identify the difficulties that the participants of the educational process overcame in connection with the emergency transition to online learning; to determine the prospects of the developed online learning system at the university level. Research Methods: Theoretical -analysis of literature on the topic of the study, empirical -questioning through written and oral questioning, qualitative and quantitative analysis of research results. In addition, the published results and theoretical approaches of similar Russian and foreign studies were analyzed [1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 10, 11]. # Conclusions and Recommendations: The results obtained in the course of the study show that students mostly positively assess the transition to distance education; however, forced digitalization has also revealed the opposing sides of this transition; according to the authors, it is necessary to develop the principles of a mixed system of the educational process, providing for a combination of online and offline formats following the requests and specific conditions of educational activity depending on the orientation and profile of the training. # Introduction n 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic affected many areas of human life, and education was no exception, the structure of which required a radical restructuring. Instead of the traditional format, which provides for contact interaction between students and a teacher, a new form has appeared -distance learning. The terms "innovative" and "traditional" education and the idea of their alternativeness did not appear in the XXI century, but in 1978 in a report to the Club of Rome. A group of scientists who drew the attention of the world community to the fact that the principles of traditional education are inadequate to the requirements of modern society for the individual and the development of her creative abilities. Innovative training in this report was interpreted as focused on creating a person's readiness for rapidly coming changes in society, willingness for an uncertain future through the development of creative abilities, various forms of thinking, as well as the ability to cooperate with other people. Summarizing the specifics of innovative (training, it is necessary to highlight its features: the openness of learning to the future, the ability to anticipate based on constant reassessment of values, and the ability to work together in new situations. In the monograph "Technological business education of adults. Methodology and practice" S.A. Schennikov writes: "with the changing role of science in people's lives, changes in approaches to the construction of the content of education are required. If earlier the content of education was based solely on scientific knowledge, now scientific knowledge should become only one of the components of the content of education" [17, p.9]. In connection with the transition of humankind to a new era of its existence, education will change more over the next few decades than in all the 300-plus years that have passed since the emergence of the modern schools as a result of printing. In the above work "Technological business education of adults. Methodology and practice, "the authors emphasize that "a society in which knowledge becomes a genuine capital and the main resource imposes new, moreover, strict requirements on educational institutions in the sense of their educational activities and responsibility for it" [17, p.9]. Thus, the distance education format has become a new innovative type of education, which in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic, has become an outlet for ensuring the continuity of the educational process. Digitalization is gaining momentum at a rapid pace in many areas of academic activity: retraining and advanced training, obtaining additional professional education, where movement is no longer feasible without digital technologies since in most cases, it is carried out on the job with the help of open education tools, providing many opportunities for obtaining both essential and additional knowledge and providing "accessibility while maintaining quality" [9, p. 267]. However, at the level of getting secondary vocational and higher education, the situation is not quite so clear. # II. # Theoretical Analysis of the Literature The possibilities of open education using digital technologies have been actively discussed by researchers for a quarter of the XXI century in connection with the tasks of developing the concept of inclusive education, the formation of educational programs based on flexible educational trajectories, the introduction of artificial intelligence systems into the educational environment [1; 5; 6; 8; 9]. However, the quarantine measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that both teachers and students were not ready for a complete and rapid transition from the traditional education format to digital. This conclusion is confirmed by the results of numerous studies, which indicate that the quality of education has significantly decreased [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Research Base: The study involved 100 1st-year students of the State University of Management receiving professional education in the following areas of training: Hotel and Restaurant business, Management, Innovation, Sociology and Psychology of Management, and Business Informatics. Research Methods and Techniques: -Theoretical (analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature, analysis, comparison), -empirical (ascertaining experiment, questionnaire), -qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data obtained. The survey was conducted using a semi-structured interview, which included the following questions: 1. What are your associations with distance learning (BEFORE)? 2. Which training system is preferable for you: online or offline? 3. Does the DO system inherent in your educational institution meet your expectations and educational needs? 4. What, in this regard, are your wishes for teachers, administration, and students? 5. What, in your opinion, are the prospects for UP? 6. Does the form of the educational process affect your self-organization? The students' answers are given in the following tables. # Research Results Thus, as a result of the survey of students, the problems of a technical, psychological, didactic and educational nature that the participants of the educational process faced during the period under review were identified; the hypothesis about the social consequences and risks of forced transition from offline to online learning during the pandemic was confirmed, such as: insufficient level of general education and professional training of specialists, who received pedagogical education in the period under review; a decrease in overall satisfaction with the educational activities of all participants in the educational process; in the view of students -a decrease in their motivation for learning activities, difficulties in developing emotional and social intelligence, a decrease in the level of selforganization, in addition, challenges in forming the communicative competence of future teachers, which complicates their further professional adaptation in changing conditions of activity. Based on the responses of students of the State University of Management, the author identifies the following social risks from the situation of forced forcing of digitalization of education during the pandemic: insufficient level of professional training of specialists who received secondary and higher education in the period 2020-2022; decrease in the communicative competence of students; decrease in their motivation to study; deterioration of the health of participants in the educational process, primarily decreased vision, deterioration of the musculoskeletal system, overweight; deviations in behavior. Thus, "the distance format will not be able to completely replace the traditional format soon" [12; p. 149] since it does not contribute to the realization of the fundamental task of education as a social institution -the transmission of generational experience, cultural values, since the impact and influence of the teacher, the teacher today is complicated by the lack of direct contact interaction. # IV. Literature Distance Education: Pros and Cons. Opinion of Russian Students (On the Example of the Moscow State University of Management) * Distance learning through the eyes of a student / K. N. Arinova, A. E. Erkinova // Distance education: transformation, advantages, risks and experience. Materials of the I All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference with international participation KNArinova December 16-18, 2020. 2020 Ufa; Ufa Bashkir State Pedagogical University named after M. 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