Experience of using virtual leaders in modern media education

Abstract

The article discusses the results of an experiment conducted at the Faculty of Philology and Journalism of Astrakhan State University with students studying in the direction of “Journalism” 2021–2023. The purpose of the experiment was to study the forms of using technologies for creating virtual presenters in the educational process. The experiment included six main stages. Students received assignments in the disciplines “Preparation of publications on the Internet”, “Work of a journalist in a convergent editorial environment”, “Concept of new media”. An analysis was made of the process of forming the skill of designing video content with the participation of virtual presenters and the subsequent development of such competencies as working with new technologies for visualizing a media project based on artificial intelligence, creating mixed media formats, preparing text for dubbing by a virtual presenter, etc. As a result, it is concluded that in general, these technologies make it possible to increase the practical orientation of the learning process, increase the variety of forms of work with educational materials, stimulate the interest and motivation of students, and implement new areas of project activity. The author highlights the main advantages of using virtual presenter models in the educational process: low cost, availability of services, high speed and ease of content distribution, etc. At the same time, the identified shortcomings are also noted: lack of scientific literature and methodological recommendations of practitioners, imperfection of the technical parameters of services, ethical problems of the prospect of replacing people’s work with artificial intelligence technologies. In general, the goal of the study has been achieved, and the materials developed within its framework can be used by teachers of the humanities to include the presented practices in the educational process.