Natig Talibov, vice-rector for Teaching Organization and Training Technologies of Sumgayit State University (SSU), answered questions about the organization of distance learning, resources used and the process in an interview with the "Azerbaijan teacher" newspaper.

- Yes, the coronavirus has become a disaster for the whole world. A number of countries are trying to overcome this global crisis with minimal losses by taking preventive measures. In particular, our country has begun to take timely and decisive measures to prevent large-scale consequences of the borderless pandemic. President Ilham Aliyev's foresight, serious reaction to the events, and the work he did in a short time became an example for other countries. As we know, education in all educational institutions in Azerbaijan was suspended from March 3 to 9 due to the threat of coronavirus by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers. This period was later extended to March 27, and then to the end of April. In accordance with the instructions and recommendations of the Ministry of Education, all classes at Sumgayit State University were organized online to ensure the sustainability of education.

Thus, the work done in this area at SSU can be divided into three stages. In the first stage, it was decided to use WhatsApp instant messaging system. The group leader assigned to organize the teaching enters the names of all students and teachers into the WhatsApp group. The teacher sends the lecture materials to the student's e-mail address, and as a result, the student is provided with the necessary literature.

At this stage, the lessons were to be conducted in accordance with the schedule of the university. As a result of the joint work of lecturers and classroom teachers, the lessons were clearly explained to the students. In the second stage, the use of the Moodle system for the organization of distance learning began.

It should be noted that in order to ensure the sustainability of the educational process, on March 18, 2020, the Ministry of Education recommended all higher education institutions to use the Microsoft Teams platform for distance learning. Starting from that date, the organization of the online teaching process and the integration of teachers and students into the Microsoft Teams platform have been successfully ensured at SSU. In the third phase, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Education, Microsoft Teams, a more capable corporate platform, was launched. All university teachers, full-time and part-time students currently enrolled in moodle.sdu.edu.az and teams.microsoft.com, which are created to use the system, organize classes online.

Other systems used to organize online classes are Zoom meeting online and Trueconf online. The advantage of these systems is the organization of online classes with the participation of all students.

- I don't think so. Of course, we also faced some technical difficulties during the transition to distance education. This was mainly observed among students living in the regions, not among the teaching staff. Gradually, we were able to cope with this problem.

- As a result of the work done and the systems provided, each teacher created his own courses, and students enrolled in these courses and learned from the texts of lectures on the subject, training sessions, methodical instructions for laboratory work, presentations, etc.

- The purpose of distance learning is to create conditions for students to provide teaching and methodological support during the break, to master the educational program. For this purpose, training groups and WhatsApp working groups on departments in all specialties were established.

Students were given methodical instructions for practical training and laboratory work, and it was recommended to study the theoretical parts.