Distance Learning Nowadays: the Usage of Didactic Potential of MOOCs (on platforms Coursera, edX, Universarium) in Higher Education.

The challenges of the present days not only identify trends but also arrange priorities in high education. Distance format has replaced (temporarily or not) offline learning and has determined new approaches in educational process organization. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have already been functioning for several years, but right now they can be the part of that ‘didactic airbag’ that can help universities to ensure training of high quality. The most MOOCs are accumulated in international learning platforms like Coursera, edX, Udacity and others. These providers offer open access courses of different programs with verified content. The integration of MOOCs in traditionally training courses and programs requires from the teachers specific skills and abilities which make up digital competence. In the context of MOOCs integration in traditional educational process the components of digital competence are to be clarified in accordance with digital and technical opportunities of the international learning platforms. The present paper compares language online courses offered by three large educational platforms American Coursera and edX and Russian Universarium from the point of view of their digital facilities and didactic possibilities (training, checking, evaluating resources) that would help the practicing teacher to choose the most convenient learning platform and the appropriate courses to be integrated in high education.