Global learning environment: Sustaining collaborative teaching initiatives in Russia

Networked collaborations emerged in response to the demand for new creative educational structures which reflect on-going socio-economic transformations and current environmental risks. Networked collaborations is a type of dynamic partnerships among autonomous, spatially distributed, and diverse educational institutions that function as equal partners and are empowered by technology. This article describes noospheric aspects of such partnerships among Russian vocational education institutions, which leverage the existing resources and create new values for preparing vocational teachers with noospheric qualities. Using the example of a newly-created master-degree program for vocational teachers, the author emphasises the importance of the innovative networked collaborations in harnessing strengths of the contributing institutions that create conceptually new educational structures and hence change the vocational teacher education paradigm.