Pedagogical foundations for the formation of a student’s virtual identity in the educational environment of a digital university
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The article is devoted to a comprehensive theoretical and analytical study of the pedagogical foundations for the formation of a student’s virtual identity in the educational environment of a digital university. The relevance of the topic is determined by the profound transformational processes in higher education associated with the spread of digital platforms, automated services, and virtual educational environments, which are changing the nature of student participation in the learning process and the ways in which they interact with the university environment. Under these conditions, educational interaction increasingly takes place in virtual space, where digital tools perform the functions not only of a technical intermediary but also of a factor of pedagogical influence. This highlights the need to rethink the role of a student as an active participant in the educational process in a digital environment and to define the conditions for forming their sustained educational presence. Under these conditions, virtual identity emerges as a sustainable form of a student’s educational presence, which is formed through systematic interaction with digital tools for learning, communication, and management of learning engagement. The aim of the article is to provide a theoretical justification for the pedagogical mechanisms for the formation of a student’s virtual identity and to analyze the practical experience of implementing an integrated virtual educational environment within the university structure. The methodological basis of the study consists of methods of theoretical analysis, systematization, and generalization of scientific approaches to the digitalization of education, as well as an analysis of the practical results of the pilot implementation of a digital educational platform. The article describes the key functional components of the virtual educational environment, in particular, mechanisms of authentication and academic identification, tools for organizing schedules and tracking learning engagement, gamified motivational elements, digital student identifiers, and personalization and institutional communication services. It has been shown that the coordinated functioning of these components ensures the integrity of the educational environment and influences the nature of student engagement in learning activities. It is substantiated that the integration of these components contributes to increasing student engagement, supports the continuity of educational interaction, and creates conditions for the formation of a conscious and stable virtual identity. The practical experience of the pilot implementation of the EUni student account in 2025 confirmed the feasibility of the comprehensive use of digital tools as components of a holistic educational environment. The prospects for further development of digital university models related to the expansion of automated educational and management processes are outlined.
