The phenomenon of participatory culture in network communication and its educational potential

A new cultural phenomenon that has been little explored by Russian scientists – the culture of complicity, the essence of which consists in joint development and creation of digital content by members of a virtual community united by interests, standards and values, – has been studied. It has been proved that the co-creation culture, which originated as a form of leisure and entertainment of fandom members, has an underestimated learning potential. Traditional classical university education, due to its conservatism and inertia, continues to rely on old proven teaching methods, while the generation Z, which has become students, due to the specifics of primary socialization, which can be called “digital”, and the digital divide among teachers and learners, is not able to adequately respond to the applied educational methods. The co-creation methodology can be used in higher education, because the activity of virtual community on collective creation of new virtual content gives skills of teamwork, trains creativity, the ability to analyze and evaluate their work and the activities of colleagues in the community. These skills and competencies are important for a university graduate and will help them to adapt and find their place in a dynamically changing society. University will soon have to compete with new models of presenting educational content (free lectures, podcasts, etc.), so the sphere of higher education needs new learning technologies generated by cyberspace.