The role of digital tools and educational platforms in students’ professional training

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The article presents a comprehensive analysis of the role of digital tools and educational platforms in students’ professional training within the context of higher education transformation driven by digitalization, socio-economic instability, and the need to ensure continuity of the educational process. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of digital technologies in the professional development of future specialists and to identify key challenges and areas for improvement, using the case of a higher education institution operating under conditions of unstable infrastructure. The research synthesizes contemporary approaches to the digitalization of education and empirical data obtained from a student survey on the quality of educational materials, the convenience of platform, teacher–student communication, and the use of artificial intelligence in learning. The findings indicate that the predominance of distance learning is associated with several systemic challenges, including technical instability, insufficient access to digital resources, a limited practical orientation of educational programs, and inadequately developed mechanisms for assessing academic achievement. Special attention is given to the use of artificial intelligence, which is viewed both as an indicator of students’ advanced digital adaptation and as a potential threat to academic integrity, given the lack of methodologically grounded strategies for integrating it into the educational process. The scientific novelty of the study lies in systematization of challenges in professional training at the organizational-technical, curricular-pedagogical, and infrastructural levels, as well as in identifying the potential of digital platforms and simulation environments to enhance the practical component of education. The practical significance of the findings consists in substantiating the need for an adaptive educational model aimed at developing professional and soft skills, increasing student motivation, and aligning educational content with the real demands of professional activity.