Introduction from the Editors of the Thematic Issue

The digital transformation of the economy, education, and everyday life has become a reality. Digital technologies are actively used in the educational process, where teachers' and students work at different levels of education. In psychological and pedagogical research, the concept of a digital learning environment (DLE) is becoming more popular. There are a lot of studies about its influence on the interaction between teachers and students and their academic achievements. There are a lot of discussions about the perception of DLE by participants of the educational process. In this issue authors reveal predictors of DLE adoption and the "barriers of the first and second order". The first "shock" from the sudden and massive transition of the education system "to digital rails" during the COVID-19 pandemic had been replaced with an understanding of the new possibilities of digital technologies and their partial application in modern professional and everyday life. As a result, recently appeared some constructive studies on that, and we selected them for this thematic issue.

The professional community is beginning to understand that the DLE is not only online learning; it´s the whole set of modern digital platforms, LMS, tools, and services for managing the learning and self-learning process and implementing new opportunities for interaction between a teacher and students or schoolchildren. In one of the articles in our new issue, the digital learning environment of a university is understood as a set of digital technologies, methods, and tools designed to support the educational process and the implementation of scientific activities by students and teachers to promote learning, self-learning, and the development of general cultural, professional, and digital competencies that students will need to find their place in the labor market [Sorokova M.G., Odintsovo M.A., Radchikova N.P., Evaluation of digital educational technologies by university teachers].

The DLE consists of various components in different combinations, including: online courses on the educational platforms (Moodle, Coursera, Stepik, etc.); webinar software for distance education (Mirapolis, Zoom, Cisco Webex, Google Meet, etc.); university platforms for independent testing of students' academic achievements (HT-Line, etc.); an electronic library of the universities; digital tools and programs for quantitative analysis of empirical research data (SPSS, Statistica, Mathcad, etc.); tools for checking the uniqueness of texts (Anti-Plagiarism, etc.); and others. There is also an increasing interest in the use of gamification in education.

The indicated trends are discussed in the articles of this thematic issue "Digital socialization and teaching in a digital learning environment". There are three sections: "The role of digital games in the development of children and adolescents", "Digital tools for assessing development, competencies, and behavior" and "Digital learning environment in the modern process of education and upbringing". The first section contains articles that analyze the correlationship between the personal characteristics of adolescent gamers and their behavior in the virtual space, the role of social intelligence in successful task solving in computer games, and the study of the correlation between preferred digital games and the regulatory functions of children 6-7 years old. The second section combines articles that analyze assessments of creativity, digital literacy, cognitive control while using digital tools, as well as cyberloafing among schoolchildren and students. The third section covers the analysis of the readiness of students and teachers to use digital technologies in education and the study of the mechanisms of "virtual education" in the Virtual College of Medical Education and Management of the University of Medical Sciences of Tehran. There is an interesting analysis of the phenomenon of "technostress" and the features of interaction between teachers and students in the DLE provided by scientists from Indonesia. Other subjects are the formation of methodological readiness for mediation in the hybrid model of education and digital storytelling as an educational tool for the formation of spiritual and moral values among adolescents.