In the global information and educational era with the increasing importance of information technology, distance learning allows acquiring high-quality professional education by means of the access to educational and additional materials, a fast way of transferring information in the process of interaction between a student and teachers. Due to COVID-19 coronavirus infection pandemic, the management of Altai State University decided to transfer the pedagogical process to distance learning for the safety of students and teachers, minimizing the need for their physical presence in classrooms. However, for a classical university, the forced transition to full distance learning requires a careful analysis associated with both the assessment of the effectiveness of training and the formation of students' motivation. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.