Digitalization of education has its own history, development stages, prospects and difficulties. In this paper, the authors consider specific features of e-learning in the process of teaching various disciplines to students of modern Russian universities. The authors present some positive and negative aspects of the introduction of e-learning elements into the traditional educational process. Specific features of information technology use in traditional and distance learning, and possibilities of their combination are considered. The authors offer examples of online courses and their elements in the learning process. The ability to combine full-time and technological learning is one of the main advantages of mixed learning (a hybrid format). This hybrid approach combines different learning methods and techniques. The application of the mixed e-learning model greatly simplifies the work of a teacher: you can reduce the time to present theoretical material by creating video lectures, more efficiently use time in the classes. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.