This paper analyzes how and to what extend socio-humanities’ faculty members in Russia develop students’
creative activity by the means of information educational environment (IEE). The relevance of this problem
is proven due to the contradiction between current demands of the digital economy labour market and low
digital competence of socio-humanities graduates. We argue that under the conditions of digital economy
creativity can become a key competence for socio-humanities graduates; however in the domain of
education we suggest the use of the term “creative activity”. To understand the level of awareness of this
problem among socio-humanities faculty members, as well as their attitude towards developing students’
creativity through the interaction with the electronic means of the IEE, we conducted a pilot survey among
25 faculty members of two major St. Petersburg universities specializing in socio-humanistic studies. Our
results demonstrated a positive outlook on work with the IEE, a high level of confidence in online activities
being a means to develop students’ universal skills. We also learned about the tools that are currently used
by the respondents to develop their students’ creative activity. In conclusion we suggest the importance of
further pedagogical research to develop a systematic pedagogical approach to the problem.