The article is devoted to the problem of specification of approaches to the design and implementation of electronic educational courses in conditions of continuously and dynamically changing digital information and learning environment of the modern university. Based on the results of the content analysis of the digital infrastructure and regulatory documentation of the Siberian Federal University and the discursive analysis of the leading trends in the field of digital education, necessary conditions for a successful professional pedagogical activity are described. On the basis of smart education principles, possible solutions to the problems of teaching at university, such as personification of teaching, project-oriented courses and initiating the launch of mechanisms for students’ informal self-education are synthesized and justified.