The higher educational reform being currently in progress calls for the creation of an open digital educational space, which makes the joint activity of autonomous actors a topical issue, as it is central to the online educational process. In order to be able to actively and effectively participate in online education, students of higher educational institutions need to have formed a psychological readiness for carrying out joint as autonomous actors in online learning.This article analyses the problem of students’ psychological readiness for joint activity as autonomous actors in the process of online education and discusses theoretical and practical aspects of online education in higher school. It also reports empirical research carried out by the authors in order to classify students into groups with different levels of psychological readiness for joint activity based on the criteria of autonomy and jointness.The methods for this research included interviews and questionnaire surveys, as they allowed us to identify the indicators of autonomy and jointness of activity.The article describes indicators of low-level and high-level autonomy in the process of online education and joint activity. Based on these indicators, the authors describe different types of students with different levels of motivational, volitional and communicational readiness for joint activity as autonomous actors.Our research enables us to argue that in the process of online education it is possible to create conditions for students to develop a high-level psychological readiness for joint activity as autonomous actors.

joint activity, psychological readiness, autonomy of participants, educational process, online education