In professional education, innovation is introduction of the new in objectives, content, methods and forms of education, development of creative atmosphere in educational process, development of experimental manuals, organization co-creativity of professors and students.

Distance education entered the 21st century as the most effective system of training and continuous maintenance of high level of qualification of experts.

         Topicality of personality fulfillment of professors in the process of distance teaching is conditioned by peculiarities of the current state of education in Russia. On the one hand, development of openness process of the education system promotes the tendency to improve quality of professional work of professors, on the other hand, there appear individual and creative elements, as well as a teacher's striving for professional heights and professional success.

         A professor of higher education is considered as a creative, free, competitive, intelligent personality together with his or her self-actualization, self-realization as a creative personality, display of pedagogical skills whose top level is a personal style of creativity.

         The current educational system is conceptually based on humanistic pedagogy, where education is focused on each student and is centered around their individual skills and abilities. Relationships between a professor as a humane person and a student are based on respectful cooperation. Fulfillment of potential of each person and contributing to development are the main tasks of a teacher.

Knowledge of modern educational technologies is one component of creativity style of a professor of higher education.

In case of distance education, a professor uses traditional and innovative forms of teaching. The traditional forms include lectures, seminars, laboratory classes, term papers, tests, examinations, consultations, individual work of students. A professor should exhibit professionalism and adapt these forms to distance teaching. Today video lectures, chat classes, web classes (remote classes, conferences, seminars, business games, laboratory research, workshops, and other forms of training sessions performed by means of telecommunications and Internet), multimedia lectures, interactive computer lectures accompanied by slide shows, off-line consultations are in common practice, which allows to develop non-standard pedagogical methods.

By creating distant projects, professors contribute to development of their own level of creativity, initiative, it helps to understand and compare their skills with the abilities of co-workers. Distance education environment provides intense growth in education.

         We believe that modern professors of higher education are able to develop special creative atmosphere through their own creativity style. Thus, distance education implements a subject—subject cooperation and collaboration of all participants of educational process by provisioning opportunities for individual, optimal education of students that takes into account their cognitive abilities, motives, interests, and other personal qualities.

An important feature of distance teaching is the use of innovative, active methods and techniques of teaching. Professors usually use case method, method of portfolio, project-based learning, problem-based learning, research-based learning, stimulation and motivation of learning, methods of control and self-control in connection with programmed control.

Distance education creates conditions for changes in the role of the teacher and enhancement of their opportunities. Automation of educational process changes and saves work time of professors and allows them to create, develop their own styles of creativity.

Creative work of professors of higher education is the higher form of vigorous activity of a teacher to transform the teaching itself, in the centre of which there is a student.

Improvement of creative process of professors of higher education requires suitable conditions: support of the administration of a higher institution, opportunities for skill development both intramural and remotely, for self-education using a computer, opportunities of distance learning centres or a higher institution. A professor aimed at development and creativity can choose any form of skill development on the Internet.

Thus, introduction of distance education into the educational process of a higher education institution contributes to individuality of a professor of higher education, development of a pedagogical creativity style.