Master students' perceptions of online teaching and learning during the pandemic

ENDuring the pandemic, the traditional education system shifted to online teaching and learning. In the time that has passed since the beginning of the pandemic, important changes were recorded in the way that education is thought and delivered, at any level of education. Starting with March 2020, when schools were physically closed, online learning became the only way to continue the educational process, although teachers, parents, students, institutions, and officials from the educational system, as well as decision-makers, were not prepared for such a big change. With advantages and limitations, this substitute for traditional education represented a major challenge and opened up multiple opportunities for transforming education, rethinking pedagogical paradigms in line with changes in education-related fields, and transforming the school ethos into a space for inclusion, promoting values, for access to quality education. This research aims to analyze the perceptions of master students as regard online teaching in two East-European countries: Lithuania and Romania. The focus is on the suitability of online teaching, feedback, and support. The provided feedback illustrates that the online teaching/learning process is strongly influenced by a series of variables related to the teachers’ competencies, their ability to introduce proper didactic methods and adapt the content, their capacity to motivate students, to raise the students’ attention, and to stimulate the students’ involvement. More, providing real support, offering fast feedback, and strongly mediating teacher-student communication represent important issues for creating a successful format for online education. Keywords: COVID19 pandemic, exploratory study, online teaching, students’ support, students’ feedback. [From the publication]

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