EDUCATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
EDUCATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Summary/Abstract: Online education has been around for at least 15 years and in the last decade more and more people have attended one of the forms of e-learning. We have been talking about ubiquitous computing, m-learning, e-learning, immersive technology, but nobody has imagined a world in which education would be provided exclusively online without thorough preparation, almost from one day to the next. The COVID-19 pandemic brought disruptions not only to the global economy, but also to other sectors of activity including education. Whole communities had to adapt rapidly to teaching and learning exclusively online which led to a number of problems that had not been encountered before. Designing an online course is similar to designing a traditional one because of the stages followed to ensure that its goals and objectives are met. It also involves analysing the beneficiaries, their needs and expectations, the content of the course, the materials used, the teaching strategies, but also the limitations of the institution, the technology available, the staff, etc. However, the education system was not prepared for moving at a brisk pace from traditional interaction to the virtual one and inevitably educators were in the position to burn some of the stages of course design. Finally, while the current situation could not have been avoided, it can still be used to raise some questions and learn some lessons from the way in which traditional courses were altered in order to be provided online.

• Details
• Contents