Abstract:

COVID-19 pandemic has brought fast worldwide changes and a move to remote ways of learning in education with very little advance notice. Even though distance education is not new; however, it was more of an exception than the norm before the pandemic. Such mass distance education has never existed in any country so far in the history of education. Education has always paid great attention to the validity of methods and didactics, but the pandemic has created a situation where there was no time to develop new learning methods and everything was being figured out in the process. We initially accepted this as a special COVID-19 arrangement. However, we now understand that a new reality of education is emerging. The return to normality will not be a simple one-time transition to life as it used to be (Daniel, 2020). Thus, the rhetorical question is whether we should talk about the "new normal" or about "other education" beyond the pandemic (Azorin, 2020).

This article explores subjective educational experiences of students studying in Lithuania and Ukraine. A total of 16 study participants, who have studied remotely during the pandemic, were recruited using convenience sampling. Students participated in online or face-to-face semi-structured interviews and described their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interview questions were: How do the changes in the learning environment impact your learning motivation? What are your new study routines? What is your experience of hybrid learning? How have relations with the teachers and fellow students changed? How has the physical learning environment at the university changed? What kind of world can you imagine without COVID-19 virus? How have you changed as a person due to the pandemic and what are the experiences that you gained? What are your experiences of returning to the classroom as quarantine restrictions are being loosened?

We apply a phenomenological approach to emphasize that "new normal" means a qualitatively new human relationship with the environment, marked by a sign of an existential crisis. In such circumstances, existential learning is taking place, in which "something about a person's life circumstances [is] changed so that [one] cannot go on as before" (DeRobertis, 2017, p. 43). The changes that are taking place as a result of the pandemic are deeply disturbing and frightening to people, both because of their health threats and because of their uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic is a time when we need to use bracketing, epoché, as phenomenologists would say, our previous knowledge in order for us to look at and understand the new, unusual experiences that accompany us. At first it seemed that with the help of masks, disinfection, and later vaccination and other means, we would be able to distance ourselves from the virus and continue to live our lives. However, it is now clear that we must learn to live with experiences in which the COVID-19 virus cannot be pushed into a dualistic way of looking at life. Therefore, the perspective of phenomenology becomes more important than ever. "New normal" in education is definitely a different world which we all need to figure out together.

Keywords:

New normal, education, COVID-19 pandemic, phenomenology.