Abstract:

The impact of the pandemic on higher education has left its mark on all actors in the educational process. In the case of Croatia, pandemics combined with natural disasters i.e. strong earthquakes posed additional challenges to the educational process. The transition to a full e-learning environment created fewer problems for the ones that were already using blended learning in their line of teaching but was more challenging to the ones that were accustomed to traditional face-to-face learning. On the other hand, this new environment, now called crisis e-learning, pointed to series of other problems and unpreparedness of other facilities supporting and enhancing the educational process. The migration of teaching to the virtual world also meant a virtual way of working, which required access to quality equipment and digital resources.

Purpose: This paper explores how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the higher education sector exploring students’ perception of the e-learning environment. Special emphasis is put on the problems and challenges that were experienced during the pandemic and natural disaster period to prevent a similar future crisis.
Methodology: The research was conducted using qualitative and quantitative methods with a group of students from the field of social sciences and humanities which originally was not so much emerged into e-learning.

Outcomes:
Teachers and librarians primarily report the lack of continuing professional education and development in the field of e-learning. Students have experienced problems that arose from lack of a face-to-face meeting with their teachers and peers, the problem of access to reading materials and literature, the costs of e-learning, and their financial sustainability. Based on the research results different scenarios and recommendations regarding faster changes in study programs and necessary changes in the University will be offered.

Keywords:

e-learning, university library, COVID-19.