Abstract:

March 2020 posed a huge challenge for Czech education. In essence, all types of schools have been closed day by day as a result of measures against the spread of COVID19. From day to day we were forced to change the style and methods of teaching, consulting, conducting final theses and also examing or testing. The changes affected both students in the combined form and in the full-time form, where the share of personal contact with the teacher has so far significantly exceeded any form of online activities.

In our article, we reflect on the results of a questionnaire survey among 134 students of the Faculty of Education of Palacký University in Olomouc, students of teaching for the 2nd level of primary schools, students of teaching for the 1st level of elementary school and others. The survey focused on several areas, we were interested in the tools used by teachers both in teaching and for testing(examing), their suitability from the perspective of students. We were also interested in the question of what tools were used by the students themselves for communication with each other (eg for the needs of consultations with classmates etc.). Another research area was focused on study materials. We were interested in the ratio of preferences of off-line and online resources and "paper or printed" resources, their quality in terms of sufficiency to prepare for the examination. The categories and representation of occurring materials recommended and delivered to students through electronic communication (presentations, study texts, interactive applications, animations, etc.) were also important for us.

It should be noted that Palacky University in Olomouc has two different, officially used and supported systems for e-learning and many other technologies usable for digital content sharing and electronic communication. Due to the fact that in our education system in general, as well as at our universities, there was no methodology in the given period on how to proceed in a crisis situation of a similar extent, teachers were not bound by any recommendations on which tools to use. The procedure was coordinated only in the form of discussions and meetings at the level of departments, where individual colleagues shared experiences with the use of specific communication tools. The choice of tools and platforms thus remained purely within the competence of each teacher.

This created a diverse range of solutions and approaches that we practiced in teaching. The experience and reactions of our students to them could form the basis of such a methodology and be beneficial for managing not only other unusual situations in the future, but can also serve to increase the use of digital technologies for education.

Keywords:

Mathematics teaching, prospective mathematics teachers, digital technologies, e-learning, COVID19.