Abstract:

With the annual improvement of information technologies the increasingly growing need for virtual learning in education sector is noted. It is obvious there was a real outbreak of virtual learning in education in the beginning of 2020. When the whole world faced the pandemic of COVID-19 virus, the education process and content for every age group had to be transposed into virtual learning environments. Thus, when Lithuania announced quarantine from 16 March 2020, the teachers had to change their work methods and they had to rearrange the whole education system in a very short time. If the virtual learning was only fragmented before, currently it has become the only way for communication with students and their parents. The greatest challenge was how, with the help of smart devices, to create the involving atmosphere, keep the students focused and interested and to preserve the sense of belonging of the class and their willingness for dialogue.

This article analyses what challenges are faced by primary teachers when applying education only in virtual learning environment and how the application of virtual learning environment affected the learning process of students.

The results of empirical research revealed that in primary education process the use of virtual learning environment allowed more active development of students’ responsibility for learning achievements, encouragement of students’ learning motivation and independent learning process planning and management. In turn, the pedagogues faced some specific challenges: they had to assimilate the knowledge and skills of information technology management within a very short period of time, explore reliable and user-friendly tools and platforms of information technologies where to store and share learning material for students, provide feedback, evaluate them and ensure their self-evaluation, they needed abundant efforts to find the most appropriate strategies of collaboration with parents.

Keywords:

Primary education, virtual learning environment, learning process, information technologies.