Abstract:

Even though the pandemic seems to fade in European countries, the importance of online teaching is not declining as some EU countries are facing the Ukrainian refugee crisis and many Ukrainian students are using the online teaching provided by their home schools. Thus, the importance of research on this topic is still relevant.

Teachers and educators have been trained mostly in technical or IT skills regarding the teaching method (how to use certain software or application, how to schedule the class, how to adjust equipment such as camera or microphone etc.) and these aspects of online teaching are already mastered by now.
The main aim of this paper is to research beyond these technical or IT skills and focus on the interaction between teacher and students in the online environment.

Research questions explored by the paper are:
- How do students perceive online teaching, what do they prefer and how do they interact with other students and teacher.
- How does the teacher perceive the online teaching and what teacher can do to deliver the optimal performance regarding the teaching goals?

The method of research applied in the paper is the combination of the:
Quantitative research:
A survey among the students of the management accounting classes during autumn 2020 and spring 2021 has been conducted and the questionnaire covered the areas of preparation, attendance, and usage of various resources (including recorded classes), preferences of these resources, learning style, study background, educational background, practical experience, international experience, attitudes toward the education and on-line teaching. The descriptive statistics are the result of this research.

Case study research design:
Qualitative experience from the online teaching has been recorded and analyzed, especially the observation of student interactions (student-student and student-teacher), activity, engagement, and the general vibe in the online classroom. Qualitative descriptions and conclusions are the results of this research.

Results in this particular case show that:
Contrary to the initial expectations (online teaching was supposed to be less personal, decreasing students' engagement, lowering the pace of lectures, offering new ways of potential cheating during tests, etc.), - the online teaching has been successful.

Outcomes of the quantitative and qualitative part of the research suggest that none of the originally negative expectations (dehumanization, lower engagement, slower pace, lower activity of students, etc.) have been confirmed during teaching. This has been also confirmed at the end of the semester during the examinations, students’ performance did not show a statistically significant decrease compared to previous semesters.

As unexpected outcomes of the COVID19 teaching - it has proven to be even better in certain aspects (deeper and more personal knowledge of students, students' sense of humor, activity, and engagement during online classes) than regular teaching in the pre-COVID19 period.

Thus, this paper concludes certain teaching tools, techniques, and methods suitable for online teaching. All these can improve the process of online teaching and make it a better and more valuable experience for students as well as for teachers.

Keywords:

COVID19 teaching, Accounting Education, Students Active.