Abstract:

Education was not among the main areas targeted by digitization. Even though access to information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure in education is widespread, students generally encounter new technologies outside the classroom. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the opportunities for students to learn around the world. Students and teachers have been forced to switch from traditional classrooms to online learning. In such a climate of unpredictability regarding online teaching, naturally, many questions have arisen regarding its effectiveness, its impact on education actors.
Under these conditions, researchers and practitioners should carefully reconsider the role of teachers, students, and the technological environment for online learning and make continuous efforts to adequately address the underlying epistemological basis of education (Tsai, 2013). The stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic can easily demotivate and suppress student learning, as previous studies have shown that negative emotions can inhibit learning. (Pekrun, 2017). The guiding question of this paper was students' motivation for learning with the help of virtual platforms, which was a novelty for all stakeholders. Understanding the factors that impact student perceptions could also help teachers make informed decisions about courses and organizational design, as well as the orientation of professional development workshops for teachers.
In carrying out this research, it was aimed to highlight the stimulation and maintenance of motivation for learning in the online environment of primary school students. Analyzing the opinions of both teachers and students from the focus groups conducted regarding the aspects of the didactic process under the conditions of online didactic activities during the suspension of face-to-face meetings.
Therefore, the use of digital tools increases the attractiveness that students have towards the learning process and school in general. So, the use of multimedia devices and virtual platforms in teaching-learning-assessment represents a natural continuity with how as early as 2001 Prensky called the young generation "digital natives" - a generation that is "born with a phone/tablet in hand" and - consequently – she is much more willing and motivated to engage in a learning process that uses predominantly the ways of working with which she is already accustomed.

Keywords:

Learning, online environment, motivation, digital platforms, primary school.