Abstract:

At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, Coronavirus (COVID-19) spread all over the world. Globally, it has been named a pandemic and caused a crisis situation in countries all over the world, including Latvia. Since March 2020, Latvia’s education system has been forced to teach pupils at schools, students at higher educational establishments and life-long learning for adults by means of distance learning. This type of learning was new to those, who had never experienced it before.

The authors of this article focus on the tertiary education system in Latvia, and Daugavpils in particular. A survey has been carried out to investigate what kind of attitude students hold towards distance learning and the use of various digital technologies and resources available for the implementation of such a type of learning. The aim of the survey is to figure out whether students prefer classes in lecture-room or from home, to find out what seems beneficial and which aspects are considered drawbacks in the use of various tools employed during on-line classes. It is noteworthy that students’ views on distance learning are dependent on the study programme. The main strengths of distance learning are the economy of time (it particularly refers to time spent on travelling to and from the university, it is more convenient for them to simply turn their computers on and connect to a class), and saving money (reduced or no payment for dormitories, travel expenses, etc.). On the other hand, the number of drawbacks of distance learning mentioned at times outweighs its strengths. Students miss the social life where they can chat to their peers and teaching staff, express themselves in a way that can hardly be done via e-platforms. The constant use of a computer does harm their health (their eyes and backs, etc.). The list of available e-platforms for distance learning is rather long (ZOOM, Microsoft Teams, Yandex video conferencing, Livestorm, Zoho Meeting, Pexip, TeamViewer, RingCentral Video, GoToMeeting, ezTalks Meetings, Cisco Webex, Skype, Apache OpenMeetings, join.me, Google Hangouts and many more), but the results of the survey demonstrate that the preference in Latvia is given to two platforms, namely, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. What concerns the tools used during on-line classes, students admit that they generally enjoy being involved in various activities, but they also note that their use often slows down the process of studies (mainly due to technical problems), as well as not always allows for achieving learning outcomes. The results of the students’ survey echo the results of the interviews carried out with the representatives of teaching staff and testify to the fact that as good and beneficial distance learning may seem, it is not to replace face-to-face on-site studies.

Keywords:

Distance learning, e-platforms, tools, students attitude, survey.