Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a drastic shift of traditional auditorium-based teaching/learning methods to the new ones, acceptable for virtual learning environments (VLE), as well as in the acceleration of the changes that the field of education had been preparing for several years before the pandemic. The global academia had very little time, if any, to find a united way to manage the pandemic, to reshape the study process in a way suitable for VLE, to change traditional teaching/learning methods to new ones acceptable for that particular moment. It resulted in a number of different strategies applied to tackle a number of pandemic-related educational issues in various countries. The European Union comprises education systems that are particularly nationalised and diverse, and during the pandemic, different national solutions were sought to adjust the education process. Presently, when the teaching and learning process is finding its way back to face-to-face classes, diverse European academia has to tackle the same task, how to bridge the gap between VLE and brick-and-mortar realities in the field of higher education. In light of various changes and developments that were brought about by emergency remote teaching at a college in Lithuania, the authors of this article explore experiences of studying online during and after lockdown, the present study also look at the ways the transition of the study process from VLE to traditional auditoriums is addressed. The paper also presents the findings of a quantitative/qualitative survey that reveal the ways the transition from a traditional environment to online and back was experienced by members of the college community.

Keywords:

Online learning, blended learning, higher education, post-covid, academic community.