Abstract:

The focus of this study is on the university, where before distance learning, teaching took place mainly at the university campus and the number of e-learning courses was low. The aim of the survey, conducted at the end of spring, during corona pandemic, was to find out how university lecturers and students coped with the conditions of remote distance learning and what university could learn from this experience to manage similar situations better in the future. More specifically, we were trying to answer the following questions: How did the lecturers and students assess their level of coping with the conditions of remote distance learning, and what aspects influenced coping the most during this period? A total of 153 lecturers and 527 students responded to the survey.

Based on the results of the study, we may say that in general, the curriculum completed, but both teachers and students found that their performance was subpar in comparison to regular lectures. Namely, 39% of the teachers stated that their teaching performance was somewhat or significantly worse than in a normal classroom situation, and almost 35% of the students indicated that their learning ability was worse during distance learning in comparison to regular studies. First-year students felt more difficulties than any other group.

There was a strong positive correlation between faculty members’ assessment of the students' coping with remote distance learning, level of support from the university, evaluation of their digital competence and evaluation of their home work environment. 33% of the variability in lecturers 'coping with distance learning (compared to regular studies) was explained by their assessment of students' engagement (β = 0.573). In other words, if the students' engagement was rated higher, then coping with distance teaching was also rated higher.

In the case of students, the more satisfied they were with their learning experience, the higher they rated their digital competences, the more they confirmed their engagement in the study process, satisfaction with their home environment and digital tools supporting distance learning. In the case of students, 49% of the variability in their coping with distance learning (compared to regular learning) was explained by the variables included in the model, with the main factors being engagement during online classes (β = 0.424), supportive home learning environment (β = 0.221) and age (β = -0.126).

Based on the results it can be said that the university was able to mobilize its units and reorganize its resources for quick transition to remote distance learning, but the lecturers lacked methodological skills on how to transfer successfully to e-learning. Thus dissatisfaction with learning outcomes of both lecturers and students increased. On the other hand, the study also showed that a large proportion of students lack self-regulation and learning skills, and when engagement and feedback in the learning process are low and need for self-directed learning high, coping with learning becomes difficult. The crisis provided a significant impetus for the rapid development of digital competences, but also highlighted the weaknesses of the system. Paying attention to the issues of e-learning quality and learning support is the university's next challenge.

Keywords:

Coping with online teaching and learning, digital competences, engagement, self regulation.