Abstract:

The school lockdown and the forced transition to distance and online education as a result of the pandemic was an extraordinary situation that Slovakia did not bypass. Due to these conditions, students and teachers had to switch from full-time study to distance learning, which places relatively high demands on both teachers and students. The paper deals with the conditions of distance and online education of undergraduate teacher training students in order to find out the attitudes of students to distance learning. We analyzed the research intent of the presented study as a descriptive research problem. In descriptive quantitative research, we determined the current situation. We asked ourselves the following research questions: what external conditions students have in distance education? As well as what means, methods and forms students use most often, what is the attitude of students to the difficulty of distance learning? Further, how students are satisfied with distance learning and finally whether distance education is from the point of view of the choice of didactic teaching methods? It is sufficiently stimulating and interactive? We also focused on the basic advantages and disadvantages that students see at distance and online teaching. As the main method of quantitative collection of research data, we used a non-standardized online questionnaire, which we created based on the set descriptive goal of the research. Due to the descriptive nature of the research goal, we have included in the questionnaire items that are mainly related to the conditions of distance education and the satisfaction of students of undergraduate teacher training with online teaching. The paper presents the results of research of students of undergraduate teacher training.

The partial results of the research showed that students expressed dissatisfaction with the conditions of distance learning (e.g. technical and material feature) and also with the complexity of distance education (eg time allowance and comprehensibility of criteria). The results of the research carried out on online teaching correspond to the results that have been processed so far at other universities in Slovakia as well as abroad.

The paper also focuses on the comparison of the results of own research measurements with the results of research carried out as other universities in Slovakia and abroad.

The obtained data point to the insufficient use of interactive methods in teaching. Students more often stated that teachers used online explanation in online lectures, which prevented students from contacting the teacher. On the contrary, in the full-time form of study, students stated that they could be more involved in the teaching process and better cooperate with their classmates.

Of course, it is necessary to take into account that teachers had to switch to the distance form of teaching without any preparation, as in Slovakia it is not customary for full-time teaching, e.g. creates online lectures and annotated materials. For this reason, it is understandable that the quality of distance and online teaching still needs to be worked on. The transition to distance and online education is best handled by a university that has a well-established culture of relationships and cooperation.

Keywords:

Distance learning, e-learning, university education, on-line teaching.