Abstract:

This article examines the effects of student home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic on students' academic performance in a single occupationally oriented Occupational Safety and Health study programme at the Faculty of Education at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. In particular, we wanted to know whether online teaching negatively impacts student learning. We analyzed and compared the impact of attendance (online and physical presence) on learning outcomes in the second and third years of Bachelor's degree for courses with the same credit allocation. At the same time, we compared the hours of class preparation for successfully completing the course with ECTS credits for both forms of instruction. We used a questionnaire form to explore students' online learning experiences, noting changes in the quality of technology and connectivity in the virtual space and the acquisition of new skills associated with online learning.

The present study shows two main conclusions. First, the interviewed students of the OSH field of study at the university do not have problems related to online education in general, and they consider the internet connection or the availability of electronic devices for online learning to be good. Second, after controlling for the factors assessed, it was found that participation in online learning does not reach the quality of physical presence in the classroom, although some consider the time and money saved to be positive. As a negative, most students rated the loss of social contact with classmates and the teacher. Meeting the requirements for successfully completing the course in terms of time demands was the same for both forms of instruction.

Keywords:

Coronavirus disease, online teaching, questionnaire, bachelor study, credit.