Abstract:

In 2018 the European Commission has adopted the Communication on the Digital Education Action Plan. This document focuses on implementation and the need to stimulate, support and scale up purposeful use of digital and innovative education practices as well as outlines three main priorities:
1) making better use of digital technology for teaching and learning;
2) developing relevant digital competences and skills for the digital transformation and
3) improving education through better data analysis and foresight.

Digital learning is any type of learning that uses technology. E-learning is one of the main positive aspects of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education. The positive impact of ICT is also the acquisition of competences, such as critical thinking and collaboration. ICT offers learners’ tasks that are better suited to individual needs, makes it easier to organize their own learning, which increases student responsibility for their own learning. The widespread use of ICT in education involves the organization of digital learning. Adult education is one of the most complex education field, the study of which in digital form is a time-consuming and methodically complex process, the expansion of which is relevant. Currently, in Latvia, due to Covid-19, all training takes place remotely. Despite the fact that e-learning has been introduced as a part of the adult education process for a long time, now, i.e. during the Covid-19 lockdown, a number of problems emerge that limit full-fledged distance learning.

For that reason, the aims of the article are:
1) to evaluate the effectiveness of using various methods of digital learning in adult education, taking into account the experience of learning during COVID-19 lockdown situation,
2) to identify problems emerged,
3) to highlight the most relevant didactic aspects of digital learning and the use of ICT in order to drive content and provide continuity and availability of adult education.

The empirical study includes an analysis of the results of interviews with adult teachers and learners' surveys on teaching and learning experiences during COVID-19 lockdown situation.

Keywords:

Adult Education, Digital learning, e-learning, ICT, Competence, Learning outcomes.