2.4. Lessons learned and Conclusion

2.4. Lessons learned and Conclusion

As a result of the "state of emergency," due to the COVID-19 pandemic all around the world, educational centers were closed and the educational system was reorganized so that million students could continue their education remotely. We can synthesize the situation and the problems experienced in some fundamental ideas: going from face-to-face teaching to distance work trying to reach all the students from one day to the next “without an instruction manual”, with little technological means, little training in its didactic use, little experience in digital education, in networks of learning and collaborative work online, without previous experiences to base upon and without a planned operation, it was not easy at all. Another important point is that the current crisis has forced the educational systems to migrate to the online mode immediately, without time or space for planning and the design of learning experiences for a better teaching and learning procedure. As a result, educational organizations witnessed situations, where the digital divide was exposed – students were saturated with “homework”, forced to stay at home and follow classes online during a long period of confinement, in familiar surroundings that helped when they could or if they could and the academics weren’t sufficiently prepared for this new teaching reality. It is clear for educational organizations that the technologies, which have been essential during the crisis, are not an alternative to the face-to-face educational relationship, but are an increasingly enriching tool to support the teaching-learning process. In adapting to a system of online teaching not all start from the same point, nor they have the same resources or conditions and capacities to do it effectively. This new reality has shown that schools and their academics need to improve their skills and knowledge related to which the best ICT tools are to be used during their classes and students’ profiles and how to use them in the best way. As we have learned during this research, there is a need for specific training for improving academics’ knowledge and in consequence, their eLearning methodologies. They teach in a manner similar to the one they use face to face, did not adaptat to using the eLearning methodologies. Moreover, there is the need for learning techniques for better involvement of students and methods for greater teaching effectiveness for students with special needs. Moreover, academics admit having developed a unique personal teaching strategy during the distance teaching but this point is focused on the use of technologies and new methodologies/teaching strategies have not been acquired by the vast majority of academics.

Another important conclusion is that although they created material for integrating the teaching material, not even half of academics’ state that they use existing materials on the internet, what shows the need of learning how to use eLearning resources available or how to create a concrete eLearning resource. It is clear that the existence of limitations of online education and students have given different clues for knowing the aspects that give us the keys to define eLearning methodologies.

We can summarize the main ideas on: - eLearning methodology: § Positive aspects (aspects should be considered for including in the definition of eLearning methodologies) 1. Multiple lectures recorded and presentations shared. 2. Work in different programs. 3. Academics sharing screen. 4. Doing more assignments, presentations and credits is good for learning more. 5. Good organization of teaching despite obstacles. 6. Use of teamwork: it is difficult, but it is an important aspect for including. 7. To provide materials such as pdf, videos, animations or ppt presentations. 8. The option of listening to lecture outside the lecture period by recording. 9. Always responding to emails or messages through Teams/platforms: not delay the answers. 10. Dynamic, actives and lively lectures. 11. Individual and small group assignments. 12. Have a clear instructions/guide.

- Relationship lecturer – student

Throughout the discussion above it is clear that the personal contact with the teacher and classmates is one of the main characteristics demanded by students. This direct contact allows students to be more motivated to study. Receiving help from classmates, creating and working in a team, empathy, involving students in the teaching process in class, provoking student asking them more, extra hours of tutoring and communication with students, forums implementations, shared working rooms, etc.

A second aspect is to offer feedback in online education – direct communication for encouraging students and teachers to exchange opinions and feedbacks. Making this aspect real is difficult, when we use eLearning methods and some improvements could be done e.g. by: providing timely and constructive eLearning feedback, showing real world implications to encourage change, focusing on skills or behaviors that can be altered, encouraging group eLearning feedback through collaborative exercises, letting students know academics are available for questions and comments, encouraging students to participate in survey or organizing quizzes. Feeling part of a community is an aspect to take into consideration. Students remark that the lack of the instructor’s presence can generate feeling of isolation and lack of support.

- Academics’ methodology

One aspect that we consider necessary to indicate is that a large number of the comments and responses of the students indicate the lack of knowledge of the use of eLearning resources by teachers. A summary sentence of this finding would be: Elearning is inefficient if teachers do not know how to teach in an online environment and the lessons don't make sense then at all. The evidence collected in this study can be used to improve the eLearning methodologies of academics and responsible educational practitioners. The results can be used for the development of academic methodologies and teaching methods for being more effective and attractive for students. Also, as a result of the experience with eLearning during the Covid 19 pandemic situation and the feedback from students and academics, we can work towards preparing the university for the future, that could be carried out online and the teaching methodology will be absolutely different. If we compare this result with the new concept of academic methodologies, it is evident that there is the need for highlighting the known as “active methodologies” in education. All active methodologies have common objectives a nd processes –to ensure that students participate actively in the learning process, cooperate with other students, reflect, make decisions and expand their knowledge. We also have to answer the question about how active methodologies and digital technologies can foster a more active participation of students in their learning process.

Oltra (2019) postulates the following: “Active methodologies are necessary to integrate into the process of adapting university education to the EHEA3 and research into these techniques will undoubtedly facilitate their incorporation. An adequate change in teaching practices will allow society to offer creative, reflective professionals with a solid base of technical and technological knowledge, capable of learning throughout life and with essential communication skills nowadays. The university, as a trainer of professionals and a creator of science and technology, faces an important challenge: to pay its land in an appropriate way to obtain graduates with knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as competent in the working world; qualities that undoubtedly foster these methodologies actively.” Distance learning or blended learning in a stricter sense is the mix of face-to-face and online activities and this is considered the future of education. Methodologies and resources such as virtual campus, flipped classroom, peer instruction, problem-based learning, projectbased learning, game-based learning work well, when they are adequately combined with information and communication technologies as they put the student at the center of the teaching and learning process. Likewise, it is clear that technology applied to education is an increasingly essential tool to help teachers in the development of their learning models and it has been widely used as a way to connect better with students. However, for making the distance teaching a really postitive experience, the improvement of academics' skills and knowledge of ICT use is needed.

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3 European Higher Education Area

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