A Study of the Pedagogy Students’ Perceptions toward Online Courses’ Quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of students' perceptions of the online courses' quality in response to the changes accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to make the transition from face-to-face to distance learning in higher education. This article aims to survey the pedagogy students’ perceptions – these future pre-school and primary school teachers towards the quality of online courses “Didactics of human – society and human – nature”, “Inclusive education” and “Ecological education” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was conducted with 107 future teachers at Veliko Tarnovo University “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” – Vratsa Branch in June after the completion of the online courses in the summer semester during the academic year 2020/2021. The data collection tool is a structured questionnaire developed by A. Young and C. Norgard with closedended items used in this survey in an adapted version and provided to respondents via an access link. In general, the results of the survey show that students have positive perceptions about the quality of online courses. However, they need to be encouraged to be active participants in each of the online courses, including by engaging in online discussions, other proactive interactions as well as performing a variety of assessment tasks, recognizing the importance of goals. Regardless of the outcome of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts towards the quality of online courses and the corresponding perceptions of students will therefore continue to be the focus, as changes in the learning environment become more sustainable and the future of higher education should adapt to these changes.