DISTANCE EDUCATION IN FURTHER PROFESSIONAL TRAINING IN ENTERPRISES DURING PANDEMIC PERIOD

Abstract

Constraints on our personal and professional life imposed by the COVID 19 pandemic have radically influenced our approach to forms of education, including those used in further professional training of employees. This shift means the focus on distance education as a managed educational form, which is suitable for further professional training. The aim of the paper is to present the implementation of distance education in further professional training in enterprises and based on the empirical research propose ways of improving options of education. Distance education is characterised in terms of its principles and developmental stages. Its first generation was correspondence education. The Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning Content Management System (LCMS) are described as the systems applied in further professional training. The research was conducted by means of the questionnaire method, combined with the pre-research survey. Results of empirical research are presented in tables. Separate parts of the paper deal with ICT application in corporate education (correspondence education, Computer-based training (CBT), Web-based training (WBT), Technology Based Training (TBT) and with the utilisation of Learning Management Systems (LMS). Analysis of respondent opinions shows that respondents tend to prefer the face-to-face form of corporate education. The length of the pandemic is going to affect the spread of e-learning in corporate education and its role in education. The learners’ interest may be expected to be shifted to LCM and LCMS utilisation. The paper is a partial result of the research scheme VEGA No. 1/0309/18 “Social networks in human resource management” supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Research and Sports, Slovakia