Abstract
From the moment the Republic of Serbia declared a state of emergency in the summer semester of 2019/2020, higher education institutions (HEIs) used various teaching models from Distance Learning Systems (DLS), online platforms and modern information and communication technologies (ICT), to sending materials via student e-mails and notifications via faculty portals. Using survey research as a method, the paper describes the experiences of teachers and associates at HEIs in Serbia (780 respondents) regarding the efficiency of provided education services. In this article, we used the method of content analysis and participatory observation, as well. We analysed the attitudes of teachers and associates apropos the efficiency of providing educational services through the work from home (WFH) model and distance learning (DL) and other models used in response to COVID-19 epidemiological measures in education. During the WFH setup, we looked for factors that affect educational efficiency. When it comes to the statistical technique, factor analysis was selected. Technology, managerial support, and work–home conflict are all expected to impact process efficiency, so these were the first criteria considered when selecting potential factors. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used as the extraction method, and the Varimax rotation method was also used. We discarded all factors with eigenvalues below one. Four factors caught our attention: School management support, Family–work conflict, Home infrastructure, and Technology choice. The results showed that F1 (School management support) is positively correlated to F2 (Family–work conflict) and efficiency and negatively correlated to F3 (Home infrastructure). Conversely, F2 is negatively correlated to F3 and positively correlated to efficiency. The F4 factor shows no significant correlations to other factors.
Highlights
IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic forced many countries to take urgent measures, but it caused an explosion in the online education system, which emerged as a necessary response to the health crisis [1]
There are two time periods covered by this study: summer 2019/20 semester, during which the COVID-19 pandemic was declared and schools, faculties and preschools in the Republic of Serbia were closed, and the winter 2020/21 semester, during which most higher education institutions used an online or combined teaching mode
Academic workers from the faculties and higher education institutions in the Republic of Serbia showed that they were more involved in the work from home (WFH) teaching model than the traditional model during the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many countries to take urgent measures, but it caused an explosion in the online education system, which emerged as a necessary response to the health crisis [1]. One month after the official declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 1500 research papers dealing with the topic of online education in the circumstances of the newest health crisis had already been uploaded to the Web of Science database. The majority of these papers put emphasis on describing different practices around the world regarding the implementation, but they highlighted the corrections of the education system under these new, extraordinary conditions.
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