From F2F to ERT: University Students’ Perception of Remote Learning During the First COVID-19 Lockdown

Katerina Dvorakova,Jaroslav Emmer,Kateřina Klementová,Renata Janktová

doi:10.7160/eriesj.2021.140203

Abstract

In the spring of 2020, the University of South Bohemia was one of the innumerable higher education institutions which was obliged to move its instruction online in order to comply with the COVID-19 regulations. This article explores the evaluation of emergency remote teaching (ERT) measures taken by the English department from the perspective of its students. It presents and discusses findings gathered from a questionnaire completed by 99 respondents. The questionnaire centres around four areas of interest: satisfaction with ERT, comparison of face-to-face (F2F) vs. online learning experiences, perceived stress level during ERT, and acquisition of skills. The results show how students responded to the emergency procedures and which factors they considered essential in terms of satisfaction and stress. Furthermore, they reveal thought-provoking insights on aspects such as integrating elements of online teaching into F2F instruction, developing various skills in lockdown, and motivation for learning. Our findings are analysed in terms of aspects and factors which are viewed as efficient or inefficient by students in a time of crisis. Thus, this research may contribute not only to better preparedness should circumstances requiring ERT return, but also to a more complex re-evaluation of instructional approach at university level.

Highlights

Three weeks into the 2020 spring semester, Czech higher education institutions were confronted with an unprecedented challenge - to shift from face-to-face (F2F) to remote teaching practically overnight
Hypotheses are not proposed within this research design as it focuses on the examination and description of previously unexplored phenomena brought about by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in tertiary education
The purpose of this paper has been to share the feedback we received from the students regarding the quality of emergency remote teaching (ERT) that took place over three months

Summary

Introduction

Three weeks into the 2020 spring semester, Czech higher education institutions were confronted with an unprecedented challenge - to shift from face-to-face (F2F) to (emergency) remote teaching practically overnight. The government lockdown that was put into effect disrupted the usual routines but did not relieve most citizens of their job or study-related responsibilities. Educators were expected to continue delivering lessons, holding consultations, and carrying out assessment, while the students’ “end of the bargain” was not to miss out on assignments, complete the semester on time, and most importantly, not to compromise the efficiency of their schoolwork. The abrupt pivot from classroom to remote teaching held up a mirror to the long-standing practice of distance education. Noffsinger’s (1926) thorough research into distance education outlines a systematic description of American correspondence study (Black, 2019), and highlights that it began as early as the 1840s. The decades that followed saw degrees being awarded for distance learning and college classes televised on public

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