Teachers’ roles in online learning communities: a case study from the digitally underdeveloped country

Abstract

ABSTRACT In order to prevent the interruption in the education process during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, which would inevitably lead to serious socio-economic consequences, the universities from low-income countries, including those from Bosnia and Herzegovina, shifted to “emergency remote teaching,” a type of teaching that is different from high-quality online education by its name and implementation method. A case study has been designed to research the role of teachers in creating an efficient learning community in the cases of emergency remote teaching. The aim of this study was to assess the perception of students with regard to the teachers’ role in “emergency remote teaching.” The process of collecting data from students started two weeks before the end of the term. The research results suggest that the crucial role of teachers in building learning communities in postwar and low-income countries is to advocate and implement the changes in their education systems, as well as the changes in understanding the concept of social responsibility that should lead to the transformation of “emergency remote teaching” model into pre-planned online learning in near future.