STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVES ON ONLINE LEARNING: PROBLEMS, OPPORTUNITIES AND EXPECTATIONS

Abstract

During the pandemic, the education system around the world adapted to online teaching. This period presented a set of new requirements for education systems. It was necessary, in a short period of time, to find effective digital solutions for distance teaching. Most teachers changed their activities during the pandemic to adapt them to virtual teaching, thus becoming creators of online education. In order to improve the educational practices in the online environment, we used an analysis of students' perceptions (N = 150) from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, who expressed their opinion on online learning during the pandemic. For this, an online questionnaire was applied, which was completed both by students who had face-to-face experience and students who started their activity directly in the online learning environment. As a result, in this paper, we specify what students think about online learning, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of this way of teaching. In the research, special attention was paid to the analysis of the problems that students face in online learning, the opportunities they see in this environment, their adaptation to online teaching and the expectations they have from teachers. The analysis of the research results offered several conclusions, including the need to develop the adaptability of university teachers to the specifics of mediated by digital technologies teaching, the introduction of a more varied and frequent interaction with the students, creating conditions for the self-regulation of one's learning. The findings of this study provide solutions for future improvements in online teaching and learning.