Digital Natives and online learning in police students

Abstract

Background. Although not a novelty in education, online teaching and learning has come to the fore with the COVID-19 pandemic. As opposed to the time before this crisis, when it had been an option for certain categories of learners, with the pandemic going on, there has been emergency and forced shift to online environment which has had its impact on both teaching and learning. Purpose. This qualitative research was aimed to investigate the perception of the students of the University of Criminal Investigation and Police Studies (UCIPS) in Belgrade regarding the English Language 2 course primarily, but also regarding their online education in general. The questionnaire was designed, consisting of 11 multiple choice and open-ended questions combined. The goal was to investigate the opinions and experiences of the UCIPS students in order to get an in-depth insight into the problems related to online education. Results. The results suggest that in addition to the initial practical problems related to equipment and technology, the students faced other problems as well, including the lack of concentration, insufficient interaction, etc. However, there are some positive results: the students reported the overall satisfactions with the academic outcomes, and in their opinion the optimum way of teaching/learning would be a blended model. Conclusion. Our sample of Digital Natives have demonstrated the ability to recognize the main characteristics of online learning, its advantages and disadvantages, but also the objective and subjective aspects of problems. Although it was not a matter of choice for them, they have adapted to it well, as well as their teachers. The challenges however remain for both students and teachers in order for online education to be accepted even better in the future.