Innovation in Language Learning

In the onset of the pandemic that has brought many changes affecting different facets of human lives, the education sector is one of the many institutions that needed to quickly adapt to remote teaching modalities and learning platforms. This paper reports the findings about the perceptions of university students at UWB about online learning during the academic year 2021/21. During the pandemic, teachers were forced to shift to online teaching and adjust their approach and course content accordingly. For this reason, teachers grappled with this transition at the very beginning, but soon after they needed to make adjustments to their approach to teaching in order to deliver effective teaching methods. This article focuses on this transition and aims to analyze the level of satisfaction of university students with online learning. First, the authors will collect both qualitative and quantitative data regarding the students’ experiences and perceptions on virtual learning from the winter and summer semesters in the academic year covering the period of 2020/21. The results will then be critically evaluated and will be used to propose future curricular programs for both synchronous and asynchronous teaching at UWB.

Keywords: Online learning, remote learning, remote teaching, online learning, experience, higher education.

References:

• Czeisler, M.E., Lane, R. I., Petrosky, E. et al. (2020, August 13). Mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic - United States, June 24–30, 2020. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved September 15, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6932a1.htm
• Elliot, S. N., Kratochwill, T. R., Littlefield, J., & Travers, J. F. (1996). Educa-tional psychology: Effective teaching, effective learning. Dubuque, IA: Brown and Benchmark Publishers
• Gordon, N. (2014). Flexible pedagogies: Technology-enhanced learning. The Higher Education Academy, 1-24. Jiang, M. (2020, April 22). Video chat is helping us stay employed and connected. But what makes it so tiring – and how can we reduce ‘Zoom fatigue’? British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-videochats-are-so-exhausting
• Kamenetz, A. (2020a, March 26). The biggest distance-learning experiment in history: Week one. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2020/03/26/821921575/the-biggest-distancelearning-experiment-in-history-weekone