E-learning has become mandatory at all levels of educational institutions due to the coronavirus pandemic. This paper analyses the learning difficulties that university students have encountered as a result of this changed situation. Empirical research includes a survey of students at three Baltic universities: Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LLU), Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) and Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMÜ). The aim of our article is to compare opinions on the challenges faced by students of Baltic States during mandatory remote learning. The results of this study revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between respondents in the countries participating in the survey in terms of the opinions expressed on the availability of appropriate hardware, communication with teacher and interaction with classmates and difficulty focusing on remote studies. Students who prefer face to face learning style mentioned difficulties in paying attention to studies, In addition, the majority of respondents indicated that they often had problems communicating with teachers. It was found that not only achieving learning outcomes, implementing practical works, and the volume of study works caused challenges but also lack of digital skills and interaction with classmates.
This chapter draws on results from previous chapters, in some cases creating new syntheses by combining information across chapters and including findings of previous projects. Its specific objective is to consolidate all these findings in the design of a system to support transaction of information for environmental assessments and decision support at central and local levels, by local managers of land and species as well as by policymakers. It recognises the need not merely to provide a technological tool, but also to consider demand and supply for information in that tool, the ease of use of the tool, motivation to use the tool and cost of maintaining the tool long-term: a tool that is not desirable, practical, and durable will not last. The chapter therefore first addresses who makes the most decisions, finding not only that local managers of land and species have high need of support, but also that their demand is least met by model-based decision support despite their high capacity to generate data. For this reason a system was designed primarily to accommodate needs of knowledge transfer at local level. Consideration of data quality, ownership, and confidentiality was important, together with scale, uncertainty (and resulting liability) of resulting decision support. All these considerations can be addressed by developing trust in operation of such a system, for which a basis in the civic sector (rather than in private business or government) was recommended. A portal was launched to continue informing all interests of the scope for building and opportunities from use of such a system.
For almost a year now, due to the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic, engineering studies at all universities have been organized remotely. Challenges of remote studies, which are not usually relevant in the face-to-face learning environment, are now emerging. This leads to new learning experiences that open opportunities to develop the competencies needed by engineering professionals. This article analysis challenges and benefits of remote learning at three Baltics States universities with focus on influence to the development of personal, social and learning to learn competence. The theoretical basis of the research is formed by self-directed learning findings, focusing on students' purposefulness and responsibility for learning. The empirical part is based on a survey of engineering students from the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, the Vytautas Magnus University and the Estonian University of Life Sciences on the challenges and benefits of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that almost a quarter of the respondents prefer remote studies, which are mainly based on the principles of self-directed learning. Main challenges in the context of personal competence are difficulty focusing or paying attention to remote studies, and also motivation/desire to complete assignments, in the context of social competencecommunication with the teacher but learning to learn competence -digital skills to use distance learning platforms and tools and also the problem of availability of information on remote studies. The main differences between the countries: Estonian students communicate much more with each other, Lithuanians have the best digital skills to use distance learning platforms and tools, but almost all Latvians and Estonians participated in online lectures.
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