COVID-19 Difficulties in the Remote Learning Process and Opportunities to Overcome Them: The Perspective of Future Teachers

Abstract

The study explores the difficulties experienced by second-year students of the professional bachelor’s study program “Teacher” at the Faculty of Education, Psychology, and Art of the University of Latvia during the remote learning in three courses in the first and second COVID-19 wave, in 2020, spring and autumn. The research provides students’, future teachers’ perspectives on both – experienced difficulties during remote learning in COVID-19 circumstances and possible solutions to overcome challenges. Data were obtained from students’ self-reflections which were filled in at the end of the spring semester in June 2020 at the end of autumn semester in January 2021. Totally 230 students completed self-reflection, 223 statements (97 in June and 126 in December) were selected and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis, as result 9 themes emerged: technology related, physical, cognitive, social-emotional, motivation related, mental health-related, lack of recourses, insufficient learning skills, difficulties to apply professional knowledge and skills in educational praxis. In the first COVID-19 wave, there were identified two themes (extra additional workload and insufficient digital skills) that were not present in the second. However, the second added another theme – health problems due to COVID-19. There were students both in the first and second COVID-19 wave who did not consider this time and remote learning as a difficult one.