DISTANT EDUCATION IN PANDEMIC PERIOD

Abstract

In the article an attempt is made to characterize some peculiarities of distant learning in the context of Covid pandemic. The definition of distant learning and its forms is given. The author tries to compare the efficiency of distant learning as it is and its efficiency as the only form of learning in the context of extreme conditions. Based on the experience of a rapid transition to distant learning of the students of Donetsk National Medical University the author descirbes and analyzes the main challenges the students and teachers faced during that period. Among them are the uncertainty about its length, special difficulties for foreign students , lack of technological devices and the necessary skills to work with them that some students experienced, the necessity to define the appropriate balance between online and offline forms of distant learning in mastering University courses, the absence of video courses in some subjects – Ukrainian as a foreign language in particular. The revealed merits and drawbacks of online learning are considered. The positive factors are the following: due to distant learning the process of studying at all educational institutions was not discontinued, students could save their time not getting to the University, working with offline tasks in their individual tempo, internet resources suggested new opportunities for teachers to be used in the period of distant learning and after it. The negative aspects are complete dependence of teaching and studying on technological devices which are not always reliable, difficulties for teachers to control if a student was really independent doing written and oral tests or examination answering , lack of the necessary emotional and visual communication between a student and a teacher, The author mentions that one of the lessons drawn from the experience of distant learning in pandemic period is the fact that the role of a teacher is in no way diminished. It remains the key factor both in classical and distant forms of studying. A mixed form of learning which combines both above mentioned ones is regarded to be widely practiced in future.