"Issues of On-Line Education" Methodical Manual (October 2020)
Authors: Tshuguryan Armen, Khachatryan Nonna, Sahakyan Hasmik
Released: October 2020
Online education, which is being rapidly adopted within the Higher Education system, especially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has its specific modalities and requirements which university management need to introduce and develop. These new models of teaching and learning vary in a number of particulars from traditional education.
Even though nowadays we widely use modern technologies, software and communication channels, for university managers and teaching faculty, on-line education has brought a lot of new challenges and several methodological problems which could risk damaging the quality of educational outcomes. Here are some of the issues that have been identified: lack of communication between academic groups and between students and teachers; students’ self-isolation; time management; dissatisfaction with learning outcomes; financial issues.
It is clear that online education needs to be more attractive and effective and follow student–centered approaches. The overall teaching and learning atmosphere should be both student-friendly and intimate and directed towards overcoming the negative consequences of student self-isolation, as well as to increase levels of students’ self-directed learning.
The "Issues of On-Line Education" Methodical Manual presents solutions and guidelines that address the above-mentioned problems and provides a vision for the effective organization of on-line education which can be useful for both university faculty and administration.