Teaching at the Times of COVID-19: Inferences and Implications for Higher Education Pedagogy

Abstract

In our study, conducted during the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece, we trace the instant effects of the crisis conditions on the university education. We examine the case of a Department of Education at the University of Patras, in order to investigate the students’ assumptions and emotions on the sudden shift to online teaching, in the frame of two academic courses during crisis. Having in mind that University of Patras was one of the first institutions in Greece that responded to the lockdown and moved promptly to the shift to distance learning, we designed a questionnaire with open-ended and closed-ended questions that was filled in by 103 students of the specific Department. The questions refer to students’ emotions and their motives of participation in the educational programme, activated due to the current conditions, and whether they foster or prevent the learning process. Our aim was not to compare the two different ways of teaching (online and face to face) but to investigate the lessons learned by this experience and the implications to higher education pedagogy. The results indicate specific points of interest on teaching and learning in higher education, therefore, the necessity of evolving university pedagogy is emerging.