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Students and teachers from 108 countries.
According to specialists working at the university, the organization of distance learning at Vytautas Magnus University was discussed in 2013, and in 2018, the university decided that the material of all study subjects should exist in the distance learning environment . According to them, it is very convenient to provide information about what is happening at the conference, what material is used, therefore, students and teachers from 108 countries of the world connect to the VMU distance learning environment during the year.
“Students from Scandinavian countries, Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine are primarily interested in distance learning materials. Following these trends, the university has made strategic decisions that it should be possible to obtain not only the Lower level study material at a distance, but also second level study material (out of three). This means that the content of all study programs must be in a distance learning environment. Considering the uncertain future situation and in order to provide even broader opportunities for distance learning (this is relevant for Lithuanians working around the world), VMU is developing a new distance learning strategy, ”say the specialists.
Opportunity for flexible and open studies.
Head of the VMU Institute for Innovative Studies prof. Airina Volungevičienė states that the university feels ready to offer such studies that allow teachers and students to agree on how much they can be free to come and be at the university. According to her, the study agreement depends on the circumstances, various conditions such as quarantine, the labor market, mobility and travel.
“The university will offer students the opportunity to carry out flexible and open studies. This means that a student who chooses a study program will have a wider choice of how to study, how much to study remotely, how much to study in the classroom, how much flexibility to carry out intermediate and final evaluations. This is a great challenge for the university, but we have been preparing for at least a decade, we believe that we are ready, “says the interlocutor.
It focuses on groups of students.
According to A. Volungevičienė, if a student wishes, they can study all the time in a university environment, but the digital environment will always be present. According to her, students will be able to communicate and collaborate more easily at any time by accessing study materials and settlements remotely.
“So far, we do not have many fully-prepared study programs for distance learning, but we offer to discuss all study programs in student groups as much as they would like mixed distance learning. We focus more on student groups than on each individual. After entering traditional studies, it is possible to agree with the teacher what part of the studies could be done in the classroom, what is done remotely, ”explains the situation.
The cost of the studies should not change.
According to the specialist, the cost of the studies should not change with the change in the study method. According to her, the studies will not be cheaper, because the teachers work with the student not less, but more. A. Volungevičienė says that students need even more in the digital space for communication, advice and contact.
“It is student support, personalization, often and individualization that we try to avoid. For a variety of reasons, students come together when it is most convenient for them, they want to find the material and after the lecture, they don’t understand something and they want to ask the teacher. The teachers’ workload only increases during these studies.
The infrastructure is also changing, despite the fact that in traditional classroom studies we have buildings, maintenance and service. We must have a variety of tools for digital infrastructure. This is costly, neither in Lithuania nor in Europe are we ready to talk about price, because we have little idea of how much distance learning really costs for an organization. There are cases in the world where distance education subjects are much more expensive, especially related to business studies, ”he says.
The challenges of distance learning have been addressed.
The interviewee says that at the beginning of the quarantine, the students said there was a lack of information on what things would be like next. According to her, it is natural that according to each rhythm, the students obtain information in a different way, but a survey of students showed that the challenges were solved.
“Of course, there are still many challenges with students with special needs, we tried to adapt all the systems and videoconferences to them. We appreciated the quarantine experience, although there was a lot of” sweat “, he smiles.
A big step forward
According to A. Volungevičienė, most teachers initially accepted distance education as a considerable challenge, it was necessary to adjust the support system for teachers. According to her, a large amount of new methodological material was developed, but after the first month there was a respite when everyone adopted the new system.
“Now, the biggest challenges for teachers are the use of technology, which lacks some technical knowledge, equipment or experience. In-service training activities are still relevant.
Higher education is inevitably changing and it is not clear in the future how much a student will associate with a university and how much time they can spend there. We say that most of the students focus on work, mobility, internationality already in their undergraduate studies. This strategy is a great step forward in the preparation of the free forms of study and greatly strengthens the competence of the university, “emphasizes the specialist.
A painful transition awaits
According to her, it is a normal university practice, when she can offer distance education to those students who live in different countries, study at several universities at the same time. According to her, it is the university of tomorrow, but to this day the higher education system in Lithuania is not yet adapted to it.
“It will be a very painful transition. It will be extremely difficult to move from a sense of ownership that these students belong to this university but not to another. Life is moving forward and I think we are doing it in a timely manner, I hope that other universities will also join. We can safely say that we are the first university in Lithuania to start this strategy.
I would like to see all higher education unleashed, become more flexible, and consider the needs and future of the student more important than the structure, place, or time of the curriculum, ”she says.
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