Distance education quality: First-cycle university students’ position

Abstract

It is obvious that the COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed learning and study processes. It has become a serious test for university students. Although distance study organization, implementation, effectiveness, and the like are actively researched, it is not entirely clear which way of organization studies is the most appropriate and prospective. Too little attention is still paid to the model of distance studies, its implementation and improvement, especially in the future development of distance and mixed distance study organization and implementation. An empirical qualitative study was conducted, the aim of which was to analyze first-cycle (bachelor study) university students’ position on the study quality issue. 132 students in the field of social sciences from three Lithuanian universities participated in the study conducted in January-May 2022. The verbal data obtained were analyzed using quantitative content analysis. The extracted semantic units were grouped into subcategories and categories. It was established that the main advantages of distance studies were convenience and cost-effectiveness, while disadvantages were the deterioration of the study organization and the deterioration of quality. The ways (directions) of quality distance study improvement can also be seen, i.e., the study process realization improvement (e.g., the content presentation improvement, an increase in interactivity), and study organization improvement (e.g., teacher competence improvement and optimization of the schedule). Despite the revealed shortcomings, more than two-thirds of students positively value the possibility of continuing the study process remotely after the pandemic. More detailed research is needed on the impact of the pandemic on university studies and the further organization and implementation of distance studies.