Among all other things SARS-COV-2 global pandemic changed in our lives, moving traditional classrooms to virtual ones definitely bears great importance. A number of challanges came with it: it forced universities and schools to adjust, teachers to be creative and work harder than ever and students to be patient and try to make the best of the „new-normal“. The need to change the way they teach came over night, there was no adjusting period, no time for trials.

In times like these, organizations which are flexible, focused on the future, which invest their resources in development, stand out. Faculty of Organization and Informatics (FOI) is one of these outstanding institutions and they have been prepared for the situation.

At this moment FOI has 500 e-courses which students can attend using Moodle system. With the purpose of improving the quality of online classes, FOI concucted survey among students to learn their opininon of the quality of courses and online teaching. The survey has been conducted by Learning Analytics Laboratory at FOI and results were very good. Students gave online classes an average grade of 4,63, while lecturers skills in managing IT tools and other tehniques used in online class were graded with 4,41. Grades were based on 3121 surveys examining the quality of online courses and 910 surveys examining the quality of online education.[1]

Surveys showed that students are extremly satified with how online classes are organized. They believe obligations and deadlines are well defined and the structure of the courses allows unobstructed progress.

Students are also pleased with the communication they have with lecturers – they mostly use e-mails, chat and online consultations via available platforms such as Zoom, BigBlueButton, Teams, etc.

Because of the quality approach they have eliminated the risk of students developing an aversion towards online education. In many cases only videoconferencing lectures and giving assignaments over e-mails is considered to be an online education and this kind of approach results with negative attitudes towards online education from students and lecturers.

FOI is one of four partners in Intensive Courses for Higher Education Students (IC4HEDS) project whose main goal is to introduce digital transformation and industry 4.0 to higher education. The project is co-financed in scope of Hungary-Croatia Cross-boarder Co-operation Programme. FOI is responsible for the development and implementation of Intensive learning programme on digital transformation, in cooperation with other project partners.

Considering their references and the good job they have done with online education, we are sure they will be successful.

[1] Source: https://emedjimurje.net.hr/vijesti/promo/3973358/studenti-foi-ja-visokom-ocjenom-ocijenili-e-predmete-i-online-nastavu-u-proslom-semestru/

This article has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The content of the document is the sole responsibility of Technology innovation centre Međimurje Ltd. and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union and/or the Managing Authority.