Report on identified challenges and problems that occured during the transition to online teaching mode in the COVID-19 pandemic period

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020, most European universities quickly switched to distance learning.  One of the aims of the InCompEdu project  was to gather experiences of online teaching during this sudden transition. Specifically, the in this report we aimed to identify the challenges arising from the sudden shift to online teaching, the solutions found, and how online teaching methods developed during the pandemic. The plans of the teachers for the future were also examined.

A questionnaire was conducted in InCompEdu partner countries, including Croatia, Finland, Italy, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia. Interviews were also conducted in each country. This report presents the results of the questionnaire, while the interviews will be reported in another report, Teacher stories. The start of the lockdown and the shift to online teaching took place at different times in different countries, depending on when the virus reached each country's borders. As a result, teachers' experiences with online teaching varied across the countries examined.

The questionnaire was designed to cover a wide range of online teaching experiences and methods. The different experiences and traditions of the respondents related to online teaching are reflected in the answers of the teachers, and sometimes the concepts may have been understood differently. The questionnaire aimed to map the situation before the COVID-19 pandemic and the experience of teachers in online teaching and teaching methods used. Respondents were also asked about the main challenges and how they were solved during the sudden shift to online teaching. Additionally, the questionnaire explored current challenges, teaching methods, and best practices. Finally, future perspectives, such as the planned share of online teaching and activities, were examined, including the preferred share of online teaching in the future and reasons behind the choices.

The preliminary results of the questionnaire were presented in a Multiplier Event, Challenges and best practices in remote and hybrid academic teaching, and the report of the event is included in Annex VII. The results provide a comprehensive view of the views of academic teachers in the partner countries of the project regarding the current aspects of online teaching and possible future developments. The academic teachers reported a multitude of experiences, challenges, and best practices related to online teaching during the pandemic.