The Quality of Distance Studies: Second-Cycle Students’ Position

Abstract

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education system is still not fully known, however there are many studies examining the impact of the introduced quarantine restrictions on the circumstances and quality of students’ studies. Universities faced enormous and multifaceted challenges to organise studies during the pandemic period. During the pandemic, new distance teaching/learning platforms were introduced, and more opportunities for distance communication appeared. There is no doubt that COVID-19 has become one of the accelerators of change in the field of information technology accessibility. However, in such conditions, the issues of the quality of university studies become even more relevant. An empirical qualitative study was conducted, the purpose of which was to analyse the position of second-cycle university students on the issue of study quality. 64 master’s students in the field of social sciences from four Lithuanian universities participated in the study conducted in November-December 2021. The verbal data collected were analysed using quantitative content analysis. It was established that the second-cycle university study students evaluate basically positively the quality of online learning. The effective realisation of the study process improves the quality of these studies, while the essential worsening factors are psychophysiological and technical disturbances. The pandemic caused also certain transformations in university studies, created the conditions for a wider application of distance studies, and revealed more opportunities to use electronic resources for teaching and study purposes. Although distance master’s studies have become a novelty and a challenge to a certain extent, this has also highlighted the need for new teaching/learning methods and forms. In addition, successful and smooth continuity of the study process is only possible if there is sufficient flexibility of the participants in the university study process.