Online Versus Traditional Classes: The Case of History Teaching

Abstract

Higher education has undergone a massive change due to the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Many higher education institutions were unprepared for the disruptive effects of the pandemic but the adoption of online teaching and learning platforms was fast and successful for most of them. This sudden change brought new challenges and constraints as well as novel opportunities and perspectives into higher education in general and teacher training programs in particular. In order to provide deep insights into prospective teachers’ experiences with online learning mode, this longitudinal case study aimed to compare the initial perceptions of the participants of online education with those elicited nineteen months after the start of the pandemic. Given that the initial views can be misleading, it is assumed that a comparison between the initial and latter views of online learning would be well-founded, which would have sound implications for the future of online teaching and learning platforms for the post-COVID times. Nine undergraduate students studying in the 96-436x department of a private university in Nicosia participated in the current study. The data were elicited via reflective essays to be analyzed qualitatively. Overall, the results indicated that online mode of instruction and learning was not favored in the beginning of the pandemic since all the themes emerged were negative.  However,  the analysis of the latter data indicated that the participants’ views changed for the better dramatically. Hence, the results have a few implications for the future of higher education