Owning one's time: Balancing online learning and leisure

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present a part of the wider research with students of Andragogy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade as research participants, which concerned their experience of online learning in their formal education. Only one aspect of that relationship is presented within this paper-that which refers to balancing online learning and students' leisure. In the situation of a rapid transition to online learning, students were faced with the sudden need for redefining that relationship and found themselves in a situation to re-create their time, dedicated to both learning and their lei-sure. The analysis of their narratives reveals several significant discursive elements in the experience of leisure during the crisis situation caused by the Sars-Cov-2 virus pandemic, in relation to the experience of studying online. First of all, online studying is perceived as an obligation that requires the organization of compulsory and free time. In doing so, everyone is personally responsible for its own time management. Leisure comes as secondary to more important tasks, after learning and fulfilling obligations, while in the organization of time the major difficulty is the loss of the framework, which in this case is the transition to online learning environment.