Effectiveness of online learning process during the Covid-19 pandemic in Kosovo

Abstract

The global coronavirus crisis led to a radical transformation of the education system. Educational institutions had to switch to virtual teaching methods due to mandatory isolation and the decline of economic activity. Online learning was a surprise and a challenge for both universities and students. To analyze the effectiveness of online learning, we conducted 500 surveys from December 2021 to March 2022 at the Faculty of Economics, University of Prishtina. We assessed factors such as motivation for online learning, home conditions, motivation to read more, and the level of collaboration between students during the Covid-19 pandemic. These factors were used to determine the effectiveness of online learning. In measuring the effectiveness of online learning, we measured students’ experience with online learning before the pandemic, students’ willingness to pursue additional academic levels in the future, professors’ encouragement to be active, work done during online learning, and desire to practice online education in the future. Based on the collected data, we applied a structural equation model (SEM), which shows that the results are significant, but the effectiveness of online learning is low. The research will help to identify the challenges students face during online learning due to their isolation and how this affects the holistic effectiveness of online learning.