Critical and prospective analysis of online education in pandemic and post-pandemic contexts

Abstract

Humanity, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, was already in the process of a gradual cultural transition between modernity and postmodernity. The rapid pace of scientific and technological advances has led humans towards a progressive adaptation, as they develop new ways to confront and to solve their problems. In the exceptional context of the pandemic, people and institutions have faced a sudden need to readapt their ways of life and their means of communication. In education, the need to migrate from traditional classrooms to online systems was urgent, and the shift required digital tools and resources to support teaching. This theoretical article aims to analyze the disruption in the educational context and to detail the adaptations that may contribute to the effectiveness of educational processes. Moreover, it discusses the pedagogical, methodological, didactic, and evaluative aspects of the change in education. The article also proposes some guidelines for learning on both synchronous and asynchronous platforms. The trends associated with these changes are analyzed in order to offer a perspective on education in the post-pandemic world.