TRENDS IN E-LEARNING IN MASSAGE THERAPY - TECHNICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL SOLUTIONS

Electronic learning in the field of higher education has led to an intensification of the educational process, including a creation of new and perfection of the existing strategies and methods for teaching and learning. The dynamically changing reality sets new and hard to solve problems to massage education. Modern informational and communicational technologies enable the organization of the educational process in massage therapy but also pose a number of challenges to lecturers. This research aims at studying the students' perception about the distance practices oriented to massage therapy and more particularly about gaining practical skills in virtual environment. Materials and methods: The research was done in the period March-May 2020 among 94 second-year students with major Kinesitherapy at NSA "V. Levski". The students were taking part in an e- learning course in Chinese massage therapy including both theoretical knowledge and electronic practical classes. Results: The students showed a very good level of preparation in massage therapy which was evident from the conducted survey with the help of a questionnaire, but the preferable form of education in this subject is the classroom-based one. Conclusion: We think that blended learning in the field of massage, i.e. a kind of education which combines the personal touch with the lecturer, synchronized and asynchronized education is the appropriate kind of education where the personal contact with the lecturer is an invariable part.