ELECTRONIC EDUCATION AND ONLINE TEACHING AT SLOVAK UNIVERSITIES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The comprehensive education system in 2020 was significantly limited at all levels by the global pandemic of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Universities modified the organization of teaching and transformed study into cyberspace, so teaching could continue in a distance form using e-learning, webinars, or other digital education tools. The paper focuses on the issue of university education during the first wave of the pandemic and has the character of a theoretical-empirical study. The first part presents the basic theoretical background of the researched issue from the perspective of various authorial approaches. The key is the empirical part, in which the results of research conducted among students are interpreted to find out their experiences, attitudes and preferences in the context of online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research involved 730 respondents from sixteen Slovak universities. In conclusion, the author appeals to the importance of digital and media literacy so online teaching can be considered an effective and equivalent tool to the full-time form of study.