Prerequisites for the Integration of Face-to-Face and Distance Contact Teaching/Learning in Virtual Space in Higher Education at College and University Level: Students’ Views and Experiences

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, which quarantined Lithuania in March 2020, has led to major
changes in the education system at all levels. The unprecedented global need to move to a
distance learning format has led to the need to ensure the organisational-technical smoothness
of the study process, the quality of teaching, and a supportive psychosocial environment. Two
years of experience in the study pandemic has led to a situation where the initially challenging
distance contact and later blended learning are becoming more and more commonplace today:
taking on new forms, bringing changes to the study process in response to the realities, needs,
and opportunities of the times. The paper presents part of the results of an empirical study
that includes emerging findings on students’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic of
quarantine restrictions of studying exclusively through virtual contact for a period of time, and
mixed studying after the start of the quarantine eases, the study process was partly carried out
in the traditional format of face-to-face learning in a physical environment and partly in virtual
distance learning, and the prerequisites for the integration of a permanent mixed study model
(combining face to face and distance learning) into the regular rhythm of study at college and
university level. The survey reveals that there is support for full-time blended learning in higher
education, but not for a purely distance learning model.