Distance Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experience of Ukraine's Higher Education System

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new paradigm of 'life in social distancing', which in its turn has had a massive impact on education. Continuing education delivery through alternative channels of instruction became a top priority for education institutions aiming to minimize impacts of the pandemic on education. Most universities shifted from conventional, face-to-face instruction to distance teaching and learning, which meant that teaching approaches, tools of assessments, and ways of teacher-student communication had to be modified. Since the pandemic wake, various global educational organizations have carried out studies to identify threats and potential opportunities for higher education within and beyond the pandemic. Some attempts to analyze the experience of the Ukrainian higher education system transition to mass distance instruction have also been made. However, this research was limited by a territorial or time span, sectoral analysis, or focus on specific issues. Lack of comprehensive cross-sectoral nationwide research regarding the perceptions of the main actors of Ukraine's higher education system (teachers and students) on outcomes of this abrupt transition, inspired the current research. In this regard, we saw the objective of the study in exploring the experience of mass distance learning application in Ukraine's higher education system due to COVID-19 and identifying considerations for e-learning in the national system of higher education within and beyond the pandemic. The research was carried out using a survey. The order of the researchers' actions was as follows: questionnaire compilation, data collection, data analysis, and knowledge generation. In this study, a closed-format questionnaire containing questions with pre-offered answers (multiple choices) was the main research instrument. The questionnaire was distributed to Ukrainian university teachers and students by snowball sampling. The data analysis phase involved analyzing the quantitative datasets. The interpretation of the analyzed information led to the generation of knowledge. 882 responses from 65 Ukrainian higher education institutions were received. The survey data showed that the mass transition to distance learning was a challenge for the majority of Ukrainian universities: only 45.5% of the respondents reported experiences with distance teaching/learning before the pandemic. On the basis of the obtained data, several groups of problems were identified: problems of a technological nature associated with the improper digital infrastructures of Ukraine's higher education institutions, unequal access of teachers and students to electronic devices and Internet connection; problems of a methodological nature associated with a lack of methodological support and special training programs for teachers to carry out distance instruction; problems of a psychological nature associated with the development of motivation, teachers' commitment, and establishing new communication patterns. The research supports the e-learning practice of providing data regarding the experiences of Ukraine's national higher education system on mass and the abrupt transition to distance learning and advances in e-learning knowledge area by envisaging potential for this mode of instruction beyond the pandemic and specifying directions for further research (development of the methodological, technological and informational support model for teachers; studies of the impact of digital learning tools on the mental health of university students; comparative analysis and adoption of the results of international studies into the practice of national education systems; creation of high-quality platforms with an accessible interface and algorithm of use).