Students` learning experiences in a digital learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Within the paper we refer to the students’ key learning experiences that describe lifelong learning taking place in the digital environment during COVID-19 pandemics. The study is focused on students’ experiences during the transition from face to face to online learning in HE during COVID-19 pandemic. For the purpose of data collection an online survey was distributed to students attending the elective course Online Adult Education at the Chair of Adult education (University of Belgrade). The data collection took place at the end of the spring semester of 2020 i.e. upon the course offset, and again, during the students’ final semester in 2022. These students’ reflections on studying in a digital online environment offer unique insights in experiences of individuals not only learning in a digital environment, but also learning in the field of adult education, mediated by digital technologies. As these students present the future adult education professionals, we comment the results having in mind both, the higher education perspective, as well as the adult education one Based on the research results we have been able to suggest the recommendations for future digital lifelong learning conceptualisations with an emphasis on developing interactive virtual learning environments conceived on the principles of connectivism and pedagogy of social knowledge and collaborative intelligence.