Inter-university online courses as possible approach to improve teaching during crisis: a Ukrainian case study

A university and lecture prospective

Interuniversity courses provide significant benefits not only for students attending but also for their universities and lecturers. First of all, such courses allow to compare the level of knowledge of students at different universities, and to familiarize lecturers with different teaching programs. Second, they strongly widen the selection of specialized free choice disciplines for students, that is particularly important for small universities and specializations with small groups. Third, online interuniversity courses provide an additional option to deal with students that were not able to fully attend their classical courses due to external factors.

However, the inter-university online courses have some limitations: (i) such courses cannot completely replace courses with laboratory classes; (ii) since students with different backgrounds (from different years of study) register for the courses, it is difficult to find the best option for teaching.

CONCLUSIONS

The analysis of a case of interuniversity course allow us to identify two major factors affecting effectiveness of such a course in the context of ensuring of quality of student education in times of crisis: (i) self-motivation of students to receive new knowledge and get certificates for further carrier; (ii) receiving a scholarship. Re-enrollment of courses or credits at the home university was not decisive for students to participate. When organizing such courses, it is necessary to take into account that a significant part of students can quit not completing the studies and take measures to minimize it. Moreover, the scholarship was not a motivator to complete the course and successfully pass the exam to receive the certificate. Special attention should be paid to the assessment criteria within the course. Therefore, in order for the course to be productive and effective, it is necessary to emphasize student motivation during selecting procedure. We believe that inter-university courses can be one of the best options for maintaining a good level of student learning in small groups of universities.

Acknowledgements: The work was supported by the grant from German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; German: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) in the framework "Ukraine digital: Ensuring academic success in times of crisis". The authors are grateful Ukrainian Armed Forces for providing security and sacrifice.

REFERENCES

1. Ajjawi, R., Bearman, M., & Boud D. (2021). Performing standards: a critical perspective on the contemporary use of standards in assessment. Teaching in Higher Education, 26(5), 728-741. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2019.1678579

2. Al-Balas, M., Al-Balas, H.I. Hatim, Jaber, M., Obeidat, K., AlBalas, H., Aborajooh, E.A., Al-Taher, R., & Al-Balas, B. (2020). Distance learning in clinical medical education amid COVID-19 pandemic in Jordan: current situation, challenges, and perspectives. BMC Medical Education, 20, 341. http://surl.li/gciuy

3. Blyznyuk, T., Budnyk, O., & Kachak, T. (2021). Boom in distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic: challenges and possibilities. Journal of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, 8(1), 90-98. https://doi.org/10.15330/jpnu.8.1.90-98

4. Duszenko, M., Frohlich, N., Kaupp, A., & Garaschuk, O. (2022). All-digital training course in neurophysiology: lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Medical Education, 22(1), 1-14. http://surl.li/gcius

5. Dziubanovskyi, I. Y., Goshchynsky, V. B., & Piatnochka, V. I. (2020). Distance learning in medical school: pro and con. Hospital surgery. La Kovalchuk's Journal, 4, 113-116 (in Ukr.) https://doi.org/10.11603/2414-4533.2020.4.11795

6. Hartnett, M. (2016). The importance of motivation in online learning. In: Motivation in Online Education. (pp. 51-32). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0700-2_2

7. Horna, M., & Pron, N. (2022). Education during wartime: ensuring the continuity of the educational process in Ukraine and abroad. Educational Analytics of Ukraine, 2(18), 112-127. (in Ukr.) http://surl.li/gcivb

8. Kember, D., Ho, A., & Hong, C. (2010). Characterising a teaching and learning environment capable of motivating student learning. Learning Environ Res., 13, 43-57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-009-9065-8

9. Liang, R., & Chen, D. T. V. (2012). Online learning: Trends, potential and challenges. Creative Education, 3(8), 1332-1335. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2012.38195

10. Ligidov, R. M., Kazieva, A. M., Fedotova, I. B., Petrenko, A. P., & Orlova, N. A. (2021). Problems of organizing the educational process in small academic groups at the university and ways to solve them (On the Materials of Kabardino-Balkarian State University). In Modern Global Economic System: Evolutional Development vs. Revolutionary Leap (pp. 589-597). Springer International Publishing.

11. Lobos, K., Cobo-Rendon, R., Mella-Norambuena, J., Maldonado-Trapp, A., Fernandez Branada, C., & Bruna Jofre, C. (2022). Expectations and experiences with online education during the COVID-19 pandemic in university students. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 815564. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.815564

12. Malimon, O., Malimon, L., Tykhonenko, O., Honcharuk, S., & Guts, N. (2022). Modern European trends in the development of the higher education system in the realities of large-scale military aggression (the experience of Ukraine). Amazonia Investiga, 11(55), 156-162. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2022.55.07.16

13. Mendoza, N. B., Yan, Z., & King, R. B. (2023). Supporting students' intrinsic motivation for online learning tasks: The effect of need-supportive task instructions on motivation, self-assessment, and task performance. Computers & Education, 193, 104663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2022.104663

14. Silenko, A. A., & Kruk, N. V. (2022). Distance education: alternative or additional opportunities for traditional education? Actual problems of politics, 69, 94-100. https://doi.org/10.32837/app.v0i69.1308 (in Ukr.)

15. Steinmayr, R., Weidinger, A. F., Schwinger, M., & Spinath, B. (2019). The importance of students' motivation for their academic achievement - replicating and extending previous findings. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1730. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01730