| dc.description.abstract | With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures that followed, the
education system worldwide has been affected. Consequently, the imposed online education
environment has been a new and challenging experience for students and teachers. Focusing
on Europe with its diverse higher education systems, there is a lack of comparative research
on similarities and differences between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of online
education in two different contexts. Therefore, this study aims to explore and compare how
master’s students and teachers experience online education during COVID-19 in two different
European countries - Croatia and Sweden. For this purpose, thirty semi-structured interviews
were conducted with teachers and students from both contexts and thematic analysis was
utilised to generate findings. This study reveals agreement in both cases about the benefits of
online education, such as flexibility and accessibility. However, the negative sides are stronger
emphasised in the Croatian context. Further, our findings align with previous research on
similar topics, exposing that physical education is still a preferred form. Apart from this, our
research revealed two specific contexts that emerged in each country. Namely, a specific
challenge that occurred in the Croatian context was the organisation of online exams. On the
contrary, participating in and managing multicultural online classes is a speciality in the
Swedish context. Further, this study emphasises the need to consider more engaging activities
in future online classes, implement hybrid lectures as a future model for educational systems,
and investigate the significance of personality traits in adapting to online education. | en_US |
