DISTANCE EDUCATION. THE GRASSROOTS STRENGTH OF DETERMINED ENTHUSIASTS OR CAREFULLY DEVELOPED SYSTEM SOLUTIONS. THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN POLISH EDUCATION

Abstract

Remote learning changes the approach to school and out-of-school education and affects all levels of education. So far (before the covid-19 pandemic - coronavirus), it was the domain of enthusiasts and people who saw in it additional strength, an element supporting education. Of course, pure remote and e-learning forms have triumphed in corporate solutions related to training and courses. Higher education institutions and primary and secondary education used remote elements very rarely. Even hybrid, mixed forms, called complementary (b-learning), were rather a kind of novelty in the activities of teachers and lecturers. An important element of considerations on school and academic e-learning is what we used to call grassroots force, it was the involvement of enthusiasts discovering the secrets of e-learning platforms in front of their pupils and pupils, students. A decade ago, in surveys, students talked about their need to weave remote support into traditional education. Experts, academics, carrying out their classes via the platforms suspected a gradual tilting of the school scales towards b-learning. Observing the changes taking place in school over the decade, we can honestly say that these were rather sham movements, unable to change the class-lesson system, and especially those of its elements that burdened all of us, the subjects of the educational process. So what happened, what powers changed school and academic education, that we found ourselves in the digital world, we started using mobile solutions, we can conduct online classes? And can we actually? Is this change a necessary evil, or an opportunity for tomorrow, for universities, schools, pupils, students, lecturers and teachers - and therefore for modern, changing but constantly learning societies?