How we survived pandemic
COVID-19 cases reached Lithuania in March. To protect university’s community, from March 13, the work at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) took place remotely throughout the spring semester.
During the semester, the specialists of the Institute of Innovative Studies (ISI) recommended Moodle distance learning environment, which allows lecturers to: present teaching content in various formats, create different types of tasks, test students, communicate with students, monitor student activity and activity in the study environment, provide and collect feedback. During the semester, the video conferencing tool BigBlueButton was integrated into Moodle to ensure a smooth organization of lectures in real time. Teachers who wanted to communicate with students in a synchronous manner were encouraged to use Adobe Connect, BigBlueButton video conferencing tools or the Moodle chat room. For asynchronous communication, it was suggested to use Moodle discussions, Moodle private messages or comment sections in tasks. The Adobe Connect video conferencing tool was used to organize the defense of the final theses.
ISI specialists actively provided assistance to VMU lecturers throughout the spring semester:
- real-time virtual consultations,
- Moodle distance learning environment support
- Video lectures support
- methodological recommendations on how to prepare for remote tests,
- subject template and real examples of the study subjects,
- recommendations for teachers on how to work remotely using a variety of tools,
- instructions for using Adobe Connect and BigBlueButton video conferencing tools,
- recommendations for additional tools,
- 24/7 assistance in filling out the online form.
ISI specialists also offered assistance to Lithuanian educational institutions in preparing to work remotely, in total more than 300 teachers participated in the training.