ABSTRACT
Due to measures and restrictions taken by many governments around the world for preventing the spread of the Covid-19 virus and thus the pandemic, many higher education institutions have been closed for a long time. In order not to stop the study process completely, university and faculty management had to make sure that most of the study activities were carried out regardless of the new situation. Digitalization of these activities or moving most of them to cloud platforms that allow distance learning has become one of their priorities. Despite all the already established digital solutions in the implementation of the study process, such as standard e-classrooms, many obstacles and challenges have arisen when migrating practically all study activities to the online environment. The technological challenges can be relatively easily solved, while organizational and legal issues are more complex. The research, which was carried out after the first wave of "forced" digitalization of study at the Biotechnical Faculty in the first half of 2020, shows very interesting results, among which is the rapid adaptation of all stakeholders in the study process to the new situation. Moreover, many opportunities have emerged that will undoubtedly affect the implementation of the pedagogical process in the future.
ABSTRACT
Education has changed enormously during the Covid-19 virus pandemic. It has changed at all levels of education, including the university level. In reorganizing their educational process, educational institutions had to take into account a number of actions and recommendations from the government and the epidemiological profession, as well as their available technological and human resources. During the first wave of the pandemic, when the new situation was solved in an ad hoc manner, improvisation was a normal response, while after this period a more organized response was expected. Educational institutions invested heavily in a technology platform for online teaching, benefiting from numerous government grants, and also used all their existing equipment. Great emphasis was also placed on staff training, particularly on strengthening their digital literacy skills, which are essential for the implementation of online education. However, there were many other challenges, mainly in the sociological and psychological fields, as exclusion could not be solved for all, online work and study segregate us and do not provide real human contact, which learners in particular desperately need, etc. The research was related to higher education in the wood sector in Slovenia. © 14th International Scientific Conference WoodEMA 2021 - The Response of the Forest-Based Sector to Changes in the Global Economy, Proceedings. All rights reserved.