Teaching and Learning Sciences within the Covid-19 Pandemic Era in a Greek University Department

Abstract

Around the globe Covid-19 pandemic has influenced not only the education, but also our everyday life, among other aspects. In Greece, distance learning started to get in use widely in tertiary education, since the first national lockdown was announced and reshaped education in many ways. In the University of Thessaly, in the Department of Mathemat­ics, undergraduate students opt for a lot of different courses to attend and due to the Covid-19 crisis all of them are taught via web platforms. Some of the most significant theoreti­cal subjects are «Calculus» (with applications in Science and Mechanics), «Physics» (Classi­cal Mechanics) and «Philosophy of Science». In addition, some other applied subjects are «Programming Languages» and «Digital Technologies in Mathematics Education» and the impact the above have, generally in edu­cation and society itself. In this paper, we describe the different ways students have re­acted regarding learning Sciences in a distance learning environment. We split our case study in two parts. The first one is about the way students experience e-learning and the second one is about their suggestions for the next day. Integrating e-questionnaires and interviews and taking into account parameters like economic factors and the permanent residence issue, we asked the students about their preferences among face-to-face learning, distance learning and a blended model. Remarks about the academic life and the possible ways of taking the extra step, after the Covid-19 crisis ceases to exist, are made.