THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHING SKILLS ON PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING (PBL)

Abstract

Teaching problem solving skills is essential for the continuous training of university teachers. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic effect on the improvement of teachers’ skills in problem-based teaching. The aim of the paper is to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the enhancement of university teachers’ skills in problem-based teaching underpinning the implementation of the empirical analysis carried out within an international project. The research is based on the methodology of the system of the external and internal perspectives. The exploratory research was employed in the empirical study. The survey was conducted in July-August 2020. The sample contained 18 respondents (3 females and 15 males). The age of the respondents ranged from 30 to 70 years old. The data were processed by making use of the content analysis. The content analysis of the data from the survey consists of the content structuring and summarizing. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the external perspective of the enhancement of university teachers’ skills on problem-based teaching within the international project as the project participants consider the COVID-19 pandemic as a challenge. Another finding is that the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the enhancement of university teachers’ skills in problem-based teaching within the international project prevails. The theoretical finding is the newly defined structural elements of problem solving, namely challenge, opportunities, gains and possibilities, analysed within the methodology of the development of the system of the external and internal perspectives. The empirical study shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the enhancement of university teachers’ skills in problem-based teaching within this international project.