Romanian E-Learning Effects After The COVID-19 Outbreak. The Case Of The Gymnasium Students

Abstract

Due to the fact that the last three years have been defined by an overlapping series of crises having the disruptive effect of full lockdown, the digital transition to the online learning environment has been immediately adopted as the sole solution of the Romanian authorities. The main purpose of this research paper is to study what type of consequences has produced the e-learning conducted during the pandemic years for the middle-school students, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Hence, the questionnaire-based survey has been used in order to collect primary data from 333 participants and measured the perception of middle school students from a low-income unit school of Bucharest with regard to a series of nine variables. Thereupon, a comparative analysis of the research findings and both officials and NGOs reports was conducted, with the aim of addressing the research hypotheses and providing a set of recommendations for an increasing satisfaction of both students and teachers towards the education quality. The results reveal that the online learning period is the major factor behind the excessive use of online devices of more than a half of the children asked, which can have very negative effects on their psychological development.