THE INFLUENCE OF ONLINE EDUCATION ON THE ACQUISITION OF THE 21st CENTURY SKILLS
Delia Rusu
The Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Ruxanda Literat
The Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Abstract
As technology has lately become more of a partner than a tool for learning and research, the present paper aims to shed light upon those aspects where online education has proven to have an impact upon output and interaction between students in their social and educational environments. This new partner greatly used in traditional education systems to provide access to varied authentic data, to published or shared work, has now offered engagement opportunities that go beyond affordances of classroom settings and stimulate the acquisition of the 21st century skills in various ways, as the results of our survey at Cluj-Napoca Technical University have shown. Due to the fact that the online teaching experience of the pandemic year 2020 was a new and challenging one for the students, it encountered some difficulties as well, which are not to blame considering the fact that in our country, the means and techniques to enable this system to successfully perform have not passed the test of time. Despite these, the effect that online learning has had on the group of respondents is quite obvious and it could generate some highlights of the future learning perspectives which teachers should take into account, especially when it comes to integrating the development of soft skills into the lessons and promoting best practice for the generations to come. Learning skills and life skills have been foregrounded in our survey conducted upon students in the first and second years of study in their English language seminars. The purpose was, on the one hand, to analyse the effect that using technology has had on communication, collaboration, the ability to find solutions to problems or to adopt certain strategies, in other words, its effect upon learning skills. On the other hand, life skills have been brought into focus, in that they are essential in helping students keep up with today`s competitive world. Thus, we have discussed the implications that a computer-mediated environment can have on skills such as adaptability, initiative or social interaction. Although the results were rather diverse since we have been forced by circumstances to quickly adapt to online technology exclusively, the respondents` answers have showcased the necessity of using technology in the future as well, alongside face-to-face interaction for the benefits of preserving social skills. As reflected from the survey, the prospects include the completion of online studies in different specialisations that could help the students acquire knowledge at their own pace and master the necessary skills to obtain a professional certificate they could subsequently use for employment. Being rather difficult to predict what the future holds, we estimate that communication, teamwork, adaptability and other soft skills which are enhanced by face-to-face interaction are likely to continue to develop in an online environment as well, once there is a wish to collaborate, and interaction is equally encouraged in virtual environments as it actually is by the teenagers nowadays.
Key words: Online learning; Communication; Face-to-face; Soft skills; Social interaction.
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How to cite this article: Rusu, D., & Literat, R. (2023). The influence of online education on the acquisition of 21st century skills. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education - JoLIE, 16(1), 127–141. https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2023.16.1.8
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