The events of recent weeks and the governmental measures taken to deal with the coronavirus situation have had a significant impact on the operation of higher education institutions.

Local press in Dunaújváros sent us some questions about how the University of Dunaújváros was affected by those measures and how efficiently the institution could handle the situation. This article is an overview of the answers given by Dr. István András, Rector of the University of Dunaújváros.

 

All schools in the country has been closed, and institutions need to provide their education services to the students in a digital form. How is this implemented at the University of Dunaújváros? Has the development of the framework system been completed? 

In compliance with the order of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology sent on 11 March 2020, the University of Dunaújváros ordered an extraordinary Rector's education break for 12, 13, and 14 March, while the Spring Break has been rescheduled for 16-22 March. Education activities are conducted in digital form as from 23 March.

During the period up to 23 March, the University's extended Education Development Working Group has defined and developed the principles and procedures for digital education . Based on these principles, each course was surveyed and developed in order to provide the most effective online education possible.

The University of Dunaújváros has prepared its extraordinary rules of procedure not only in the field of education, but also for all its organizational units, and reorganized its operations based on these rules. On 23 March 2020 the new digital form of education at the University of Dunaújváros has started smoothly.

 

 What can we know about the system? Will the students watch the classes in live or will the professors provide prerecorded explanations of the material? Or will they just give written descriptions?

The University of Dunaújváros has been using the e-learning framework system of Moodle for years, which has ensured that every announced course were made available online to all enrolled students in each semester. By use of this framework online education includes professional materials, tutorials, video content, tests, assignments, tutorials, presentations and forums in Moodle, supplemented by application of chats, online tutorials, etc.

Lecturers are available for students at the scheduled course times and/or in a pre-agreed time period via email, Moodle, or Microsoft Teams. Using the Microsoft Teams program, lecturers at the university are able to give lectures in real-time in case of those courses that require this form of consultation.

 

To what extent is distance learning an innovation at University of Dunaújváros? I remember it has happened before as well that lecturers explained the curriculum through additional video materials in order to help the students.

The University of Dunaújváros has been developing the conditions for online and digital education for years, in order to increase the number of correspondent students and to support student success, so this is a relatively peculiar and fortunate situation in this regard. Online education has always received a lot of attention from the University, both from its teaching colleagues and students. Almost 10 years ago, the University of Dunaújváros created the independent organizational unit called Online Studium, a department responsible for the development of online educational content. As a result, there are now fully online courses available for over 100 subjects (77 in Hungarian and 28 in English).

 

Was it neccessary to establish special rules regarding assessments and papers to be submitted?

There was no need for a separate policy, fortunately in the University has been using digital exams before as well. The forms of assessment are based on scheduled tasks in Moodle, on papers to be submitted and on a written tests during and at the end of the course. We need to review only those kind of assessments where personal involvement is essential, such as laboratory tests. The instructor of such courses will notify students about the possible ways of accomplishment.

 

When did the increase of epidemiological situation and the restrictive measures introduced reach the university in terms of the academic year? Was the exam period of the fall semester successfully completed? Was the university successfully over with the period of subject registration in the spring semester before the current situation arose?

The University of Dunaújváros successfully completed the first semester of the academic year 2019/2020. We have launched the second semester, and successfully completed the first 4 weeks of the study period.

 

What is the situation with the International students? Did they travel home or do they continue their education in Hungary, living in the dormitory?

International students live in the student hostel and participate in digital education from their dormitory rooms. Those students who insisted on travelling home were of course allowed to do so, but they were duly informed about the fact that they would probably not be able to return to the University until the state of emergency was lifted.