TITLE:
The Importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) during the COVID-19—Pandemic in Case of Kosovo (Analytical Approach of Students Perspective)
AUTHORS:
Aferdita Qekaj-Thaqi, Ledri Thaqi
KEYWORDS:
ICT, Students/Pupils, Online Learning, Private/Public Schools/Universities, COVID-19 Pandemic
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.8 No.7,
July
16,
2021
ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented and unimaginable occurrence for people around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic makes people feel fear and panic about the risks that could cause the virus SARS-Cov2, but likewise also for social welfare, standard of living, workplace, salary and other aspects of people’s social life. A major event is precisely the closure of schools and the transition to online learning which undoubtedly highlighted the importance of the ICT sector. A global concern is also the efficiency of online teaching and learning methods for pupils and students. In this regard, we have significant differences in the economic development of countries. Low-income countries are also expected to face barriers to online learning imposed by the pandemic as a result of insufficient development of the sector of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The main aim of this paper is to shed light on the importance of ICT sector via students/pupils perception of the effectiveness of online learning methods during the COVID-19 pandemic in case of Kosovo. The method used to achieve the aim of this paper is an online questionnaire that is distributed using social media. The samples in the analysis are pupils and students from the private and public schools/universities in Kosovo. IBM SPSS Statistics is used for data analyzing including Descriptive Statistics, Frequencies, Pearson Correlation and Chi-Square Test of Independence. The paper comes to conclusion that private schools/universities in comparison with the public ones in case of Kosovo are in advantage, they are well prepared regarding ICT and during online teaching have used more effective methods including Google Platforms such us: Google forms, Google meet, etc. The paper comes with further recommendations for schools/universities in particular and in general for the Government exactly Government Spending in ICT Sector in case of Kosovo.