Introduction:The spread of the coronavirus brought necessary changes in education, including the abrupt transfer from classroom instruction to an exclusively online environment. The teachers and pupils/students adapted to the new conditions, and currently, virtual education elements are being implemented in face-to-face teaching to enhance its efficiency. The aim of our research was to monitor distant education in vocational music school environment, describe main difficulties in vocational music online classes, and identify elements of distance learning that can be implemented in music education after pandemics.
Methods:The study utilized a mixed research design. The primary method of collecting data was through questionnaires (2020, 2021 and 2022), and analysing essays written by students from the Faculty of Performing Arts at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia (2020).
Results:Student respondents strongly believe that while in theoretically oriented courses, online education can replace face-to-face learning, it is no viable option for practically oriented courses in higher music education. More than half of the students do not support the inclusion of elements of distance education in face-to-face teaching. In spite of several challenges, the positive aspects of online education support the implementation of some distance learning elements in face-to-face music education.
Discussion: Our findings about vocational music online education do not contradict other surveys (Yurdal, Sahin, Kosan, & Toraman, 2021; Wang, 2023; Al-Mawee, Kwayub, & Gharaibeh, 2021; Bakhov, Opolska, Bogus, Anishchenko, & Biryukova, 2021; Martha, Junus, Santoso, & Suhartanto, 2021).
Limitations: The main limitation is the sampling, as it only included participants who had internet access and were willing to participate in the survey. Future studies should encompass more music educational institutions in Slovakia to achieve a larger sample size. Furthermore, in analyzing questionnaires, we did not make difference between participants´ music study fields.
Conclusions:Although distance education has shown considerable improvement since 2019 and has undeniable advantages, students pursuing performing arts and composition at the Faculty of Music Arts at the Academy of Arts maintain rather sceptical attitude towards it. They strongly believe that in practical courses, the online teaching cannot fully replace the face-to-face instructions. However, teachers often incorporate certain online teaching elements into their regular classes.
