**2. Literature review**

Shifting demographics resulting in a decline in the number of students and the need to offer flexible programmes that better suit the preferences of today's students are just two examples of challenges underlying the need for widespread implementation of technology for learning purposes. Comparative research by the OECD [4] indicated that online learning in education was predominantly used in distance education programmes that attract part-time adult students or students in remote areas, or it was applied to open education initiatives (e.g. massive open online courses (MOOCs)). Though the prevalence of technology use in vocational and higher education (e.g. using digital platforms and tools) differed between countries, it generally appeared to be quite modest before the pandemic [4]. To that point, widespread implementation appeared to be more observed in policy documents than in the dayto-day reality at colleges and universities [5].

Though the literature [6] describes this using different terms (e.g. web-based education, e-learning and distance education) in this chapter we refer to it as online

#### *Perspective Chapter: Online Learning in Professional and Vocational Education – Seeking… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112513*

education. A key feature of online education is that at least 80% of the content is delivered via the internet and typically no face-to-face meetings are scheduled [7]. Singh and Thurman [8] define online education as education delivered in an online environment through the use of the internet for teaching and learning. This includes online learning by students that is not dependent on their physical or virtual location. The teaching content is delivered online to enhance learning and interactivity in the synchronous or asynchronous environment. In this chapter, we adhere to the abovementioned definitions. We observed that during the pandemic, there were times when almost 100% of education was delivered online (except for final assessments that were sometimes located on the campus to avoid fraudulent student behaviour).

Limited experience with the application of technology at the start of the pandemic resulted in low levels of readiness for implementing and delivering full-scale online education. In most cases there was an unexpected disruption of conventional teaching and learning due to a forced and fast migration to emergency remote teaching, since teachers did not possess the skills to deliver high quality effective online learning that was based on a cautious design and gradual development [9]. These authors question the quality of online education during the pandemic and therefore they define this as remote teaching and learning, rather than online education. The latter is much more grounded in research and theories and is implemented gradually, accompanied by evaluations to support its further development. Not only for the teaching staff the forced shift towards online education can be regarded as a major challenge, also it remains questionable to what extent today's students can be defined as truly digital natives. The fact that most students have grown up in a society in which digital technology is a part of their daily lives does not automatically imply that students have the ability and/or the motivation to become engaged in online education [10]. It is quite likely that the (negative) experiences of students and teachers during the pandemic were partly shaped by their low levels of ability and readiness to become engaged in full-scale online education. This is also signalled in recent research studies.

During the pandemic, many research studies were launched to monitor the experiences of students, teachers and managers. These studies found that full-scale online education had significant negative effects, such as social deprivation and lack of student motivation [3]. Students experienced many technical problems, observed that their teachers did not have the skills and knowledge to deliver online education, and noted a lack of teacher-student interactions [11, 12]. Limited experience with the application of technology at the start of the pandemic resulted in low levels of readiness for implementing and delivering full-scale online education. In addition to reporting many problems and disadvantages, these studies also highlighted advantages of online education. Students who were asked to name benefits of combining campus-based activities with online learning activities mentioned opportunities to access their teachers for short (individual) meetings, the availability of videotaped lectures that could be watched at home at convenient times, and a reduction in travelling [13]. Ellis et al. [14] noted that online experiences during the pandemic were a catalyst for change and led to a desire not to return to the educational practices in use before the pandemic. Comparable advantages were reported by Zhao and Watterston [15], who concluded that the pandemic creates opportunities for educational change.

It is quite obvious that nowadays, with the pandemic leaving behind us, full-scale online education is not the ultimate goal to strive for in professional and vocational education. Much more likely is that the educational change is heading for what is usually labelled as blended education. Characteristic for blended education is that there

is always a combination of classroom face-to-face teaching with online teaching and learning [16]. The proportion of online learning and teaching may vary, but various authors (see for example [16]) estimate that typical for blended education is that between 20 and 79 per cent of the learning and teaching is taking place in an online modality. Blended education is not just a matter of proportion: The achievement of the appropriate mix, or blend, of the two teaching and learning modalities, requires a thoughtful design process in which different considerations are taken into account to achieve the most optimal blend. Preferences and technological abilities of teachers and students, pedagogical approaches, technical issues and organisational aspects are just a few examples of the considerations that are important cornerstones in the process of defining the right blend. There is a tendency to emphasise the technological aspects of the change towards blended education. However, it is not a matter of becoming more familiar with the use of technology as such; instead, there is a need for a broader view that addresses very different aspects to ensure a fruitful context that enables educators to make sense of the possible role of technology [13]. As Conrad et al. [17] stated: it is not simply duplicating the learning materials in a digital format.

The focus in this study is on gathering the experiences of students and teachers to uncover the advantages of online education during the pandemic. The purpose is to collect ideas that are conducive to the further development of online learning and teaching in professional and vocational education in the coming years. Not with the intention to strive for full-scale online education but rather to reveal the possibilities to move towards blended education that combines the benefits of conventional face-to-face and online teaching and learning. Most research studies that aimed at highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of online education heavily relied on collecting data via questionnaires so as to include many respondents and collect data promptly [3, 5, 11, 18–20]. Though it makes sense to use questionnaires, a major drawback of this method concerns the use of pre-defined items from the researchers' viewpoint that may overlook particular experiences or thoughts of students and teachers. The present study used an alternative approach that allowed students and teachers to formulate their own thoughts about online education while simultaneously including large numbers of participants. The Group Concept Mapping approach that was applied in this study supports those goals [21]. This study addresses the following research question: What are according to teachers and students in professional and vocational education valuable aspects of online education during the pandemic that should be retained in education programs afterwards?

### **3. Method**

This study was conducted at a university of applied sciences (for professional and vocational education) in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty's managers sent emails inviting students and teachers to participate in the brainstorm phase or rating phase, respectively. These emails also included a link to the GCM environment. For the sorting phase, both researchers emailed invitations to university staff members who perform policy, consultancy or research roles. That email also included a link to the environment for the sorting task.

#### **3.1 Explanation of GCM**

GCM is a mixed method and a digital tool for participatory research. It enables research in which participants start with a brainstorming session to generate ideas. *Perspective Chapter: Online Learning in Professional and Vocational Education – Seeking… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112513*

These ideas are recorded and investigated via quantitative and qualitative analyses. Ultimately, the participants arrive — in an objective way — at a shared vision about a particular issue [22]. Next to software to collect and analyse data, GCM offers support in visualising the results of the analyses [23]. Kane and Trochim [24] reiterate the value of group concept mapping as a practical method for applied research activities, including theory development, program and social intervention planning, measurement development and scaling, and program evaluation [25]. It provides insights into the conceptual knowledge of the participants, offers the opportunity for discussion and assists the participants in reaching and identifying an objective consensus [26].
