The digital educational environment is not new in the modern world, but in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition to online learning has become necessary and fast. This offered the possibility to study various characteristics of objects and subjects in the digital educational environment. During the pandemic, universities worldwide were forced to switch to online learning, creating a global educational experiment with results to be comprehended and theoretically reflected upon. The significance of this scientific reflection is important for understanding the characteristics and factors that influence student satisfaction with online learning, as well as for anticipating possible ways to improve its effectiveness. This research aimed to study the characteristics of satisfaction with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in connection with the elements of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) online learning model. The study involved 808 students (M = 22.5, SD = 2.4 (53.3% men)) from 6 countries (Serbia—30.8%, Bosnia and Herzegovina—8.5%, Croatia—8.9%, Romania—21.8%, Russia—25.2%, Slovenija—4.7%). A total of 808 students responded to a questionnaire measuring the levels of cognitive, social, and teaching presence in distance learning. Satisfaction with online learning has been shown to positively correlate with cognitive, social and teaching presence, and overall CoI presence. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that satisfaction with online learning does not differ among students with different levels of academic performance; however, the subjective assessment of the element of social presence “Tools and platforms for online learning allow students to work with each other” is significantly higher among students with low academic performance. Satisfaction with online learning and the elements of the CoI model is different in study groups with varying degrees of online learning presence, as well as different in students whose training included different elements of online learning. The conclusions obtained in this study will make it possible to organize the digital educational environment more effectively by managing the elements of the CoI model.

This paper presents a study of online teaching in higher education during the 2021/2022 school year, during the Covid 19 pandemic. The theoretical foundation of this research is Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, according to which online teaching is realized through social presence (students’ interaction), teaching presence (student-teacher interaction) and cognitive presence (student-content interaction). This quantitative research was conducted in six countries: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Romania and Russia, and the answers were received from 808 students. At all participating faculties, online teaching was applied during the observed period, and in almost 80% of cases it was realized in full or to a greater extent than in in-person classes. The aim was to determine CoI presences and to identify possible differences among countries. The obtained data was processed with quantitative descriptive analysis and Kruskal–Wallis H test. The highest values of CoI presence were noted in Russia and Romania, then Slovenia and Croatia, and the lowest in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. In the whole sample, teaching presence has been most represented, followed by social presence, while the cognitive presence has been scored the least. Entire CoI presence was assessed as partially represented, as well as its three elements, the lowest of which is cognitive presence. In order to improve the online teaching process, in this paper technological and pedagogical training of teachers for online teaching, support for students for the use of digital tools for online learning and the provision of IT experts as necessary technical support are recommended.

The paper discusses the interaction and inter-relationship between culture and socio-technological changes caused by the development of digital media, with an overview of changes that are happening in the field of culture and cultural participation in the last few decades. These changes occur in the domain of audiences, cultural creativity, cultural institutions and cultural markets. Paying special attention to the participatory turn in the field of culture, the paper provides an overview of the main trends and innovations in the field of cultural creativity and dissemination of cultural goods given to digital media, which are illustrated by various practical examples. The review and analysis of the transformation of the cultural sphere offered in this paper may be of importance to cultural theorists and practitioners, individuals involved in the process of cultural creation or management of cultural institutions, and cultural policy makers.

The goal of this paper is to examine the difference in dimensions of online university teaching relative to the domain of education. The dimensions of online teaching correspond to the theoretical model of community of inquiry framework developed in the year 2000 by Garrison, Anderson and Archer and comprise teaching, social and cognitive presence. The paper presents an international quantitative research carried out in the school year 2021/2022 and using survey technique among students (N=808) from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, and Russia. A modified version of an instrument for examining online instruction and its dimensions was applied and tested, while the analysis of the internal consistency of this instrument showed a high level of reliability (a=0,941). The Kruskal-Wallis test demonstrated that there are statistically significant differences among the dimensions of online teaching in relation to the field of education. The highest score is consistently observed in the field of Social sciences and humanities, followed by the field of Engineering and technology, Natural sciences and mathematics, Art and interdisciplinary studies, whereas the lowest scores are observed in the field of Medical sciences. The results indicate the specificities of each educational field that were not recognized and taken into consideration by educational technology in its universal approach, which implies the necessity of creating educational technology that would be relevant for different educational fields, as well as focusing on a combination of online instruction and on-site teaching and learning.

In literature, teaching climate is closely related to be connected to school performance, such as students’ achievement, engaging, confidence, classroom discipline and school effectiveness. This paper analyzes teaching climate in relation to teachers’ communication style, personality traits and type of school. The study was conducted during 2016 in primary and secondary schools in Serbia on 221 teachers. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used for the prediction of teaching climate in relation to predictor variables. The results suggest that assessment of relations student-student and student-teacher should be considered primarily in the context of teachers’ communication profile and some personality traits. The results are relevant to the researchers, theoreticians and practitioners in the field of classroom management, school administration and educational psychology, as they provide the insight into the correlation of given concepts as well as guidelines for improving the educational process.

Change in patterns of conversation and informing of individuals caused by Web 2.0 application, have made another possibility of using Web 2.0 for citizens' civic engagement, in creation alternative movements and their communication and mobility in the community. Studies investigating the bond between civic engagement and media literacy are rare and valuable for the reflection and sociological and managerial interpretation of civil, responsible engagement of individuals in both their 'real' environment, and in relationships that they establish in a virtual social arena. The paper is based on the research results in Serbia, and previous research in the world, that testify the interconnectedness and interdependence of civil engagement with the use of virtual platforms. The research subject is therefore focused on testing the connection between new media literacy and civic engagement on the sample of academic and educational community in Serbia, and the results have confirmed this connection. We believe that the new media (especially the internet) are important instruments for disabling limitations and differences of physical space. Those conclusions have been made carefully, with interpretive and theoretical reducing of research findings; starting from the ambivalent relationship between space and technology that become even more pronounced with the expansion of the possibilities of new media, Internet and mobile communication technologies. Finally, the study suggests new directions for the development of civic engagement and society democratization through the process of multimedia education.