The article compares the results of the research conducted at the end of the winter semester 2019/2020 with the results from March 2021 as an extended teaching for the validity of extending the teaching offer for modern language studies by including innovative solutions using distance learning methods and techniques, with additional comments at the end of 2021. The opinions of 50 second-year students on the usefulness and effectiveness of IT innovations in lectures, seminars and practical language learning exercises were surveyed. The research showed that the pandemic situation verified students’ perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of remote working. The data are also commented on by lecturers. It turns out that in all three types of classes, the opinions of students and staff range from moderately neutral at the beginning of 2020 towards teaching innovations, through more sceptical in March 2021 after the large-scale introduction of e-learning, to more favourable towards online innovations after a year of experience gained in 2021. Despite this general trend, there are considerable differences in the opinions of students and lecturers depending on the nature of the classes.

This study presents the research results obtained after the assessment of the digital competences of the pre-service and in-service teachers after their completion of the MOOC “Contemporary ICT Tools and Innovative Methods of Creative Education”. The paper provides a short description of the MOOC, requirements to pass the course and analysis of the learning outcomes through the students’ self-evaluation and feedback. The MOOC was developed in Polish and English within the project “MOOCs for Sciences of Education” and hosted on the Polish MOOCs platform Navoica (www.navoica.pl) within the framework of the competition, initiated by of Ministry of Education and Science of Poland and National Center for Research and Development (NCBR ‒ Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju) on “Direction to the MOOC”. Keeping in mind that Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have developed into a mainstream for universities, education reformers and startup companies, especially in the time of the COVID-19, the study is believed to contribute to the development of the MOOC pedagogy, and address the question of the MOOCs effectiveness for students’ learning outcomes and satisfaction. The experimental MOOC “Contemporary ICT Tools and Innovative Methods of Creative Education”, which was aimed at enhancing teachers’ digital competences, contained 8 modules, and was attended by more than 90 students through its 1st edition in 2020‒2021. The conclusions of the MOOC in focus and overall recommendations on enhancing the MOOCs effectiveness for formal education and learning outcomes have been evaluated based on the research data and provided accordingly. The selected statistical analyses and the data comparisons were made using Wilcoxon’s test at the significance level alpha = 0.05. The normality of the distributions of the studied variables was checked using the Shapiro Wilk test.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant disruption to education. To adapt to new conditions, academics immediately had to restructure their teaching programmes. Not all of them, however, had sufficient skills to be able to deliver effective online classes. Neither did the less qualified have enough time to increase their competencies by getting pre-emptive support coming from peers and technical staff, nor did they have an opportunity to self-direct their training. Yet, to achieve the best effect, to develop an e-learning environment in which they could deliver high-quality teaching that would meet various language needs of their students, they needed general and specific support mechanisms. The former relates to the technological aspect, that is the functionalities of available tools and the affordances they allow. The latter comes from the course structure, educational material designed to engage students in learning, teachers and fellow students. With strong support provided by certified peers, the English teachers at Gdansk University of Technology managed to engage their students in interactive, collaborative and active learning. The ideas shared in the paper are supported by qualitative and quantitative research conducted in 2020 and 2021.

The aim of the article is to present the results of research on distance education conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Silesian Voivodeship (Poland). The research focuses on the work of teachers in mainstream schools and those who work with students with special educational needs. The author presents: the difficulties indicated by teachers, the support they experience and the solutions they apply, especially to students with special educational needs. 
The study was based on a quantitative paradigm, using a diagnostic survey method and online survey questionnaires, sent to respondents in the LimeServey system. 958 teachers representing primary and secondary schools participated in the study.
The teachers indicated the difficulties of distance learning, such as the inability to monitor the progress of students, problems with the organization of group activities and the use of activating methods in teaching. They found the support in interpersonal contacts and self-study work; they rarely used the help of specialists. Half of the respondents worked with students with special educational needs. The largest group of such students were those with specific learning difficulties. Students with disabilities accounted for about 36% of those students identified by teachers. The teachers working with students with special educational needs experienced technical problems on the part of the student and psychophysical problems resulting from the specific condition of the student with special educational needs.
The results of the research and the recommendations were presented to the school authorities in order to improve the quality of distance education and raise the standards of teachers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, students with special education needs, including students with disabilities, found themselves in a particularly vulnerable position. What raised concern was the organization of remote education for this group of students, the implementation of tasks in the field of psychological and pedagogical assistance, and the effective use of recommendations contained in documents (opinions, decisions on the need for special education, or individual educational and therapeutic programs). The period of the pandemic and closing schools posed new challenges for teachers in organizing education for this group of students and meeting their special and specific educational needs in the online mode. The
analyses presented in the article refer to the organization of remote education for students with special educational needs (SEN) and the organization of psychological and pedagogical assistance.

This study focuses on the topic of distance education at pedagogical faculties of universities in the Czech Republic during the time of COVID-19 and tries to map how theoretical and practical teaching was implemented during the Coronavirus pandemic. Based on the research goal, the following research questions were formulated.
RQ1: Which tools were used to enable distance education at pedagogical faculties in the Czech Republic?
RQ2: How were the defences of qualification theses and the state final examinations carried out?
RQ3: How was the practical pedagogical training implemented?
To answer the individual research questions, a content analysis of information provided on the websites of individual faculties and in the reports published on the Internet in the course of theoretical and practical teaching at pedagogical faculties in the Czech Republic during the Coronavirus pandemic was used. The research found that the distance teaching took place using various tools, frequently mentioned were the Moodle LMS, MS Teams, Zoom, Google Classroom or Meet. Practical subjects, which cannot be fully realised online, were taught in a full-time form in blocks at the end of the semester. The exams also took place online, the MS Teams or Zoom platform was used for oral examinations, and the Moodle LMS was used for tests. At the Faculty of Education of Palacký University Olomouc, the defences of qualification theses and state final examinations took place in the examination room of the university under strict hygienic conditions. At the University of Ostrava and Masaryk University, the defences of qualification theses and state final examinations took place online, using MS Teams. Practical teacher training also took place online, students participated in online teaching at individual faculty schools. Students helped teachers create materials for
online teaching, participated in online teaching or led online teaching themselves. At the Faculty of Education of University of Hradec Králové, they performed the function of a teaching assistant or led tutoring.

The article attempts to identify emotions displayed by university teachers towards the adoption of e-learning solutions in the academic environment. The article is divided into four main parts. Part one is a description of one of the key components of human attitude, which is emotions. The second part describes the research methodology and defines the original research tool, which was used to measure the emotions manifested by academic staff in the use of e-learning. The third part is the analysis of the research results, which presents detailed summaries of each aspect of e-learning. The final section summarizes the research findings and makes recommendations for higher education institutions in the field of distance learning in an the academic community.

In the following article a discussion on the use of e-learning in education of convicts is presented. The topic discussed by the Author is connected with the fact that the use of new media in education at present has become a common solution applied also to educate inmates. E-learning is a current form of education and
vocational training. It provides improvement of contemporary culture in education applied at penitentiary institutions to educate convicts. E-learning helps and lets prisoners obtain education and to update education differences. As a method of education, it requires users’ autonomy and self-discipline while working with the use of digital platforms. Education must respond to different needs expressed by the evolving knowledge society. It mainly concerns education of people at risk of social exclusion, e.g. convicts. It is related to the need of dealing with and solving problems that pertain to such issues as increasing possibilities of the media in the area of generating, processing and creating information. The aim of the article is also to describe the use of e-learning in European countries such as Sweden, Norway, Poland, Finland and Germany. These countries were selected for the analysis because they appreciate modern technologies in penitentiary work. They change and develop the solutions. The experience in the use of e-learning in penitentiary work with inmates in Sweden, Norway, Poland, Finland and Germany is different. The aim of the article is also to show how modern technology can be applied in working with convicts. E-learning becomes a tool used for preventing exclusion. Development of various technologies makes it possible to support convicts and prison staff members in the process involving correctional activities. Technologies offer a chance to return or to start work, to continue education, to meet the needs of one’s family, to have an active life in accordance with the social principles after leaving prison. E-learning provides people who have been isolated in prison with a real chance to acquire qualifications. Hence, social issues, family interests, individual interests, business and modern technological solutions are combined in the same field. Coherent and efficient activities come as a challenge to those who perform them and to the society; however, these activities support the process of social rehabilitation.