Digital Skills of Albanian Lecturers and Students From the Humanities During Pandemic

The new cultural turn was introduced in Albanian higher educational institutions initially through the implementation of new student-centred teaching methods and with technology, which required the acquisition of digital competence.In the context created by the pandemic situation, three questions were posed to university lecturers:What is the experience of teachers and students during online learning? What are the digital competencies of teachers and students after pandemic? Does this situation indicate the creation of a new teaching culture within Albanian higher education?Survey-based methodologies are at the base of this study.The groups surveyed include Bachelor and Professional Master's level students from two universities, the University of Tirana and the University of Elbasan, but also 60 lecturers from the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Elbasan and the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the University of Tirana.The surveys drawn from lecturers reflect teaching experience during the COVID-19 crisis.Participants had limited prior exposure to online teaching, and their pre-pandemic digital skills were lacking.However, the pandemic experience improved their skills, albeit with minimal supportive training and self-directed learning.Surveys reveal that technology's incorporation in online teaching has not substantially enhanced students' digital capabilities despite the prevalent use of basic tools.