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Language for International Communication: Linking Interdisciplinary Perspectives (3rd international symposium, University of Latvia, Latvia, on May 26–27, 2016)This collection contains papers delivered at the 3rd international symposium Language for International Communication: Linking Interdisciplinary Perspectives held at the University of Latvia, Latvia, on May 26–27, 2016.
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Interaction Between the Secular and the Religious: The Exhibition Latvia’s Century at the National History Museum of LatviaThe paper focuses on the interaction between the secular and the religious in the exhibition Latvia’s Century, dedicated to the centenary of the Republic of Latvia, with its narrative being developed by the National History Museum of Latvia. When analyzing the qualitative data obtained through collecting visual information, and undertaking face-to-face in-depth expert interviews and observations, the author explains how the curators have positioned religious objects chronologically in a specific social and political context by using storytelling as the exhibition’s primary interpretative strategy. Compared to the previous period of activity (1945–1990), when the museum was an institution of Soviet ideology, the National History Museum of Latvia has currently developed a new paradigm for the evaluation and interpretation of religion and religious objects. Alongside ethnicity, politics and language, the curators have identified religion as the most important element in Latvia’s formation process. Religion is interpreted as one of Latvia’s constitutive elements in the exhibition, emphasizing that it was society’s major cohesive force in the past, influencing the development of national identity and defining the territorial borders of the Republic of Latvia.
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Students’ Perspective on Remote On-Line Teaching and Learning at the University of Latvia in the First and Second COVID-19 PeriodIn Spring 2020, due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, all educational institutions in Latvia, including the University of Latvia (UL), transitioned from face-to-face on-site learning to remote learning. After a short period of face-to-face on-site learning in autumn, UL returned to remote learning in November for the second time. This paper investigates the UL students’ perspectives on remote teaching and learning at the UL during the first and second COVID-19 periods. The research assesses several remote study organization aspects, including the lecturer’s and student’s digital skills, their access to information and support during the study process, planning and implementation of the study process, and students’ acquisition of the content. The study used an original questionnaire designed in the Spring 2020 semester. Seven questions from the first questionnaire were included in another follow-up questionnaire distributed in the Spring 2021 semester. A total of 2248 UL students from the Spring 2020 semester and 742 students from the Spring 2021 semester participated in the study, representing 13 faculties across all study levels. The survey responses were collected via a QuestionPro survey platform and then downloaded into an IBM SPSS 28 file for a reliability check. Next, descriptive statistical analyses were conducted for each reported survey item using Microsoft Excel 2016. The research presented here implies that, in general, students perceive positive improvements in almost all the investigated aspects of the organization of the remote study process when comparing the first and second COVID-19 periods, which could indicate a certain level of resilience in students and university lecturers when subject to COVID circumstances. However, the results reveal that students have, in one year, developed a more realistic approach in assessing their digital skills. The results lead us to believe that remote on-line learning is not just a short-term solution but could become a valuable element for providing qualitative education in the long term. It could indicate that the students and lecturers at university are ready for new and sustainable higher education study organization solutions in the future.