TEACHING IN THE DIGITAL AGE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The present paper evaluates the way the digital age has changed how we teach at higher educational institutions and how that has helped us to adapt quickly to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus is on the way digital literacy has been re-defined in the last few years deeply marked by the pandemic and the way on-line resources and digital environment have been used at the Faculty of Classical and Modem Philology of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" to ensure the continuation of the educational process in the conditions of a complete lock-down and pandemic restrictions. On the basis of the feedback by both students and university teaching staff, the paper analyzes the creation of new digital skills necessary for teaching the "digital natives" of today. The theoretical framework within which this analysis is carried out is closely connected to the study of the cognitive processes responsible for learning a foreign language and acquiring skills that are part of the new digital literacy of the twenty-first century. The conclusions can serve as a basis for suggested changes in the curriculum of teaching at the Faculty of Classical and Modem Philology at Sofia University.