7 │ CHANGES IN THE ORGANISATION OF DISTANCE LEARNING Distance learning in basic and upper secondary schools in the Czech Republic 44 learning, but its form differs from the standard described above. It is an alternation of direct synchronous learning, where the teacher teaches all pupils in a video conferencing system, and “synchronously controlled” asynchronous learning, where pupils work on assigned tasks and the teacher is available for consultation, feedback, etc. Distance learning of this type is especially suitable for pupils at the 1st stage of BSs, and its length can be a total of 3 to 4 lessons with breaks if the total length of synchronous learning for the average pupil does not exceed 60 minutes. An interesting example of a 30-minute synchronous lesson and its connection with asynchronous learning is the following situation in one of the schools visited. Two teachers at the 1st stage teach as follows: learning is organised into groups, alternating 30-minute online learning lessons with 30 minutes of asynchronous independent pupil work; in teaching, they use teaching and feedback applications, which both make learning more interesting and allow the teachers to monitor the pupils’ outcomes. Both set lesson goals in relation to what the pupil will be doing and provide formative feedback throughout the lesson. Distance learning is still a new experience for all participants – teachers, pupils and parents – and despite the gradual improvement in the way it is organised, which was reflected not only in the adjustments to the timetable, the length of synchronous learning, and the length and organisation of lessons, some schools still tend to replace in-class learning with synchronous learning in a ratio close to 1:1. Compared to the spring period of the previous school year, a number of schools have made a positive change in reducing the number of pupils in synchronous learning, shortening its length, etc. Unfortunately, especially in upper secondary schools, there is still a tendency to maximise the extent of synchronous learning.