Best Practices Persisting in Engineering Education Since the Lockdowns

The pandemic of COVID-19 has undoubtedly changed the world in many ways, and the practices used in engineering education are not any exception. During 2020, the traditional methods of lecturing and practical training had to be modified to reflect the specific needs introduced by the lockdown, switching almost instantly to distance education. Technical universities, and especially those providing education in the areas of electrical and information engineering, had one major advantage – their staff and students were mostly used to working with IT equipment and various software tools; therefore, the transition could be easier and relatively smooth for them, and they were often able to offer their help to other training institutions. The state of high alert was lifted after about two years, but the former habits are not going to be fully restored any more. The technology has advanced, and the mentality of both students and educators has accommodated to that development. Online solutions have become a natural part of our daily life, and most people expect (or even demand) their routine use in a variety of applications. In this paper we discuss some popular techniques and approaches that had spread around during the lockdown times and are still utilized in higher technical education to some extent, including online lectures and distance laboratory training. We examine the necessary conditions for their applicability, usability and suitability in "new normal conditions", attempting to predict the future development as well.