Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a lockdown in schools followed by a transition to a fully online mode worldwide. This article aims to determine themes and fields of education that have gained immediate attention within academic research devoted to the issue. Additionally, the author thematically classifies challenges in education during lockdown by keyword and content analyses. Quantitative analysis reveals the heterogeneous nature of studies, which may be explained by the lack of previous experience with lockdowns in education. Themes of specific styles of education, technological solutions, well-being, and perception are most prevalent. Qualitative analysis reveals that lockdown resulted in the comingling of previously separate spaces—personal (family, home) and professional (learning and teaching). According to the analysis, success in online education depends on the psycho-emotional readiness of a person, their ability to professionally develop, the technological readiness of institutions and countries, the curricular content, and one’s practical possibility to acquire specialized skills online. A comprehensive review of the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on education provides novel contributions to the literature. Understanding the adaptive behavior of the educational community during a crisis is significant for developing and improving coping strategies and for managing the educational process by making it more flexible and technology based in the future.