Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected university life, in general, for both the teaching staff and the student body. This communication analyses the behavior of academic performance considering the different phases into which the effect of the pandemic in university teaching has been divided.

Analyzing teaching during the COVID period, that is, from March 2020 to July 2021, three periods have been differentiated, which coincide with academic semester planification. The first period, or semester covers the beginning of March 2020 until July of the same year, and has been called “Remote emergency teaching”. It was a situation of total and general confinement where both -students and teachers had to react urgently, transforming face-to-face teaching into remote teaching with the methodological tools founded or provided by their institution. This sudden teaching methodology involved a virtual evaluation system, which was not the result of a deep and planned reflection, but a product of a general emergency.

Subsequently, a second period is differentiated, which has been called "Synchronous Teaching", covering from September 2020 to January 2021. During these months the lockdown was less limiting for the society, though restrictions were still tight in the university environment. Therefore, it was still not possible to do face-to-face classes. After the previous experience, a synchronous teaching methodology was planned. This situation led to a financial effort by the institutions with the purchase of digital equipment, and the massive use of tablets, computers, and digital whiteboards by the teaching staff. Despite this, the evaluation system was again virtual. By comparison with the previous emergency period, it was carefully planned from the beginning of the semester keeping in mind the gained experience.

Finally, the third phase “Hybrid Methodology and in-person evaluation” covers from February to July 2021. In this period there was no longer a total confinement, and a hybrid teaching methodology was carried out for first-year students, meaning 50% of the students attended class while the other 50% followed synchronously. Students from upper courses still face 100% of synchronous teaching. With the government allowing it, and after not finding a virtual evaluation system that would ensure certain requirements for its quality, evaluation was put back to face-to-face methods.

The main objective of this communication is to study the academic performance in each of the three studied periods. Obviously, the teaching methodology and the evaluation system are not the only factors affecting student performance, but it allows us to see a trend in student behaviors that are different for each of the stages.

The analysis was carried out for the degree in Business Administration and Management at the University of Barcelona, since it is one of the high dimensions and therefore statistically relevant. The performance data of the compulsory subjects of said degree was analyzed, for each of the three periods of time that the pandemic has lasted.

The results show that virtual assessment systems have increased the performance of the subjects and, above all, have increased their success rate (indicator that considers the rate of students presented for qualification in the subject).

Keywords:

Evaluation, COVID-19, virtual evaluation, in-person evaluation.