Abstract:

In the face of the global health crisis, caused by COVID-19 pandemic, one of the impacts in the educational field was the high pressure on the public and private sectors for the accelerated implementation of virtual teaching at all levels of education. Therefore, it is important to analyze whether both, teachers and students, are prepared for this transformation, especially when it comes to levels that demand high technological resources and data processing capabilities.

The higher education system in Ecuador is divided into two regimes. The Coast regime, which begins its academic activities in May, and the Sierra-Amazonia regime, in September. Due to this organization, the Costa regime classes were developed online. Modality that demands a fast and stable internet connection.

In Ecuador, since March 16, 2020, the Emergency Operations Board (COE) established restrictions on the entry of travelers to the country, as a mechanism to control the COVID-19 outbreaks. This decision left thousands of Ecuadorians unable to return to their homes. This group included university students from the Ecuadorian coast regimen, who traveled, mostly, to do internships abroad during their summer vacations. Due to this decision, they were not able to travel back to Ecuador and start their online classes normally.

At the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) face-to-face course takes place in a laboratory equipped with computers with specific technical characteristics, fast and stable internet connection, air conditioning system and free from interruptions. This environment places students at the same infrastructure conditions. This allows the design of standardized classes and exams for them.

In the same GIS course, under the virtual teaching, these conditions vary for each learner; mainly, the performance of their personal computers, their connectivity and the environment during lectures. For the latter, it is important to know whether the students take the course at their homes or in a temporary residence.

The article proposes new parameters for the assessments in the GIS course, under the virtual teaching, that allow closing the gap conditions of infrastructure and equipment faced by the students. The methodology collects Geo-referenced data, through a questionnaire. To achieve this, the ArcGIS Survey123 platform was used. 42 students of the GIS subject were surveyed, to obtain information about the technological capabilities such as computer hardware and internet connection performance to be able to take classes.

The results indicated that 81% of the students met the minimum technological requirements that allowed them to take classes without interruptions. On the other hand, the subject's working tools were not compatible with 26% of the students. The study showed that even though the students had the technological resources, the expected performance was not achieved. This confirms the importance to adapt the learning environments to close the gap generated by the multiple conditions of the students.

Keywords:

Online learning, Educational assessment, Learning Gap, Pandemic, COVID-19, Survey.