Abstract:

The overall educational system has recently undergone a challenge due to the confinement caused by the pandemic. This situation brought about an unexpected change in the way that classes and modules were taught to then. Teaching approaches had to be abruptly adjusted so that the ongoing courses could end properly. On the one hand, the expected learning competencies should be kept whereas both the impartations and the assessment issues were swapped for suitable and available techniques. In the case of university education, those changes had to be tackled from a large variety of individual readinesses and capabilities. Such a big shift involved decisions at several levels, ranging from the Rectorate to the lecturers themselves. On the other hand, such decisions have had an impact on the learning outcomes as well as on the perceptions from lecturers and students, which somehow have changed since then.

This study describes the social and educational role of lecturers in some modules of Civil Engineering degrees belonging to two universities in Spain and one in Perú during confinement. Instructors took decisions and implemented some changes in teaching strategies while preserving the essential content, scope and targets. The objective is to report some findings from a backward-looking assessment about the adjustments in procedures, processes, media and outcomes.

Among the key decisions on impartations, there have been encountered diverse approaches around. Classes were seldom suppressed. Instead, the most implemented actions were videoconference sessions along with digital resources issued and accessible to students: own pre-recorded videos, third-party videos, PDF documents and notes to be read and studied autonomously, assignments to be reviewed by instructors, self-correction exercises and tutorials through either videoconference or email.

At the same time, the family, social and academic contexts played a relevant role during this period. Moreover, class groups were often resized. Lecturers had to strive to learn how to use various tools and digital learning management systems (LMS) and address the social background, the diversity and geographical dispersion of the student population, along with their own digital skills and available resources. In particular, online assessment has become a broad field to explore in case of an eventual face-to-face class suspension: it has required a big effort as well as a re-design by instructors and opened a window of technological opportunities and challenges for students. In addition, this period has served to brake the inherent resistance to change of most of the actors involved in the educational field for the use of emerging technologies.

Undoubtedly, some technological issues have arrived to stay, albeit there must be some improvements in the way they are used to ensure efficiency and student engagement. We explore the benefits and drawbacks from the decisions and changes adopted. The perceptions from the agents involved are included. In this regard, several surveys were conducted, in addition to the end-of-semester outcomes. This work concludes with some reflections on the use of online tools for both teaching and assessment given that face-to-face exams were not available.

Keywords:

TICs in higher education, STEM disciplines, learning under lockdown, E-textbooks, e-resources, remote learning.