Abstract:

Currently, we are immersed in a global pandemic derived from the disease known as COVID-19. Epidemiological research places the origin of this virus in the local seafood market in Wuhan (China) in December 2019. Since then, the pandemic has left more than 13,4 million of confirmed cases and around 587,000 deaths worldwide, affecting more than 210 countries.

Due to the quickly expansion of the virus, governments around the world took important steps to contain it. Those regulations affected to cultural, logistical and economic pillars, both locally and globally.

The education sector has been affected by both, the virus and government regulations. Most of the world's governments have temporarily closed all educational institutions, affecting more than 90% of the student population.

In the case of university education, the pandemic has had an impact on the whole university community: professors, students and administrative staff. Among other, the closure of universities has transformed face-to-face classes into online classes in most countries. Professors and students have had to adapt to the new system, with the help and the technical support offered by the administrative staff.

The adaptation to this new online education has made professors and students wonder if we are truly prepared for this kind of education. Online teaching is not something new, and although it has many advantages, the main disadvantages are the need of having suitable electronic devices and internet connection.

In Spain, universities have been closed for face-to-face teaching since March, and some of them will continue with an online education for the next school year 2020-2021. In the case of the University of Cadiz, depending on the faculty, students will have online lessons, face-to-face classes or a mix of both situations.

The present research, carried out in the School of Engineering of the University of Cadiz, is a starting point to get a suitable plan to next school year education. Since it gathers the opinions of both professors and students regarding the unexpected transition from face-to-face teaching to online teaching, together with their opinions about useful tools, evaluations aspects, and so on.

Keywords:

COVID-19, online education.