Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought additional challenges to the academic community. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) were forced to adopt a “remote emergency education” to strengthen health protection for teachers, students and staff. The study answers the following research question: considering the recent experiences of emergency teaching, learning and evaluation, to what extent does the current pandemic context enable new ways of teaching, learning and evaluating? In this way, it problematizes the triad that sustain all human learning - teaching, learning and pedagogical relationship. The study uses the case of a Portuguese public university, and consults expert observers engaged in this process- students, teachers and faculty directors -, using the Delphi method.
The preliminary results show that, overall, both students and teachers are still very sceptical and resistant about new technologies in higher education. Assessments, rather than teaching are the main source of scepticism and resistance.
Students show concerns about the inability of technologies to replace the pedagogical relationship established between teachers and students in the face-to-face regime; about being unfairly evaluated; and how to keep focus and motivated in a remote teaching system. Overall, students argue that the lack of experience of teachers in this type of teaching was evident and that teachers are more concerned with combating fraudulent behaviour than with the effective student learning. Nevertheless, students recognised some benefits such as the fact that new technologies provide students with a wide range of information and content. The results also shown that the majority consider that in the future, new technologies will play an increasingly fundamental role in the learning process and can act as a facilitator in the learning process if teachers are adequately prepared.
As for teachers, they report less motivation for teaching, overloaded, difficulties to transmit the content and to keep students motivated (especially the undergraduate). Teachers found high levels of anxiety in students and poorer results in evaluations. Concerns about plagiarism and cheating were also evident. Both students and teachers consider that the "emergency remote teaching" has mostly harmed students of courses with a strong practical component; with less autonomous study habits; who do not have adequate study conditions at home (housing and others) and with poorer socio-economic conditions (adequate computer or a stable internet connection). Nevertheless, along the way, they also found some pleasant surprises in trying to overcome the difficulties: more students attend virtual classes comparing to face-to-face classes; and the collaboration network that has been built between some teachers.
In sum, the fact that face-to-face classes were suddenly suspended meant that there was no time to carefully adapt the contents and assessment methods to the pedagogical principles of e-learning. In addition, this type of teaching has been imposed on them, which shattered the expectations on both students and teachers. This had consequences for the way students and teachers perceive hybrid teaching. The presentation argues that the pandemic scenario revealed numerous social and academic weaknesses. On the other hand, has forced the entire academic community to reflect on how learning and teaching are done in higher education.

Keywords:

COVID-19, “emergency remote learning”, challenges, online assessment.