Abstract:

The educational strategy and approach of public universities in Spain are currently based on the face-to-face teaching model. This format has traditionally been the most widely used at all educational levels. Nowadays, widespread internet access allows online teaching to be the basis of the educational approach of some universities. The successive events (the Covid-19 pandemic, extreme natural phenomena, etc.) that have occurred in Spain in recent times have forced, with increasing frequency, the need to sudden shift to an online format for performing sessions that had been originally planned as face-to-face sessions. Based on evidence of the effectiveness and efficiency of online teaching, and on the advantages of traditional face-to-face education, this study proposes which parameters should be considered in order to choose and implement face-to-face/online/hybrid teaching models at University educational level. The study was conducted in two phases: the first involved gathering student feedback on their previous experiences, and the second consisted of implementing pilot tests. As a result, a SWOT matrix was constructed based on student feedback regarding online teaching over the past five years, and the critical parameters that can determine the success or failure of an online teaching model were defined. The study's conclusions show that the choice of one teaching model over another depends on many parameters that require analysis of each academic context. The key is to identify which types of training activities provide value in a face-to-face format, and which ones gain efficiency in an online format.

Keywords:

Teaching, hybrid, online, face-to-face, efficiency.