Abstract:

We present the resources adopted in the abrupt transition from the face-to-face classes to the e-learning scenario triggered by the first Covid-19 lockdown. Human Physiology is taught during the second semester of the first year of the Human Nutrition and Dietetics degree. The course started on February 2020 with normal classroom teaching held three days per week, in two groups of about 30 students, that regularly attended the classes. Direct contact with the students was encouraged by the teacher, creating in the classroom an adequate communication that facilitated the interaction and the mutual knowledge more easily than in bigger groups.

On March 14th, 2020, a lockdown was established by the Spanish Government that obliged us to move to a virtual scenario. Unfortunately, professors were inexperienced with virtual education resources and, firstly, they had to train through webinars on different applications and platforms. After one week, which was necessary for the reschedule of the situation, teaching was restarted with synchronous online classes. They were initially carried out using the ZOOM application, which was soon replaced by BBCollaborate that constitutes a simple and reliable e-learning solution. Students had a very positive response, and their assistance to the online classes were the same as in the face-to-face scenario. For professors, they had to change a little to adapt the teaching materials and the way of teaching to the virtual environment. In a face-to-face situation, there are circumstances such as non-verbal communication that allow the teacher to stop the explanation and try to solve the doubts that appear or redirect the explanation to ensure that the students correctly follow the class. In the synchronous sessions thought a platform, the non-verbal communication between the professor and the student disappears and had to be replaced by other resources. One of them is the use of the chat within BBCollaborate that allows to create debates. Another tool was the use of the SOCRATIVE application that allowed to actively engage students to test their progress in the subject with an immediate feedback and resolution of their doubts.

Moreover, to facilitate learning, each lesson on the open-source Moodle learning platform contained a set of multiple-choice questions that permitted students to test their knowledge and check their progress in the subject anytime. Another important handicap was adapting the practical classes for an online format. For this purpose, we found videos representative of the practices and the students answered questions related to them in the laboratory manual. Finally, the evaluation was also online with true or false and open questions. To avoid cheating, a bank of questions was prepared, and they appeared randomly in sets of 5 true or false questions per screen and limited time for answering, according to the recommendations. The marks obtained by students were similar to previous years, showing a lack of significant copy. In conclusion, the resources used in the e-learning scenario prompted by the lockdown allowed an adequate development of the course. The students regularly attended the classes and achieved the learning objectives similarly as in a face-to-face situation.

Keywords:

Digital resources, on-line-synchronic classes, online evaluation, COVID-19 pandemics.