Abstract:

Due to the health situation caused by the COVID-19, in Spain there was a general lockdown that began on March 14, 2020. One of the measures was the suspension of face-to-face classes at universities. The measure that was initially planned for two weeks was extended until the end of the 2019-2020 academic year. In this situation, the change from face-to-face teaching to online teaching took place within only one week, starting online classes on March 20, 2020.

This paper shows the example of this change in the subject of marine renewable energies corresponding to the specialization module of Hydraulics, Energy and Environment of the Master's Degree in Civil Engineering at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. This manuscript includes how the change from face-to-face to online methodology was made in a very scarce time both in the theory and in the practical lessons, and even in the defense of students' works. It also explains the application used for the classes and the methodology employed for this change of teaching method, as well as the improvements implemented, the strengths and weaknesses identified, etc.

The teaching methodology was adapted to online classes by using audiovisual resources such as presentations or videos. On the other hand, new group activities were designed in the virtual classroom focused on this learning methodology. In addition, a new method of exposition of the evaluation works was carried out.

The applications used were systems like Microsoft TEAMS, Skype for Business or BBCollaborate. It was considered convenient that the students could see each other, so the cameras of each one was activated and in that way the environment of a class could be reproduced. In this case, the number of students considered adequate was limited. For both the theoretical classes and the case studies, tools such as the electronic blackboard were incorporated, which allows the representation of schemes and the resolution of numerical exercises with a compression rate suitable for the students. In the practical classes in which case studies are developed, students were organized in small groups to work and consult with teachers and discuss among themselves. The presentation of work was done as if it were a conference session with the corresponding turns of presentation and questions from the rest of the students and teachers. As main inconvenience, throughout the semester there were connection failures due to the different quality of the internet connection of the professors and students.

Although it cannot replace face-to-face teaching, where closer communication is achieved and interpersonal relations between students and between students and teachers are improved, given the pandemic situation, health safety has been prioritized and the result obtained has been positive. This experience has been beneficial and especially when it is necessary to be prepared for other similar situations in the future. The definition of these cases is a great contribution since they can be used in other similar engineering subjects. In addition, the planning of how it has been implemented and the lessons learned are of great value for any subject.

Keywords:

Online teaching, STEM subject, marine renewable energies subject, COVID-19 pandemic.