Abstract:

During the last two decades, a relatively common phenomenon in the field of higher education has been the introduction of new technology. On the one hand, the technological qualification of higher education centers has been expanded and, on the other, such innovations have been able to adapt to the educational scenario. In this sense, the digitization has revolutionized education, allowing students to learn from anywhere. With the emergency caused by COVID-19 pandemic, new formats of teaching and learning have been applied in higher education to adapt to the new circumstances. The debate has been reopened on the educational model, causing professors and students to ask themselves about the convenience to implement a blended learning model.

Unlike fully online teaching, the online part of the training does not replace face-to-face classes with a professor. With this type of learning, which combines remote and face-to-face teaching, one goal is sought: to achieve the best of both worlds. In this study we will use qualitative research in order to analyse the implementation of the Hybrid learning model at EAE Business School during 2020-2021. We will consider the surveys done by students of 12 master courses, both in English and Spanish language, in two campuses: Madrid and Barcelona.

Among the results obtained in the student surveys, we found that for maintaining concentration and improving productivity in learning, the following variables stand out: the pedagogical capacity of professors, the importance of standardizing the programs used in e-learning, the ease to master new technical tools, the balance stablished between distance and face-to-face education, and the ability to change the class schedule. According to these results, we can say that university education is facing a new challenge that requires a modernization of the educational system, with new ways of teaching and learning. The social, technological and cultural evolution allows the blended learning to emerge as a modality with its own identity. In conclusion, the modernization of universities is essential to move towards the “new knowledge society”.

Keywords:

COVID-19, higher education, new technologies, blended learning model.