Abstract:

The University is that unique enclave in which professional and personal growth reaches its maximum expression. Contact with new cultures, habits and responsibilities make students acquire new skills for the rest of their lives. The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, made the world stop overnight and with it, the Universities. University professors were immersed in new challenges to adapt their lectures. The rigor in the evaluation of the acquisition of competences was compromised by the limitation in the material resources and planning methodology. For that, Universities had to implement changes in order to guarantee quality teaching adapted to the new times and the security of student and university staff. In this sense, some professors have opted by use synchronous lecturers in which both parts, professors and students interact through a web platforms (i.e. Google Meet, Zoom, Jitsi, etc.), whereas others have opted for asynchronous methods by using videos, presentations with slides, class notes, etc. making them available in platforms to host files. The objective of this work is to collect the opinion of the university professors on biological sciences through questionnaires, in which we ask for improvement proposals for non-face-to-face teaching in terms of evaluation and teaching methodology. The data collected by questionnaires were subjected to quantitative treatment using the SPSS statistical package, including descriptive analysis, contingencies, among others. The obtained results showed that almost all university professors get behind face-to-face teaching, since the non on-site class difficult the teaching-learning process. However, a low percentage thinks that both kinds of teaching methodologies are comparable as long as some special considerations are taken into account. Finally, a high percentage of professors believes that the pandemic has brought a challenge that has helped to acquire new skills to the education professionals. So, these new abilities can be combined in both kinds of methodologies, leading to an improved teaching. Based on the results, we can conclude that the direct contact with the student in the on-site class is irreplaceable, but on-line teaching can be used as complementary method that motivates students by using new tools.

Keywords:

University professor, biological sciences, teaching methodology, web platforms, on-line teaching.