Abstract:

The "Plants in Gardening and Landscape Architecture" class subject’s main objective is to apprehend the attractive use of decorative plant species in parks, gardens and other green spaces. This is achieved through physical approach and sense activation (sight, touch, sound, smell and taste). For this reason, site visits are a fundamental task, as it provides the students of the Degree in Agricultural Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid with active contemplation and familiarity construction.

During quarantine and the isolation experienced in the 2019-2020 academic year, learning and evaluation activities were attuned to an “online” digital remote education, halting these visits by force. When this particular academic year came to an end, the Spanish universities’ deans, announcing through Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE), supported the idea of returning to campus classes for the 2020-2021 academic year, ensuring classrooms’ healthy protocols and following authorities’ instructions.

In this article the original and emergency learning activities designed for the 2019-2020 academic year are examined. The investigation deepened in the sudden adaptation from face-to-face method to remote means during confinement. This way, possible contingencies that could befall during the new course were formulated. The newly designed activities for the 2020-2021 academic year were the result of the study.

Regarding the new activities, the objective was to create flexible and adaptable tools both in space (face-to-face and remote) and time (synchronous and asynchronous). Their aim is to guarantee the fulfilment of the capabilities provided for in the subject, teacher’s and student’s well-being, and its different practices in face-to-face contexts during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Digital technologies and resources were introduced, as well as flipped learning practices, game-based learning, and collaborative and team learning. Simple lectures were combined with the “question technique”.

Two students who were part of the class during the 2019-2020 academic year contributed with their own experience during confinement and collaborated in building these new activities, through an internship agreement, in return reinforcing their knowledge on the subject.

This document contributes to the collection of experiences for the improvement of university teaching and student learning in a hybrid spatial and temporal environment.

Keywords:

COVID-19, education, agricultural engineer, gardening, landscape architecture, face-to-face learning, remote learning, digital technology.