Abstract:

In the work presented in this paper a course, named Statistical Techniques, that addresses basic statistics techniques [1], was analysed. It is a course offered to first year Economics students and second year Industrial Engineering and Management students and has an average total number of 165 students (last five years).

In the second semester of 2019/2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a confinement was decreed and universities were closed. It was then necessary to rethink the teaching and learning system and implement an Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) solution, all within a week.

The effort required, both from teachers and students, was significant since it was necessary to adopt, in a very rapid manner, new technologies and methodologies that could allow the change from an in person system to a completely online solution. Zoom was selected as the platform for the online classes and for meetings with the students, but Moodle [2] was also very important as a way to communicate with the students and also to provide the students with all the required materials. Moodle was also critical as a tool for online assessment.

In this context, the entire course and evaluation method had to be reorganised and adjusted. New and different materials were developed and the assessment was changed in order to include teamwork. That helped to promote the communication of the students with each other, as well as with the teachers promoting their engagement in the course, in addition to contribute to autonomous learning.

The main purpose of this paper is thus to highlight some of the main challenges of implementing ERT while still providing a successful learning experience to the students. An analysis of the outcomes of the course (e.g. students’ grades, teaching staff evaluation) is also presented as way of showcasing the impact of the abrupt change faced by all the actors involved (teachers and students).

Keywords:

Statistics, ERT, online classes, online assessment, Zoom, Moodle.