The Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic and its Social Impact on Education: Were Engineering Teachers Ready to Teach Online?

Víctor Revilla-Cuesta, Marta Skaf, Juan Manuel Varona and Vanesa Ortega-López
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Víctor Revilla-Cuesta: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain
Marta Skaf: Department of Construction, University of Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain
Juan Manuel Varona: Department of Organizational Engineering, University of Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain
Vanesa Ortega-López: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-23

Abstract: The major impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are still affecting all social dimensions. Its specific impact on education is extensive and quite evident in the adaptation from Face-to-Face (F2F) teaching to online methodologies throughout the first wave of the pandemic and the strict rules on lockdown. As lesson formats changed radically, the relevance of evaluating student on-line learning processes in university degrees throughout this period became clear. For this purpose, the perceptions of engineering students towards five specific course units forming part of engineering degree courses at the University of Burgos, Spain, were evaluated to assess the quality of the online teaching they received. Comparisons were also drawn with their perceptions of the F2F teaching of the course units prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. According to the students’ perceptions, the teachers possessed the technical knowledge, the social skills, and the personal capabilities (empathy and understanding of the at times troubled situation of each student) for a very abrupt adaptation of their courses to an online methodology. The shortcomings of the online teaching were related to its particularities and each teacher’s personality traits. Overall, engineering teachers appeared well prepared for a situation of these characteristics and, if similar online teaching scenarios were ever repeated, the quality of engineering teaching appears to be guaranteed.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; social science; social activities; human behaviors; empathy; face-to-face teaching; online teaching; engineering courses; student’s perception; teacher support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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