REDESIGN OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE COVID-19 EMERGENCY FROM UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

COVID-19 started spreading in Latin America amidst the beginning of academic year (March, in the Global South). In response, the Faculty of Science within the Universidad de la República de Uruguay rapidly switched to Emergency Remote Education. As part of this strategy, specific support was provided to students with connectivity and equipment needs. However, teachers’ different levels of pedagogical and digital skills resulted in diverse efficacy in students’ emergency learning experiences. This work explores the Universidad de la República’s science education provision from the students’ perspective as expressed in accordance to their learning experience. The results show a positive direct association between the clarity of the tasks the students were set and positive feedback. Moreover, while the provision of educational resources was key to supporting emergency education assessment, technological aspects had little or no impact. Finally, the results also indicate greater critical digital literacy on the teachers’ part would improve science education.

Keywords

• Higher Education
• Science Education
• Learning Design
• Emergency Remote Education (ERE)
• Educational Technology
• Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL)