=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2733/paper28
|storemode=property
|title=Higher Education Polytechnic Students’ Perspectives on the Transition to Emergency Remote Teaching
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2733/paper28.pdf
|volume=Vol-2733
|authors=Marisa Correia,Perpétua Santos Silva
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/siie/CorreiaS20
}}
==Higher Education Polytechnic Students’ Perspectives on the Transition to Emergency Remote Teaching==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2733/paper28.pdf
Higher Education Polytechnic Students’
Perspectives on the Transition to Emergency
Remote Teaching
Marisa Correia Perpétua Santos Silva
Escola Superior de Educação de Santarém Escola Superior de Educação
Instituto Politécnico de Santarém Instituto Politécnico de Santarém
Santarém/Portugal Santarém/Portugal
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6205-4475 perpetua.silva@ese.ipsantarem.pt
Abstract—COVID-19 pandemic forced higher education However, this author invokes the preeminence of discussing
institutions to make a sudden transition from face-to-face to the various problems that arise with this sudden change. One
distance learning, which involved a huge effort by all those of these weaknesses is the mere replication of the less
involved in adapting to a new learning system. The analysis of effective teaching methods of face-to-face instruction, such
students’ responses to questionnaires applied in a Portuguese as, for example, lectures (through videoconferencing
higher education institution highlighted the main positive and platforms) and not to favor more individualized learning
negative aspects experienced, bringing contributions to a activities [4], which encourage the active participation of
discussion on factors that determine the success of remote students and interaction between students, and between
education and the preparation of the next semester.
teacher and students [5].
Keywords—COVID-19 pandemic, emergency remote We cannot consider that the answer to the global crisis in
teaching, higher education, students’ perspectives. education, caused by the pandemic of COVID-19, is distance
learning, which requires the voluntary participation of
I. INTRODUCTION students and a complex process of planning and developing
Due to the rapid scale of contagion of COVID-19, learning environments [5]. For these authors, it is, rather, a
Portuguese higher education institutions suspended face-to- temporary and forced response, which they call remote
face classes in March 2020, having suddenly started the emergency teaching. The difference between these concepts
transition to distance learning. Some institutions partially is noticeable if we analyze the definition of distance
retook face-to-face classes in mid-May, however Polytechnic education expressed in the Portuguese legislation that
Institute of Santarém (IPSantarém) decided to maintain regulates distance education in higher education institutions
classes fully online until the end of the 2019/2020 academic [6]:
year.
“teaching predominantly provided with physical
separation between participants in the educational process,
namely teachers and students, in which:
Most of the degrees provided by IPSantarém are offered
as a face-to-face format, as a result, the courses were not i) Interaction and participation are technologically
designed for online instruction, which implied a huge effort mediated and supported by online academic and
by teachers in adapting to remote education. At this moment, technological support teams;
the academic year 2020/2021 is expected to work as a
combination of online and face-to-face learning (blended ii) The curricular design is oriented to allow access
learning), therefore, it is urgent to identify positive and without constraints of time and space to the contents,
negative aspects and learn from this previous experience processes and contexts of teaching and learning;
through the students' voice, to plan the teaching-learning iii) The pedagogical model is specially designed for
process in time and overcome identified constraints, namely teaching and learning in virtual environments.”
to develop training offers for teachers [1].
The transition to an education system with such complex
II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK characteristics does not happen overnight. For this reason, the
distinction between concepts is important in order not to
A. Distance Education and Emergency Remote Teaching make false assumptions about distance learning [5]. On the
Distance education has gained expression in recent one hand, when things are back to normal, teachers and
decades, following international recommendations that stated students will associate the bad experiences they had during
the need to prioritize lifelong learning and the development this period with distance learning. On the other hand, there is
of essential skills in the digital society [2] [3]. The a tendency to consider that technology is the most important
confinement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is in distance learning, when the focus should be on pedagogical
accelerating the digital transition in education, as it leads to approaches [5].
the rapid spread of adoption of distance learning and In the wake of natural disasters or due to troubled political
providing an opportunity to prepare students for the and social situations, several times in the past, universities
complexities of the ever-changing globalized world [4]. have had to suspend most of their face-to-face classes.
Copyright © 2020 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
However, teaching carried out in times of emergency should Online Resources [9] [12]
not be called distance education, under penalty of this Teaching and
teaching method being forever associated with hasty and Learning Interactive Resources [13]
remedial teaching practices, right in the antipodes of Process
pedagogical innovation [7]. Online assignments submission [9]
Emergency remote teaching was the possible response to Learning management system (LMS) [13]
continue the teaching and learning process in an extreme
Flexibility of methods that enhance [9] [11]
context, however situations like the one we are experiencing students’ autonomy
allow us to identify support mechanisms for students and
teachers that guarantee equal access for students in times of Teacher feedback [9] [14] [15]
crisis [8].
Interaction with students [9] [12] [13]
B. Students’ Perspectives about Emergency Remote [14] [15]
Teaching Align assessment practices with [16]
Research has shown that student satisfaction with learning activities
distance education has a positive correlation with the quality
Clearly present the assessment criteria [12] [16]
of learning outcomes, so it is important to identify the factors
that influence students' online experience and adapt learning Diversify assessment strategies and [11]
environments accordingly [9]. instruments
In the context of emergency remote education, which Technologies that promote [16]
higher education institutions have been forced to develop, the collaborative work and formative
need to assess students' difficulties is even more demanding. assessment
Tables I and II present a synthesis of a literature review
Well-organized instruction [14] [17]
findings focused on the factors that determine the success of
distance learning for students in two categories: students Provide clear guidance to students [14]
(Table I); and teaching and learning process (Table II).
Active/traditional learning methods [11] [13]
TABLE I. SUCCESS FACTORS FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION RELATED TO [15] [17]
STUDENTS
Diversify learning activities [12] [13]
Categories Subcategories Research Teacher preparation [12] [15]
Studies
Students Technological resources [10] III. METHODOLOGY
Work conditions [10]
Digital competences [10] A. Participants
Attitudes towards technology [11]
An online questionnaire was applied to IPSantarém
students in the second half of May and responses were
Based on the literature review, this study, carried out in a collected until June 30, 2020. The IPSantarém Campus
Portuguese higher education institution during the COVID- consists of five higher schools from which 315 students
19 pandemic, analyzes students' perspectives on remote answered the questionnaire (about 7,5% of the total students);
education seeking to discuss the success of the initiative and 35,2% attend a course at Education School, 28,6% at School
make useful considerations for the future, in the short term, of Management and Technology, 14,9% at Health School,
in which a combined teaching approach (b-learning) is being 14,9% at Agrarian School and 6.3% at Sports School.
considered. Regarding the cycle of studies, 81,3% were attending a
degree course, 11,7% a master's course and 7,0% a Higher
TABLE II. SUCCESS FACTORS FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION RELATED TO Professional Technical Course.
TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS
Considering the age of the students, they are between 18
and 60 years old; the average age of students who answered
Categories Subcategories Research the questionnaire is 26 years old, with a median of 21 years.
Studies
Among the 315 students, 31.4% indicated that they were
working students.
B. Data collection
The questionnaire was developed based on the literature
review, from which some categories emerged, contributing to
define its structure. In the first part, it was intended to
characterize the respondent: age; school; course and year
attended; place of residence; working student.
Then, the academic working conditions were checked,
namely the available technological resources and the
appropriate environment to study remotely. The third part of
the questionnaire integrates issues associated with the place and almost 40% are not in a quiet place to carry out
distance learning process in the confinement period, distance learning activities.
presenting seven questions using a Likert Scale that focused TABLE III. CONDITIONS FOR CONTINUITY OF ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES IN
on different aspects, such as student satisfaction with REMOTE MODE
synchronous and asynchronous activities, communication
with teachers, learning management platforms, work and n %
interaction with peers, workload. etc. In this section, two
open-ended questions were also included, in which it was Technologies and resources
requested to describe a positive and a negative experience in
the context of remote learning. Unlimited internet access 270 85,7
Limited internet access 39 12,4
The next section of the questionnaire focused on online Personal computer for exclusive use 264 83,8
assessment. Five questions were presented to respondents, Shared-use computer 50 15,9
Tablet 63 20,0
using a Likert scale, in order to assess their degree of Webcam 283 89,8
agreement with the methods and instruments used at the Microphone 290 92,1
evaluation process. It was also given the possibility to make Smartphone 276 87,6
suggestions regarding the exams. Access to online resources 251 79,7
The last section was dedicated to the main challenges and Environmental context
opportunities of distance learning, through open-ended
questions whose content analysis has not yet been concluded Quiet environment 197 62,5
Private environment 175 55,6
and, therefore, these aspects were not considered in this
communication.
C. Data analysis The Fig. 1 illustrates students’ satisfaction with
For treatment and analysis of the data we´ve used the synchronous, asynchronous activities and online assessment.
SPSS program. This is an exploratory analysis of the data and
therefore it is presented only a descriptive analysis of a
selection of variables.
IV. RESULTS
One of the central concerns in this study was to know the
conditions of students to continue studying remotely. The
majority of the respondents indicated that they had the
essential conditions to study remotely, with 60.6% saying Fig. 1 Students’ satisfaction with synchronous, asynchronous activities and
that they had all the required conditions and 31.7% saying online assessment
that they had almost all the conditions; 7.7% (21 cases) Regarding synchronous teaching sessions using the
indicated they had only a part of the necessary conditions (21 videoconferencing platform (Zoom), the students declared
cases) and one case reported not having the essential themselves globally satisfied (54,3%) and very satisfied
conditions. (23,8%). As Moodle is used in IPSantarém as the
When some essential conditions were analyzed so that management platform for teaching-learning activities,
students could effectively continue their distance learning students were asked about their degree of satisfaction with the
activities, we found some interesting results as shown in asynchronous activities developed using this platform: 87.6%
Table III. rated positively the work done (satisfied: 45,7%; very
satisfied: 41,9%). With regard to interaction with teachers,
With regard to technical conditions and access to although the degree of student satisfaction remains positive
technologies, most respondents stated to have good (together, 76,8% said they were satisfied and very satisfied)
conditions to develop their academic work remotely: it is possible to verify that the degree of satisfaction is low in
unlimited access to the internet (85,7%); a personal computer relation to others evaluated indicators. In the open-answer
for exclusive use (83.8% %); webcam (89,8%); microphone questions, students pointed out the need for greater feedback
(92,1%) and Smartphone (87,6%). in some curricular units and the importance of an organized
However, there were some discrepancies. Namely, the and planned interaction with information made available
number of participants reporting to have access to online more quickly.
resources is lower than those who indicated unlimited access As for online assessment activities, like the previous
to the internet. This may mean that they have some indicator, a lower level of student satisfaction is also
difficulties in accessing resources that are not available online identified. Although they consider themselves satisfied
in open access (for example, with installation problems (46,3%) and very satisfied (19,4%), analyzing together the
and/or connection to the institution's VPN) or, also, relative weight of those who consider themselves dissatisfied
difficulties at a user's perspective - how to find and select the and very dissatisfied is 28,5%.
appropriate resources. This subject deserves deepening
attention from the institution's training team in order to be Considering the interaction between peers, the majority of
clarified with the students. It should be noted that at the level students (79,1%) stated that they contact their colleagues
of the environmental context, conditions worsen for most every day or almost every day within the scope of teaching
students, with about half not being able to work in a private activities, namely for group work: 11,7% reported that they
do it once or twice a week and 9,2% rarely or never.
Regarding students' perception of their own performance
and skills development [Fig. 2], it should be noted that,
overall, they present a positive self-assessment with regard to
the ability to team work (66,7% disagree that this ability has
worsened), with regard to the ability to perform autonomous
work (together the 3 items that positively evaluate this
dimension correspond to 74,9%) and with regard to the
development of working methods (60,3% consider that they
have developed new working methods and 55,6% consider
that they have developed more effective work). It should also
be noted that 87,6% of respondents indicated that they have
improved their knowledge of work platforms and tools.
Although the results are not dramatically negative, it is
advisable to reflect on the fact that about a third of the
students claim to have worsened their ability to do team work
and also in the development of working methods - indicating
the need to train these students in collaborative distance
working methodologies. Fig. 3 Students’ self-perception of the reconciliation of activities
Throughout the period of remote work, in meetings of The main negative aspect presented in relation to this
teaching teams and of different IPSantarém Bodies, overwork remote teaching experience refers to the existence of a high
and the difficulty of reconciliation between family / personal work overload – 83,8% of the respondents indicates their
and professional life were repeatedly stressed - this aspect agreement with this statement and 51,4% even affirm that
was identified both in relation to teachers and in relation to they fully agree.
students considering academic activities.
On the positioning of students in relation to the 2020-
Regarding to the reconciliation of school requirements 2021 school year [Fig. 4], namely in the 1st semester, given
with other tasks of personal and family life [Fig. 3] 56,2% of the unpredictability of the evolution of the pandemic
our respondents stated that this ability has improved; situation, only 12,9% stated that face-to-face education
therefore, again, about a third of the students expressed should be resumed without restrictions. The most consensual
difficulty in articulating the various spheres of personal life. option is to organize the school year in a mixed mode,
combining classroom sessions with remote teaching (59,2%).
It should also be noted that a considerable number of students
assume that they prefer a completely at distance teaching-
learning process (28,0%) - which includes working students,
who identified remote teaching as positive for the
reconciliation of their studies with their professional
activities, as well as students living outside the city and/or
Municipality of Santarém, who stated that developing their
school activities in distance learning was beneficial because
it represents savings in expenses and travel time.
Fig. 2 Students' self-perception of performance and skills
Fig. 4. Organization of classes during the first semester of 2020-2021
Considering the support in recent literature on, the study
carried out by [10], which looks at the barriers to distance
learning experienced by older students (in the Portuguese
context they access higher education through a special
application “over 23” ), which have to reconcile studies with
family and employment, and which generally come from
more disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, although
this reality is not completely equivalent to that of the
participants in our study, the results obtained by [10]
approximate working conditions to which our students were
subjected in the confinement situation resulting from the V. CONCLUSIONS
COVID-19 pandemic; as an example of this, sharing a In order to face the challenges of adapting face-to-face
computer with other members of the household, the lack of a teaching in times of crisis, it is necessary to strengthen the
quiet and private space to work, the poor quality of internet communication channels between students and teachers;
access, the use of outdated devices (PC, tablet, etc.) and even prepare teachers to use distance methodologies; prepare
the limited digital skills. students to work independently and at a distance; and
The analysis of the survey applied by [9] to students at an ensuring accessible and diverse technological resources [8].
Australian university, demonstrated the value of e-learning: These are also conclusions that we can draw in this first
access to online resources; submission of papers online; analysis of the information collected through the application
autonomy and flexibility at work; from teacher feedback to of a survey to a group of higher education students.
assignments and interaction with students. It should be noted
that students showed great dissatisfaction with the last topic. Although students, globally, have pointed out significant
aspects in the development of their skills and abilities to work
The results obtained by [15] also revealed that the remotely; although they have revealed skills in carrying out
variables related to teachers are the most determining factors autonomous work and even if they have positively evaluated
for the satisfaction of students in online courses, among a set of indicators, as mentioned, they have also identified less
which communication, feedback, preparation, and teaching successful aspects which should be a matter for in-depth
methods stand out. reflection in the context of the institution.
The study developed by [16] presents fundamental As the results of the study by [12] point out, factors such
aspects for the successful integration of students in distance as teacher preparation and accessibility; the precision of the
education, namely the alignment between tasks proposed to evaluation criteria; the proposed asynchronous activities
students and assessment practices, the explanation of (combination of strategies); and the resources available
assessment criteria and the integration of technologies that online, are aspects that can only be achieved with time to
encourage collaborative work and formative assessment. In prepare and to plan. Having not been able to predict in the
our study, it was possible to identify that, although globally school year that has just ended, it is possible to envision in
high satisfaction rates are presented in relation to the remote relation to the future. The students' contributions enhance the
teaching experience lived, the practices that encourage discussion around dimensions such as pedagogical
collaborative / team work are highlighted as necessary and, innovation, the development of training offers in distance
also, methods of work that promote formative evaluation. learning modalities (b-learning or e-learning) and,
[14] identified in their study that student satisfaction with consequently, the training of different stakeholders.
distance education is strongly influenced by the lack of Thus, the conclusions of the study are expected to have an
organization of the teaching sequence, clarity in the impact on the preparation of the academic year at IPSantarém
instructions given to students and feedback. The situation and, in addition, bring contributions to other research in other
experienced in the current circumstances brought difficulties higher education institutions.
to teachers and, consequently, reflected in the students'
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