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Adapting to the culture of ‘new normal’: an emerging response to COVID-19

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Jeff Clyde G Corpuz, Adapting to the culture of ‘new normal’: an emerging response to COVID-19, Journal of Public Health , Volume 43, Issue 2, June 2021, Pages e344–e345, https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdab057

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A year after COVID-19 pandemic has emerged, we have suddenly been forced to adapt to the ‘new normal’: work-from-home setting, parents home-schooling their children in a new blended learning setting, lockdown and quarantine, and the mandatory wearing of face mask and face shields in public. For many, 2020 has already been earmarked as ‘the worst’ year in the 21st century. Ripples from the current situation have spread into the personal, social, economic and spiritual spheres. Is this new normal really new or is it a reiteration of the old? A recent correspondence published in this journal rightly pointed out the involvement of a ‘supportive’ government, ‘creative’ church and an ‘adaptive’ public in the so-called culture. However, I argue that adapting to the ‘new normal’ can greatly affect the future. I would carefully suggest that we examine the context and the location of culture in which adaptations are needed.

To live in the world is to adapt constantly. A year after COVID-19 pandemic has emerged, we have suddenly been forced to adapt to the ‘new normal’: work-from-home setting, parents home-schooling their children in a new blended learning setting, lockdown and quarantine, and the mandatory wearing of face mask and face shields in public. For many, 2020 has already been earmarked as ‘the worst’ year in the 21st century. 1 Ripples from the current situation have spread into the personal, social, economic and spiritual spheres. Is this new normal really new or is it a reiteration of the old? A recent correspondence published in this journal rightly pointed out the involvement of a ‘supportive’ government, ‘creative’ church and an ‘adaptive’ public in the so-called culture. 2 However, I argue that adapting to the ‘new normal’ can greatly affect the future. I would carefully suggest that we examine the context and the location of culture in which adaptations are needed.

The term ‘new normal’ first appeared during the 2008 financial crisis to refer to the dramatic economic, cultural and social transformations that caused precariousness and social unrest, impacting collective perceptions and individual lifestyles. 3 This term has been used again during the COVID-19 pandemic to point out how it has transformed essential aspects of human life. Cultural theorists argue that there is an interplay between culture and both personal feelings (powerlessness) and information consumption (conspiracy theories) during times of crisis. 4 Nonetheless, it is up to us to adapt to the challenges of current pandemic and similar crises, and whether we respond positively or negatively can greatly affect our personal and social lives. Indeed, there are many lessons we can learn from this crisis that can be used in building a better society. How we open to change will depend our capacity to adapt, to manage resilience in the face of adversity, flexibility and creativity without forcing us to make changes. As long as the world has not found a safe and effective vaccine, we may have to adjust to a new normal as people get back to work, school and a more normal life. As such, ‘we have reached the end of the beginning. New conventions, rituals, images and narratives will no doubt emerge, so there will be more work for cultural sociology before we get to the beginning of the end’. 5

Now, a year after COVID-19, we are starting to see a way to restore health, economies and societies together despite the new coronavirus strain. In the face of global crisis, we need to improvise, adapt and overcome. The new normal is still emerging, so I think that our immediate focus should be to tackle the complex problems that have emerged from the pandemic by highlighting resilience, recovery and restructuring (the new three Rs). The World Health Organization states that ‘recognizing that the virus will be with us for a long time, governments should also use this opportunity to invest in health systems, which can benefit all populations beyond COVID-19, as well as prepare for future public health emergencies’. 6 There may be little to gain from the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is important that the public should keep in mind that no one is being left behind. When the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the best of our new normal will survive to enrich our lives and our work in the future.

No funding was received for this paper.

UNESCO . A year after coronavirus: an inclusive ‘new normal’. https://en.unesco.org/news/year-after-coronavirus-inclusive-new-normal . (12 February 2021, date last accessed) .

Cordero DA . To stop or not to stop ‘culture’: determining the essential behavior of the government, church and public in fighting against COVID-19 . J Public Health (Oxf) 2021 . doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdab026 .

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El-Erian MA . Navigating the New Normal in Industrial Countries . Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund , 2010 .

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Alexander JC , Smith P . COVID-19 and symbolic action: global pandemic as code, narrative, and cultural performance . Am J Cult Sociol 2020 ; 8 : 263 – 9 .

Biddlestone M , Green R , Douglas KM . Cultural orientation, power, belief in conspiracy theories, and intentions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 . Br J Soc Psychol 2020 ; 59 ( 3 ): 663 – 73 .

World Health Organization . From the “new normal” to a “new future”: A sustainable response to COVID-19. 13 October 2020 . https: // www.who.int/westernpacific/news/commentaries/detail-hq/from-the-new-normal-to-a-new-future-a-sustainable-response-to-covid-19 . (12 February 2021, date last accessed) .

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• Research article
• Open access
• Published: 21 December 2020

Transitioning to the “new normal” of learning in unpredictable times: pedagogical practices and learning performance in fully online flipped classrooms

• Khe Foon Hew   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4149-533X 1 ,
• Chengyuan Jia 1 ,
• Donn Emmanuel Gonda 1 &
• Shurui Bai 1  

International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education volume  17 , Article number:  57 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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The COVID-19 outbreak has compelled many universities to immediately switch to the online delivery of lessons. Many instructors, however, have found developing effective online lessons in a very short period of time very stressful and difficult. This study describes how we successfully addressed this crisis by transforming two conventional flipped classes into fully online flipped classes with the help of a cloud-based video conferencing app. As in a conventional flipped course, in a fully online flipped course students are encouraged to complete online pre-class work. But unlike in the conventional flipped approach, students do not subsequently meet face-to-face in physical classrooms, but rather online. This study examines the effect of fully online flipped classrooms on student learning performance in two stages. In Stage One, we explain how we drew on the 5E framework to design two conventional flipped classes. The 5E framework consists of five phases—Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. In Stage Two, we describe how we transformed the two conventional flipped classes into fully online flipped classes. Quantitative analyses of students’ final course marks reveal that the participants in the fully online flipped classes performed as effectively as participants in the conventional flipped learning classes. Our qualitative analyses of student and staff reflection data identify seven good practices for videoconferencing - assisted online flipped classrooms.

Introduction

“It’s now painfully clear that schools ought to have had more robust disaster-preparedness plans in place in the event of interruptions in their campus operations. But because many schools did not have such plans in place…online learning is about to get a bad reputation at many campuses, I suspect.” Michael Horn, cited in Lederman ( 2020 ), ‘Inside Higher Ed’.

In early January 2020, scientists identified a new infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruptions to schools and universities. According to UNESCO, as of April 10, 2020, more than 188 countries had implemented nationwide school and university closures, impacting over 91% of the world’s student population (UNESCO n.d.).

During these school closures, all face-to-face lessons were cancelled, compelling many institutions, including our own university, to immediately transition from face-to-face in-person learning to completely online lessons. The abrupt switch to fully online learning has been particularly stressful for many instructors and students who prefer in-person instruction. Online learning is often stigmatized as a weaker option that provides a lower quality education than in-person face-to-face learning (Hodges et al. 2020 ). Indeed, such negative attitudes to fully online learning were revealed by a large EDUCAUSE survey (Pomerantz and Brooks 2017 ). The survey of 11,141 faculty members from 131 U.S. institutions found that only 9% of faculty prefer to teach a fully online course. In other words, a whopping 91% of faculty do not wish to teach in a completely online environment. Students’ opinions of fully online courses are not much better; a recent student survey by EDUCAUSE of more than 40,000 students across 118 American universities revealed that as many as 70% of the respondents mostly or completely prefer face-to-face learning environments (Gierdowski 2019 ).

Clearly, many faculty members and students do not see the value of fully online learning, despite the fact that online learning has been around for many decades. During the current health crisis, many instructors have had to improvise quick online learning solutions (Hodges et al. 2020 ). For example, in our own university, there are anecdotal reports of a myriad of emergency online methods. Some instructors, for example, merely uploaded their PowerPoint slides or papers onto a learning management system such as Moodle and asked students to read them on their own. Any questions were asked asynchronously on the Moodle forum. Other instructors recorded their own lectures (usually at least one hour long) and asked students to asynchronously watch the video lectures and then ask individual questions later. Still others talked for more than two hours via synchronous video platforms watched by students in their own homes. Although these online methods may be an efficient method of delivering content, they are not particularly effective in promoting active learning and interest (Bates and Galloway 2012 ). As one student remarked, “Sitting in front of my computer to watch a 2-h live lecture without any active learning activities such as group work is pretty boring!” Indeed, without any active learning activities such as peer interaction, a fully online course will feel more like an interactive book than a classroom (Sutterlin 2018 ).

Well-planned active online learning lessons are markedly different from the emergency online teaching offered in response to a crisis (Hodges et al. 2020 ). One promising strategy for promoting online active learning is the fully online flipped classroom pedagogical approach, hereafter referred to as the online flipped classroom approach. An online flipped classroom is a variant of the conventional flipped model. A conventional flipped classroom model consists of online learning of basic concepts before class, followed by face-to-face learning activities (Bishop and Verleger 2013 ). The conventional flipped model has become very popular in recent years due to its association with active learning, which emphasizes students’ active learning (Xiu and Thompson 2020 ). Active learning activities such as peer discussions can help students construct better understandings of the subject material (Deslauriers et al. 2019 ). Recent meta-analyses have provided consistent overall support for the superiority of the conventional flipped classroom approach over traditional learning for enhancing student learning (e.g., Låg and Sæle 2019 ; Lo and Hew 2019 ; Shi et al. 2019 ; van Alten et al. 2019 ).

The online flipped classroom is similar to the conventional flipped classroom model in that students are encouraged to prepare for class by completing some pre-class activities (e.g., watching video lectures, completing quizzes). However, unlike the conventional flipped classroom approach, students in online flipped classrooms do not meet face-to-face, but online (Stohr et al. 2020 ). Although the online flipped classroom appears to be gathering momentum in higher education, very few studies have examined its effectiveness (for an exception, see Stohr et al. 2020 , who compared the online flipped classroom format with a conventional non-flipped teaching format). So far, we are not cognizant of any research that evaluated the efficacy of the fully online flipped classroom relative to the conventional flipped classroom. Establishing the effectiveness of online flipped classrooms is important, as practitioners need to know whether this active learning approach can be used during prolonged school closures.

Against this backdrop, this study compares the effects of online flipped classrooms versus conventional flipped classrooms on student learning outcomes. To this end, two conventional flipped classes in the Faculty of Education are transformed into online flipped classrooms. Students in both the online and flipped classes participated in the online pre-class activity asynchronously using a learning management system. However, students in the online flipped classes joined the online in-class learning synchronously using a video conferencing app whereas their counterparts in the conventional flipped classes attended face-to-face classes. The online flipped courses were designed using the 5E conceptual framework and used a cloud-based video conferencing app. We used the Zoom application after careful consideration of many different videoconferencing platforms. Our reasons for doing so are given in the Section of “Stage Two: Transforming conventional flipped classes into online flipped classes”.

The 5E framework consists of five phases—Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate (Bybee et al. 2006 ).

Engage—The first phase aims to engage students in the learning process. Methods to engage students usually include using a real-world scenario, or problem, asking students questions that allow them to brainstorm or think critically, and helping them to create connections to their past experiences.

Explore—In the exploration phase, the teacher, who works as a facilitator or coach, gives the students time and opportunity to explore the content and construct their own understanding of the topic at hand.

Explain—This phase starts with students attempting to explain specific aspects of the engagement and exploration experiences. Based on these explanations, the teacher introduces terminology in a direct and explicit manner to facilitate concept building.

Elaborate—In this phase, the teacher provided more detailed information about the subject content through the use of mini lectures and/or whole class discussions. Students are also given the opportunity to apply what they have learned and receive feedback from the teacher and their peers.

Evaluate—Formative assessments (e.g., quizzes) can be used to evaluate students’ mastery of the subject material at the beginning and throughout the 5E phases, and teachers can complete a summative assessment after the elaboration phase (e.g., final exams).

We adopted the 5E framework for the following reasons. First, the 5E framework, which is based on various educational theories and models (e.g., Herbart’s instructional model, Dewey’s instructional model, Atkin-Karplus Learning Cycle) (Bybee et al. 2006 ), provides a sound instructional sequence for designing a course and planning activities. The 5E framework can help instructors organize and integrate both the in-class and out-of-class learning activities (Lo 2017 ).

Second, previous research has shown the positive effect of the 5E framework on student achievement. These positive effects were initially established in science education (e.g., Akar 2005 ; Boddy et al. 2003 ). Recently, the 5E model has yielded positive results when applied to various subject areas and when used to design inquiry- and interaction-based learning activities. Mullins ( 2017 ), for example, found that undergraduate students in a 5E-supported class outperformed their peers in a traditional lecture setting. Hew et al. ( 2018 ) designed two postgraduate courses based on the 5E model in order to foster students’ active learning. Ninety-two percent of the participants agreed that the 5E supported courses were more engaging than traditional classroom instruction.

The rest of this paper is structured as follows. First, we describe our study design and methodology. This is followed by a description of our two stages of research. In Stage One, we explain how we use the 5E framework to design our two conventional flipped classes; In Stage Two, we describe how we transformed the two conventional flipped classes into fully online flipped classes, using a cloud-based video conferencing app. We describe the various pedagogical practices that Zoom videoconferencing can facilitate before and during online flipped classes. In this paper, we use the term “pedagogical practices” to refer to specific activities that are used to structure teaching and learning. This study is guided by the following two questions.

What effect does the change from a conventional flipped classroom format to an online flipped format have on student learning performance?

What are the good practices for videoconferencing - assisted online flipped classrooms, as perceived by students and/or teaching staff?

This study was conducted in a large public Asian university. Four classes were involved: (a) conventional flipped Course 1, (b) conventional flipped Course 2, (c) online flipped Course 1, and (d) online flipped Course 2. Conventional flipped Courses 1 and 2 were the control group. Online flipped Courses 1 and 2 were the experimental group. To avoid any potential instructor confounding bias, the same professor and teaching assistants (TAs) taught the conventional and online flipped formats of each class. Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board at the University of Hong Kong and consent forms from all participants in the study were collected.

Data collection and analysis

To reiterate, this study had two purposes: (a) to determine the effect of an online flipped classroom on student learning performance as determined by student final course marks, and (b) to determine good practices for videoconferencing - assisted online flipped classrooms, as perceived by the participants (students and teaching staff). We adopted a mixed methods involving quantitative and qualitative approaches to provide a deeper understanding of the research problem (Ivankova et al. 2006 ).

The data collection spanned across two semesters, which corresponded to the aforementioned two stages of the research. The conventional flipped classes were implemented in conventional flipped Courses 1 and 2 during the semester of 2019 Fall before the pandemic (Stage One). Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, all courses were required to be delivered online in our university in the 2020 Spring semester. Therefore, the online flipped classes were conducted in online flipped Courses 1 and 2 during the pandemic in 2020 Spring (Stage Two). Students’ knowledge and skills of the course content were checked at the beginning of the each course. Students final course marks in each course were collected and used as measure of the student learning outcomes at the end of the semester (See Fig.  1 for the research timeline).

Timeline of data collection: 2019 Fall (before the pandemic), 2020 Spring (during the pandemic)

To address the first purpose, we compared the students’ final course marks in the online flipped classrooms and conventional flipped classrooms. Quantitative data from 99 students were collected (see Table 1 ). We used the students’ final course marks to measure performance.

To identify the perceived good practices for videoconferencing - assisted online flipped classrooms, we invited students and the teaching staff to complete a self-reflection exercise based on the following question: “What do you perceive as good practices in a videoconferencing-supported online flipped classroom?” The qualitative data collected from students and instructors were analyzed as follows. The first step was an initial reading of all of the response data to obtain an overall impression. The first author then applied the grounded approach (Strauss and Corbin 1990 ) to the qualitative data to generate relevant codes. Similar codes were organized into themes. In order to increase the consistency of coding, several exemplary quotes that clearly illustrated each constructed theme were identified. We also allowed new themes (if any) to emerge inductively during the coding process. The second author coded the data. There was perfect agreement with the coding. Table 2 summarizes how the data for each research question were collected and analyzed.

Stage one: designing conventional flipped classes using the 5E framework

In this section, we first describe how we use the 5E framework to design our two conventional flipped classes (Course 1: E-Learning Strategies , and Course 2: Engaging Adult Learners ). In the next section, we describe how we transform these two conventional flipped classes into fully online flipped classes. Figure  2 shows the 5E framework that guided our design of the conventional flipped classes. Table 3 shows some of the teaching and learning activities used in each of the 5E phases.

5E framework used to design the two conventional flipped classes

Conventional flipped course 1: E-learning strategies

This course discussed the various e-learning strategies that can be employed to foster six types of learning, including problem-solving, attitude learning, factual learning, concept learning, procedural learning, and principle learning. There were eight sessions in the course. The first seven sessions were flipped—each consisting of an online pre-class learning component and a 3-h face-to-face in-class component. The last session was devoted to students’ presentations. Figure  3 shows an example of how the 5E framework was used in Course 1.

Example of a pre-class activity in Course 1

For instance, in the pre-class phase of Session 2: Instructional Design—Part 1 , we posted a video that posed the question “What do we mean by ‘understand’”. This video engaged students’ curiosity about the importance of writing clear and measurable learning objectives. The instructor in the video highlighted the pitfalls of using vague words such as “know” and “understand” when writing learning objectives. Students then explored and explained their own individual learning objectives using the ABCD model (audience, behavior, condition, degree). Students were able to use a mobile instant messaging (MIM) app such as WeChat to ask questions of their peers or instructor. When a message arrived, a notification appeared on the receiver’s phone screen, encouraging timely feedback and frequent interaction (Rosenfeld et al. 2018 ).

During the face-to-face in-class session, the instructor re-engaged students’ attention by discussing basic instructional design issues such as “How do we write good lesson objectives?” The instructor conducted short debriefing sessions to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of students’ pre-class work. The instructor also facilitated class or small group discussions to build students’ understanding of how to write measurable lesson objectives that help students to achieve specific learning outcomes (e.g., factual learning). These discussions allowed students to elaborate on good lesson objectives practices. To evaluate the students’ understanding, the instructor asked them to work in groups of four on an instructional design scenario (e.g., teaching participants how to deal with angry customers), and then write a learning objective for the lesson in an online forum; their peers then commented on the posted learning objectives (Fig.  4 ).

Example of an in-class activity in Course 1

Conventional flipped course 2: engaging adult learners

This course discussed the key principles of adult learning, as well as strategies used in adult education (e.g., transformational learning theory). There were eight sessions in the course, each session lasted three hours. An example of how the 5E instructional model was used is shown in Fig.  5 .

Example of a pre-class activity in Course 2

For example, in the pre-class session for Session 3: Motivation, we uploaded a four-minute video that briefly described the concepts of reinforcement and punishment. The aim of the video was to engage students’ attention on the focal topic. To help students explore the topic in further, they were asked to respond to the following question: “After watching the video, can you think of other positive reinforcers, negative reinforcers, and punishment methods?” Students posted their opinions ( explained ) on a discussion forum. Students also used the WeChat app to ask questions of their peers or instructor.

During the subsequent face-to-face lesson (Fig.  6 ), the instructor facilitated whole class discussions using relevant questions to elaborate on the topics covered in the pre-class video. An example of a question used was ‘When should we employ positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or punishment?’ Based on the students’ responses, the instructor was able to provide more in-depth explanation of the subject matter, or correct any student misunderstanding. This will help enhance students’ comprehension of the subject content. The instructor also discussed the notion of intrinsic motivation (e.g., the self-determination theory). In addition to elaborating on the content, the instructor also evaluated the students’ understanding by asking students to complete small group discussion activities. An example of a small group discussion activity was ‘Did you have any experience where you did not like learning a subject or doing an activity? How would you motivate yourself in that situation? Please try to use a mixture of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors.’ Upon completion of the small group activity, students from each group presented their views to the whole class. The instructor, as well as the rest of the classmates provided feedback.

Example of an in-class activity in Course 2

Stage two: transforming conventional flipped classes into online flipped classes

The outbreak of COVID-19 inspired us to transform the two conventional flipped classes discussed above into fully online flipped classes. After careful consideration, the Zoom videoconferencing app was used for the synchronized online meetings (see Table 4 ). The whole transformation process took about one week with the bulk of the time was spent on exploring and testing the features of Zoom.

Zoom is a Web videoconferencing service that allows users to communicate online with individuals in real time via computer, tablet, or mobile device. We chose Zoom because of its ease of use (Kim 2017 ; Sutterlin 2018 ), its lower bandwidth requirements (Sutterlin 2018 ), and its ability to record and store sessions without recourse to third-party software (Archibald et al. 2019 ). More importantly, Zoom was chosen because its functions could easily support the implementation of our online flipped classroom. For instance, it allows instructors to easily create breakout rooms for group discussions. It also makes team-teaching possible by allowing more than one host and giving all of the hosts administrative capabilities such as sharing screens and remote control over shared screens (Johnston 2020 ).

To keep our online meetings secure, we activated the “ only authenticated users can join ” option. Specifically, we only allowed participants using our own university’s email domain to join the online meetings. In addition, we enabled the “ waiting room ” feature so that we could screen all of participants in the “ waiting room ” and admit only students officially enrolled in our classes into the online meeting. After all of the participants had entered, we then locked the meeting using the “ Lock the meeting ” feature. Once we had locked a meeting, no new participants could join.

The same learning materials used in the conventional flipped classes were used in the online flipped classes. Table 4 shows some of the teaching and learning activities. Students in the online flipped classes completed pre-class activities that were similar to those used in the conventional flipped classes, but these were not followed by face-to-face meetings, but by online meetings conducted on the Zoom videoconferencing app.

Online flipped course 1: E-learning strategies

Like the conventional flipped course, the online flipped Course 1 consisted of eight sessions. The first seven sessions were flipped—students were encouraged to complete a set of pre-class sessions asynchronously (similar to Fig.  3 ). Students also used the WeChat MIM app to ask questions of their peers or instructors. However, unlike the conventional flipped approach, the “in-class” session for the online flipped students was conducted completely online through Zoom videoconferencing. In the final session (Session 8), the online flipped students also presented their work on Zoom. Each online “in-class” session lasted three hours—similar in duration to the in-class component of the conventional flipped format.

In the online synchronous “in-class” sessions, the instructor started by reminding students to switch on their webcams and to mute their microphones when not speaking. Next, the instructor lead a short class debriefing session to elaborate on the materials covered in the pre-class session. This was similar to the structure of the conventional flipped class format. For example, the instructor might discuss the students’ completed pre-class work and highlight the overall strengths and weaknesses. The main purpose of these short debriefing sessions was to clarify students’ initial doubts or misconceptions. Following the debriefing sessions, the instructor facilitated class discussions that delved deeper into the subject content. To evaluate students’ understanding of the materials, students were asked to work individually or participate in small group discussions on specific questions similar to those used in the conventional flipped classes. Students then presented their work online to the whole class, and received peer and instructor feedback.

To engage the participants, the instructor used a number of features of the Zoom videoconferencing system. For example, the instructor posed questions during the whole class discussion and used the polling feature to rapidly collect and analyze student responses. The polling feature provided a function similar to a clicker or student response system. Based on the poll results, the instructor then addressed students’ misunderstandings. To enable small group discussions, the instructor used the breakout rooms feature of Zoom . Each student was assigned to one of several groups. Each group consisted of four to five students. Other students could not “drop” into other groups, but the instructor could drop into any group and participate in the discussions. When it was time for the small groups to return to the whole class, students would receive a time indicator reminding them that they were rejoining the whole class. Table 5 shows how the specific features of Zoom helped support the online “in-class” teaching and learning activities. Figure  7 illustrates some of the Zoom features used in the course.

Examples of Zoom features used in Course 1

Online flipped course 2: engaging adult learners

Similar to the conventional flipped course, the online flipped course had eight sessions. The pre-class and in-class activities used in the conventional flipped course were also used in the online flipped course (see Fig.  5 for an example of a pre-class activity). Students also used the WeChat MIM app to ask questions of their peers or instructors. The last three sessions were used for students’ online presentations via videoconferencing. Each online “in-class” session lasted three hours—similar in duration to the in-class component of the conventional flipped class. In the online synchronous “in-class” sessions, the instructor reminded students to switch on their webcams and to mute their microphones when not speaking. The instructor used the features of the Zoom videoconferencing system shown in Table 5 and Fig.  7 .

Results and discussion

Conventional flipped versus online flipped course 1: e-learning strategies.

To address Research Question 1, the learning outcomes of students in the conventional flipped Course 1 and the online flipped Course 1 were measured and compared. The main purpose of both courses was to teach students the skills needed to create an e-learning storyboard and to develop a fully online course based on the 5E framework on Moodle. At the beginning of both the conventional flipped and online flipped classes, students were surveyed if they had any experience creating storyboards or fully online courses. None of the students had any such prior experience. Therefore, we assumed that both groups of students had similar levels of prior knowledge/skill. Next, we used both groups of students’ final course marks as a measure of the student learning outcomes. The maximum final marks in the final assessment was 100.

We first checked the normality of the final course marks data. If there were a significant deviation from normality, the Mann–Whitney U would be the most appropriate test for comparing the groups; otherwise, an independent samples t -test would be appropriate. The results showed that the course marks for both the conventional flipped ( W (23) = 0.920, p  = 0.068) and online flipped classes ( W (26) = 0.964, p  = 0.479) were normally distributed, as assessed by the Shapiro–Wilk’s test. There was also homogeneity in the variances for the course marks, as assessed by Levene’s test for equality of variances ( p  = 0.652). In addition, there were no outliers in the data, as assessed by an inspection of the boxplots (Fig.  8 ).

The boxplots of final marks in Course 1 for conventional flipped class and online flipped class

An independent-samples t -test was therefore conducted to determine if there were differences in the final marks of the conventional flipped and online flipped classes. The results suggested that online flipped participants ( M  = 66.00, SD = 11.63) performed as effectively as participants in the conventional flipped learning format ( M  = 65.04, SD = 11.80), t (47) = 0.285, p  = 0.777.

Conventional flipped versus online flipped course 2: engaging adult learners

The main purpose of both the conventional flipped and online flipped Engaging Adult Learners courses was to introduce students to the key characteristics of adult learners, the key principles of adult learning, and strategies for adult education. First, to test if there were any initial differences in students’ prior knowledge of the course content, a short quiz was administered to both groups at the start of the semester. The Mann–Whitney U test found no significant initial differences between the conventional flipped group ( Mdn  = 0) and the online flipped group ( Mdn  = 0.5), U  = 218.5, p  = 0.06.

Next, we used the students’ final course marks as a measure of the student learning outcomes. The final assessment included individual written reflections on course topics and relevant articles, and a group demonstration of an adult-teaching strategy. The maximum final marks for the final assessment was 100. As in the above analysis, we first checked the normality of the final course mark data. The course marks for both the conventional flipped and online flipped classes were normally distributed, as assessed by Shapiro–Wilk’s test: W (25) = 0.963, p  = 0.470 for the conventional flipped course and W (24) = 0.930, p  = 0.096 for the online flipped course. There was also a homogeneity of variances, as assessed by Levene’s test for equality of variances ( p  = 0.304). In addition, there were no outliers in the data, as assessed by an inspection of the boxplots (Fig.  9 ).

The boxplots of final marks in Course 2 for conventional flipped class and online flipped class

We subsequently carried out an independent-samples t-test to examine if there was any significant difference in the final course marks of the conventional flipped and online flipped classes. The results suggested that online flipped learning participants ( M  = 83.25, SD = 4.56) performed as effectively as participants in the conventional flipped learning classes ( M  = 83.40, SD = 5.51), t (47) = 0.104, p  = 0.918.

What are the good practices for videoconferencing-assisted online flipped classrooms, as perceived by students and/or teaching staff?

The analyses of the participants’ comments identified the following seven good practices for videoconferencing-assisted online flipped classrooms.

Remind participants to mute their microphones when not speaking to eliminate undesirable background noise . According to Gazzillo ( 2018 ), muting participants’ microphones allows the speaker to have center stage while eliminating the distraction of audio feedback. As one teaching staff member said, .

It’s a good practice at the beginning to mute all of the participants by selecting the “Mute All” button at the bottom of the participants panel. This will eliminate all background noise (e.g., television sounds, audio feedback). I will then ask the participants to turn their audio back on if they wish to talk

In terms of Zoom functionality, by pressing and holding the “space bar” allows the participants to temporarily switch on their microphone. We also ask the participants to install an AI-enabled application called “Krisp” to minimize the background noise of the participants.

Remind participants before the online “in-class” session begins to switch on their webcams . Webcams show a person’s face to other people on the video call, which can help to increase online social presence among classmates (Conrad and Donaldson 2011 ). Online social presence is positively correlated with student satisfaction and student perceived learning (Richardson et al. 2017 ). The participants also strongly prefer to see a face during instruction as it is perceived as more educational (Kizilcec et al. 2014 ). Students’ facial expressions are also a valuable source of feedback for the instructor to know whether the students could understand the subject matter (Sathik and Jonathan 2013 ). An instructor can use students’ facial expressions to determine whether to speed up, or slow down, or provide further elaborations. Feedback from the teaching staff included the following comments.

It is important to ask students to turn on their cameras. Students will be more focused and interactive and teaching will be better when teachers can see students’ responses.

As an instructor, I do not feel as if I’m talking to a wall when I can see some actual faces. Students also feel they are talking to someone rather than to an empty black screen. But it’s important to inform the students in advance to switch on their webcams so that they can do their hair properly or put on makeup beforehand—this was what some students actually told me!

During teaching, seeing your students' faces will give you another form of feedback. For example, when they look confused or nod their heads, it allows me to fine-tune the delivery of the content. These reactions give me visual feedback on whether I need further explanations or examples to elaborate on the topic.

Feedback from the students included the following comments.

Showing our faces is really helpful as we can see our classmates’ faces and remember them. Also, it makes the class more alive because we can see their expressions. Showing our faces is very helpful! It can make me feel like I’m in a real class! I enjoy the feeling of having a class with my classmates.

Turning on the camera helps us be more attentive in the online class.

To avoid showing any undesirable background objects (e.g., a messy bedroom) during the video meeting, participants can choose to replace their actual background with a virtual background. The participants can easily do this using the Zoom virtual background feature.

Manage the transition to the online flipped classroom approach for students . Not every student will be familiar with the videoconferencing app or the flipped classroom approach. Therefore, to promote student buy-in of this new pedagogical approach, it is important for the staff to directly address two main issues: (a) the structure and activities of the online flipped course, and (b) the functions of the video conferencing app. Feedback from the students included the following comments.

If teachers would like to use some functions in Zoom, they need to first help students get familiar with it. A brief introduction to Zoom at the beginning of the class is helpful.

First, I informed the students that these two courses would have two components: a pre-class session and an online “in-class” session. This helped students understand the flipped approach better. Next, my teaching assistant and I conducted a short introduction to using Zoom online before the class began. This helped students get familiar with the features we would be using in Zoom.

Constant fine-tuning is also a key element in managing the transition to the online flipped classroom. Asking the students what works and what doesn’t have become our practice every after the lesson. These comments allow us to rethink and re-plan for the next online synchronous session.

Feedback from the teaching staff included the following comments.

Having a technical-related orientation session before the actual class starts helps a lot for students who are not familiar with the videoconferencing tool.

Instructors should use dual monitors to simulate, as close as possible, the look and feel of a face-to-face class—one monitor to view all the participants in “gallery view,” and the other to view the presentation material . It is very useful for instructors and teaching assistants to use the dual-monitor display function, which allows the video layout and screen share content to be presented on two separate monitors. One monitor can be used to view the participants (up to 49) in “gallery view,” and the other to display the presentation materials. In the “gallery view,” the instructor can see thumbnail displays of all of the participants in a grid pattern that expands and contracts automatically as participants join and leave the meeting (Zoom Video Communications 2019 ). The use of a dual monitor feature is also useful for PowerPoint presentations and hiding notes from the participants. Feedback from the teaching staff included:

During the preparation for this course, we would like to simulate, as close as possible, the look and feel of a face-to-face class. This thinking brought us to the dual monitor layout for our Zoom sessions. The first monitor is for the teaching assistant; in this case, it acts as a co-host for the Zoom session. The teaching assistant extends the computer screen to a monitor to show the participants’ faces or the “gallery view.” This monitor acts as a “classroom” in the traditional face-to-face class. During the session, this first monitor also serves as a tool for classroom management. This view is where the “chat” and “raise hand” functions can be seen. The second monitor is where the instructor places the presentation materials. This view acts as the projector in the traditional face-to-face class. Occasionally, we added a third screen, which is an iPad to do real-time annotation. This iPad can is a replacement of the conventional “whiteboard” in a face-to-face class.

Activate and evaluate students’ pre-class learning with a short review. At the beginning of the online “in-class” sessions, instructors should use short formative assessment methods (e.g., a quiz) to activate and evaluate students’ understanding of the pre-class activities. The activation of prior learning enhances student learning because it is the foundation for the new material presented in the classroom (Merrill 2002 ). Indeed, recent meta-analyses have suggested that flipped learning is more effective when formative assessments (e.g., quizzes or reviews) are used before and/or during class time (e.g., Hew and Lo 2018 ; Låg and Sæle 2019 ; Lo et al. 2017 ; van Alten et al. 2019 ). Students in this study reported positive benefits of using short formative assessments such as reviews or quizzes. Examples of student feedback include the following comments.

I find the reviews at the beginning of the “in-class” sessions very helpful! It’s good to start from something we are familiar with, and then go to the new materials. The reviewing of pre-class work is great because we can know what points we do not understand well and how we can improve.

The reviews helped me understand the issue more deeply. I could find out what my misunderstandings of the content are.

I find the teachers’ explanation and review of the pre-class work helpful.

Use an MIM app on mobile phones to foster quicker online response times and to communicate with students during their online breakout sessions . Although students can ask questions via discussion forums or email, the asynchronicity of these apps creates a time lag between postings and replies which can discourage students from communicating with each other (Hew et al. 2018 ). In contrast, MIM apps such as WhatsApp and WeChat allow users to engage in quasi synchronous communications on their mobile phones. When communication needs are urgent, many students may only have their phones available. As soon as an MIM message is sent, a notification automatically shows up on the user’s phone screen, which encourages timely response (Hew et al. 2018 ; Rosenfeld et al. 2018 ). In addition, MIM is more popular than voice calls, emails, and even face-to-face communication among young people (Lenhart et al. 2010 ). As of March 2019, more than 41 million mobile instant messages are sent every minute (Clement 2019 ). Student feedback on using MIM in classrooms included the following comments.

I like using MIM such as WeChat because it allows us to communicate with other people immediately.

I enjoy using WeChat to ask questions and get immediate feedback from my classmates and teaching staff.

Use a variety of presentation media as well as a variety of activities to sustain student interest . No matter how interested a learner is in the topic of a presentation or discussion, that interest will wane in the face of monotony (Driscoll 2000 ). Therefore, it is recommended that instructors sustain student interest by varying the use of presentation media. Instructors, for example, can alternate the use of PowerPoint slides with digital handwriting on an iPad. The instructor in this study made the following comments.

I find continual use of PowerPoint slides to be boring. It’s always the same style: a bullet list of information with some animations or pictures. I find it useful to sustain my students’ attention by writing on an iPad.

Comments from the students were also positive.

I find the instructor writing on an iPad helps to focus my attention better than PowerPoint slides.

Writing on the iPad is like writing on a whiteboard in real face-to-face classrooms. It helps me develop a better understanding of the topic.

Digital writing on an iPad can help learners see the progressive development of the subject content (Hulls 2005 ), and follow the instructor’s cognitive process better than pre-prepared PowerPoint presentations (Lee and Lim 2013 ). Writing on an iPad can also enable an instructor to immediately adjust his or her instruction in response to the students’ needs. Using digital writing can significantly improve students’ understanding of conceptual knowledge when compared to PowerPoint-based presentation lectures (Lee and Lim 2013 ).

In addition to varying the presentation media, an instructor should also use different activities, including guest speakers, during the online class session. Feedback from the students included the following comments.

The use of different functions in Zoom, such as breakout rooms for group activities, voting, and raising hands, is useful because they help us to be involved. It helps increase the learner-learner and learner-instructor interaction, which may be lacking in a fully online class.

During the three-hour online class, we had not only the teacher’s explanations, but also had a guest speaker and online group discussions via breakout rooms, which made the class engaging.

In this study, the instructor invited a United Kingdom-based practicing instructional designer as a guest speaker in the two online flipped courses to talk about her experience in developing e-learning courses and engaging adult learners. Guest speakers enhance students’ educational experience by giving them real-world knowledge (Metrejean and Zarzeski 2001 ). Guest speakers can offer students a different point of view, one that students may better understand. Guest speakers can also alleviate the monotony of listening to a single instructor.

Amidst the burgeoning use of online learning during the unpredictable present, this study evaluates the efficacy of a videoconferencing - supported fully online flipped classroom. It compares student outcomes in four higher education classes: conventional flipped Course 1 versus online flipped Course 1, and conventional flipped Course 2 versus online flipped Course 2. Overall, this study makes three contributions to the literature on flipped classrooms. First, it provides a thick description of the development of the conventional flipped classroom approach based on the 5E framework, and the transformation of the conventional flipped classroom into a fully online flipped classroom. A thick description of the development of the flipped classrooms is provided to encourage replication by other researchers and practitioners. Second, our findings reveal that the online flipped classroom approach can be as effective as the conventional flipped classroom. Third, we identify seven good practices for using videoconferencing to support online flipped classrooms. This set of good practices can provide useful guidelines for other instructors who might be interested in implementing an online flipped approach.

One potential limitation of our study is that it was relatively short in duration (8 weeks). However, according to Fraenkel et al. ( 2014 ), some researchers do collect data within a fairly short time. A short-term data collection period enables researchers to collect and analyze data to see if an intervention is workable before committing to a longer study (Creswell 2015 ). We therefore urge future researchers to examine the use of videoconferencing - supported online flipped classrooms over a longer period of time, such as one year or more, to verify the results of this study.

Another interesting area for future work will be examining how instructors can support learners’ self-regulation during online flipped classroom (Cheng et al. 2019 ), as well as what strategies can best motivate students to complete the pre-class work.

Availability of data and materials

The anonymized datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Hew, K.F., Jia, C., Gonda, D.E. et al. Transitioning to the “new normal” of learning in unpredictable times: pedagogical practices and learning performance in fully online flipped classrooms. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 17 , 57 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-00234-x

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Alongside the prolonged social and economic instability and the escalating demands for upskilling, Covid-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on students’ and academics’ mental health and wellbeing. Social isolation and the emergency transition to remote education caused high levels of psychological distress, hindering students’ self-efficacy and academic performance. The pandemic also induced sudden changes affecting academics’ personal and professional lives, leading to mental disorders and risk of burnout. While recent research focuses on addressing the effects of the pandemic on either students or academics, this paper presents a collective analysis. The key themes that emerged by examining the experiences of both students and academics in higher education are framed in a multi-layered support system embracing qualities such as: self-efficacy, wellbeing, equality, diversity, and inclusion, social interactions, human-centred technologies, and authentic pedagogical methods. The findings are discussed with the aim to extract informed recommendations for enhancing teaching and learning experiences in the post-pandemic era.

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Piki, A., Brzezinska, M. (2023). Teaching and Learning in the New Normal: Responding to Students’ and Academics’ Multifaceted Needs. In: Coman, A., Vasilache, S. (eds) Social Computing and Social Media. HCII 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14026. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35927-9_9

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A Year After Coronavirus: An Inclusive ‘New Normal’

Six months into a new decade, 2020 has already been earmarked as ‘the worst’ year in the 21st century. The novel coronavirus has given rise to a global pandemic that has destabilized most institutional settings. While we live in times when humankind possesses the most advanced science and technology, a virus invisible to the naked eye has massively disrupted economies, healthcare, and education systems worldwide. This should serve as a reminder that as we keep making progress in science and research, humanity will continue to face challenges in the future, and it is upon us to prioritize those issues that are most relevant in the 21st century.

Even amidst the pandemic, Space X, an American aerospace manufacturer, managed to become the first private company to send humans to space. While this is a tremendous achievement and prepares humanity for a sustainable future, I feel there is a need to introspect the challenges that we are already facing. On the one hand, we seem to be preparing beyond the 21st century. On the other hand, heightened nationalism, increasing violence against marginalized communities and multidimensional inequalities across all sectors continue to act as barriers to growth for most individuals across the globe. COVID-19 has reinforced these multifaceted economic, social and cultural inequalities wherein those in situations of vulnerability have found it increasingly difficult to get quality medical attention, access to quality education, and have witnessed increased domestic violence while being confined to their homes. 

Given the coronavirus’s current situation, some households have also had time to introspect on gender roles and stereotypes. For instance, women are expected to carry out unpaid care work like cooking, cleaning, and looking after the family. There is no valid reason to believe that women ought to carry out these activities, and men have no role in contributing to household chores. With men having shared household chores during the lockdown period, it gives hope that they will realize the burden that women have been bearing for past decades and will continue sharing responsibilities. However, it would be naïve to believe that gender discrimination could be tackled so easily, and men would give up on their decades' old habits within a couple of months. Thus, during and after the pandemic, there is an urgent need to sensitize households on the importance of gender equality and social cohesion.

Moving forward, developing quality healthcare systems that are affordable and accessible to all should be the primary objective for all governments. This can be done by increasing expenditure towards health and education and simultaneously reducing expenditure on defence equipment where the latter mainly gives rise to an idea that countries need to be prepared for violence. There is substantial evidence that increased investment in health and education is beneficial in the long-term and can potentially build the basic foundation of a country. 

If it can be established that usage of nuclear weapons, violence and war are not solutions to any problem, governments (like, for example, Costa Rica) could move towards disarmament of weapons and do their part in building a more peaceful planet that is sustainable for the future. This would further promote global citizenship wherein nationality, race, gender, caste, and other categories, are just mere variables and they do not become identities of individuals that restrict their thought process. The aim should be to build responsible citizens who play an active role in their society and work collectively in helping develop a planet that is well-governed, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable.

 ‘A year after Coronavirus’ is still an unknown, so I think that our immediate focus should be to tackle the complex problems that have emerged from the pandemic so that we make the year after coronavirus one which highlights recovery and acts as a pathway to fresh beginnings. While there is little to gain from such a fatal cause, it is vital that we also use it to make the ‘new normal’ in favour of the environment and ensure that no one is left behind.   

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Adjusting to the New Normal

• Posted August 14, 2020
• By Jacqueline Zeller

As the summer winds down, there are still many unknowns about what school will look like in some communities. Schools and parents are working hard to plan for how to best keep children and educators safe while providing quality education to students.

Below are some ideas parents and other primary caregivers may consider to help children adjust to the circumstances of this school year, with its many uncertainties. Many of these ideas are in line with the National Association of School Psychologists and American School Counselor Association’s Reentry Considerations and guidance regarding talking to children about COVID. This piece is meant to be informational in nature and not to provide medical advice or recommendations. These are general considerations, but parents should contact their own providers for individualized advice for their families and children.

• Talk with your child’s school and/or medical or professional provider to consult on what makes the most sense to support your child and family in the transition back to school. Each child is unique, and parents can adapt ideas to the individual needs of their children and family.  
• Provide developmentally appropriate and honest information regarding the beginning of the school year to help students understand what to expect. It is important to leave time for children to ask questions . When adults remain calm in the conversation, while offering information about successfully transitioning back to school, they can help children gain an increased sense of control. It is best not to overly focus on the news or unnecessary details that might cause increased distress to children. In general, with younger children, brief descriptions (with accurate information) are helpful. Children will respond to your emotions. Offer love and reassurance and remind children that adults, including their teachers and parents, are working to keep children safe.
• Listen to children’s questions and concerns . Remember that young children might also communicate through play.
• If children return to in-person school, they will need to be taught new routines regarding physical distancing, hygiene, wearing masks (when required), sharing, etc. It will be important that these new social expectations are taught and reinforced with patience and care. Parents may communicate with the school to understand the new expectations so that they can also have discussions and/or practice at home as needed. For example, parents might practice wearing masks or hand-washing at home. Social stories, books, comic strips, and role-playing that model and educate about the new social routines may also be useful ways to reinforce new school expectations at school and at home.  
• Connecting with the school and reading school communications can also help parents reinforce expectations with common words/phrases in both the home and school settings, when appropriate, so that children are better able to connect concepts. For example, if the phrases “social distancing” or “hygiene” are used in the school setting it might be helpful to use the same words at home when reinforcing expectations regarding the new routines.

"When children have predictable routines, feel cared for, and have a sense of safety, they have a stronger foundation to learn. Making sure that there is a balanced approach to the curriculum that acknowledges the importance of supporting children’s well-being during the start of the school year will be important."

• Connect with your child’s school if you have specific questions or concerns regarding fall plans, mental health, and family support needs, including food and/or housing assistance, etc. If parents notice significant behavioral or mood changes, they can also connect with school and/or community agencies to get referrals, if needed. Parents can connect with school counselors, school psychologists, school adjustment counselors and/or school social workers if they feel a child might benefit from additional supports at school and/or in the community. Some families might choose to reach out to their medical providers for referrals and resources for their needs. Even if these needs aren’t apparent at the beginning of the school year, keep lines of communication open with the school and providers should such needs arise at a later point. Every family and child will have their own needs, and connecting with a professional trained to help can offer more tools and resources.
• If children will be returning to school in-person, prior to the start of school, parents may consider walking or driving by the school if it is safe to do so, and if they feel it would support their child’s comfort with the transition back to school or to starting a new school.  
• If the school provides a way to do so, connect with the new teacher ahead of time to help increase the child’s comfort level. For example, some schools may have a teacher familiar to the child from a previous year introduce the new teacher or offer back-to-school events to meet teachers (even virtually). This way, students can see the teacher is excited to meet them and work with them.
• Parents of children with special needs may want to communicate any additional questions or concerns to school staff regarding available supports in the upcoming school year and how they can help their children with the beginning of the school year.
• Providing a routine is helpful to children. Knowing that the routine might need to change depending on the ongoing health situation, parents can try to plan and give warnings as much as possible if changes occur. Visual reminders of routines can also be helpful with young children.

Given the current situation, focusing on the well-being of the child will be important — especially during the beginning of the school year. The adjustment back to school is always just that — an “adjustment” — and this year brings unprecedented challenges. When children have predictable routines, feel cared for, and have a sense of safety, they have a stronger foundation to learn.  Making sure that there is a balanced approach to the curriculum that acknowledges the importance of supporting children’s well-being during the start of the school year will be important.

Parents are working hard and balancing multiple responsibilities. Parents who remember to be kind and patient with themselves, and to reach out for support when they need it, can more effectively care for their children and model positive coping strategies.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Teaching and learning modalities in higher education during the pandemic: responses to coronavirus disease 2019 from spain.

• 1 Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, King Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain
• 2 Faculty of Education, International University of La Rioja, Logroño, Spain
• 3 Faculty of Health Sciences, King Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain
• 4 Faculty of Education, Camilo José Cela University, Madrid, Spain

The effects of the pandemic have affected and continue to affect education methods every day. The education methods are not immune to the pandemic periods we are facing, so teachers must know how to adapt their methods in such a way that teaching, and its quality, is not negatively affected. This study provides an overview of different types of teaching methodology before, during, and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study describes the different types of teaching (e.g., presence learning, blended learning, and distance education) used in two Spanish Universities (i.e., one private and one public) during the pandemic. A new teaching methodology is proposed. The purpose of this study report is to share what we learned about the response to COVID-19. Results provide a basis for reflection about the pros and cons of teaching and learning modalities in higher education. The current situation demands that we continue to rethink what is the best methodology for teaching so that the education of students is not affected in any way. This study is useful for learning about different teaching methods that exist and which ones may suit us best depending on the context, situation, and needs of our students.

Introduction

As a result of the situation caused by the State of Alarm driven by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the educational system has been forced to adapt to the new capacity requirements and, in many cases, cease their usual activity.

The Community of Madrid, Spain, forced the closure of educational centers on March 12, 2020. A few days later, on March 14, 2020, the State of Alarm was decreed for the entire Spanish territory for an initial period of 15 days with strict measures of confinement and with restrictions on the movement of people and on the economic activity. This confinement was extended until June 21, 2020. Thus, the longest State of Alarm in the history of Spain ended after 3 months of confinement to stop the spread of COVID-19, and the so-called “New Normal” began. The restrictions on the movement between the Spanish provinces ended, and the coexistence with the virus began.

One of the most important decisions made at the educational level took place on April 14, 2020. The Government and the Autonomous Communities of Spain agreed that the academic year of 2019–2020 Educational System would end in June, and repetition would be exceptional at primary and secondary levels. Face-to-face classes, in general, would resume in September. During the 2019–2020 course, only those students who needed reinforcement or changed their educational stage, as well as children from 0 to 6 years old whose parents did not do telework, voluntarily returned to the classrooms. This was a very important shock not only for University levels but also for all educational levels.

From March to September 2020, due to the declaration of a State of Alarm by the National Government, the educational centers could not be opened, and they had to optimally adapt to this fact. Each educational center had to base its teaching on the online mode and to adapt teachers and students to this new reality: videoconferencing software was used to avoid social disconnection, students were disoriented, ignorance of new tools had to be overcome to teach classes, and the evaluation systems need to be redesigned. The pandemic revealed the shortcomings of educational institutions, mainly about the infrastructures and the training of teachers in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools. However, it also meant improvements. The teachers were trained in new online methodologies and showed interest in learning new teaching tools in the face of the new reality and challenges that arose.

As of the new academic year 2020–2021, which began in September 2020, this teaching modality became eligible again. Each University, therefore, chose the type of methodology that it would use to carry out in its classes. In the universities themselves, depending on the faculties and the studies, different teaching methodologies are currently used.

Effects of COVID-19 on the Education Performance of University Students in Classrooms

The Spanish University System (SUE) is made up of a total of 83 universities−50 public and 33 private ( Figure 1 ).

- Out of the 50 public universities, 47 offer presence learning, and 1 offers distance learning.

- Out of the 33 private universities, 28 offer presence learning, and 5 offer distance learning.

Figure 1 . Geographical distribution of the Spanish universities with activity in the academic year 2019–2020. Statistics report (2020–2021) from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Universities. Universidades.gob.es . 2021. Available online at: https://www.universidades.gob.es/ .

In addition, there are two public universities with a special status that provide only specialized postgraduate programs (master's and PhD courses).

Factors considered in the following sections are the type of University, whether it is public or private, and the type of studies pursued, since there will be some in which an online model has already been implemented naturally, or vice versa, i.e., 100% face-to-face modality. As of September 2020, Spanish universities have used the teaching methods detailed in the following sections.

Presence Learning

Presence learning consists of both the students and the teacher sharing the same physical classroom. Previous studies have emphasized the educational benefits of the use of this teaching practice ( Bigg, 2003 ; Konopka et al., 2015 ; Crisol Moya, 2016 ; Anderton et al., 2021 ; García-Peñalvo et al., 2021 ). This type of teaching methodology could not be applied from March to September 2020 due to the declaration of a State of Alarm by the government of the nation. However, as of September 2020, this teaching modality became eligible, and the educational centers were reopened.

The non-face-to-face teaching model is becoming increasingly popular in the field of higher education. Universities traditionally oriented to face-to-face teaching, regardless of whether they are public or private, are embracing this model. Although they maintain their main face-to-face structure, they offer students some distance-based degrees and master's studies ( Ben-Chayim and Offir, 2019 ; Ali, 2020 ; Hodges et al., 2020 ).

A face-to-face University that decides to include non-face-to-face teachings in its degrees and master's studies must combine its traditional procedures with the new requirements of non-face-to-face teaching ( Chick et al., 2020 ). The universities that have already had this experience, even though they have been mostly presential, have been able to adapt more quickly to the suspension of in-person activity.

Distance Education

Distance education, also known as online learning, is a type of education developed using technology that allows students to attend classes in remote locations ( Dede, 1990 ; Hodges et al., 2020 ; Sandars et al., 2020 ). It can also be defined as a type of education that joins professors and students from different locations. Although they maintain their main face-to-face structure, they offer students some distance-based degrees and master's studies. On the one hand, several authors have recognized that online teaching can be synchronous when the students and the teacher connect to the classes at the same time and can have real-time interactions. On the other hand, in asynchronous teaching, the teacher and the students do not have to coincide in the class. Usually, the class is recorded, and the students can view it at any time ( Adedoyin and Soykan, 2020 ; Ali, 2020 ; Bao, 2020 ).

This type of teaching, which was already followed before the pandemic, was not affected by the pandemic ( Hwang, 2018 ; Daniel, 2020 ). Distance education is characterized by having an existing organizational infrastructure, which allows the educational objectives of online learning to be developed ( Singh and Hardaker, 2014 ).

We must not confuse this type of teaching, i.e., distance education, with the Emergency remote education . In exceptional situations that impede the normal functioning of institutions and face-to-face educational centers, teachers may be forced to quickly adapt their pedagogical activity to a virtual environment. This is known here as emergency non-face-to-face teaching. In Spain, from March to June 2020, all teaching methods were entirely online. The emergency remote teaching required by the pandemic was often quickly improvised, without guaranteed or adequate infrastructure support ( Evans et al., 2020 ; Hodges et al., 2020 ; Panisoara et al., 2020 ). Given this lack of infrastructure, the main source of advice and early support for non-expert distance teachers was focused on providing the technological tools available in each institution and was considered adequate to support the change.

Blended Learning

This model is based on a combination of classroom education and online education in various forms ( Lightner and Lightner-Laws, 2016 ; Nuruzzaman, 2016 ; Heilporn et al., 2021 ). There is no unanimity of criteria, since the meaning is ambiguous, causing confusion, and gives rise to a certain lack of rigor between the different types of blended learning ( Misseyanni et al., 2018 ; Bao, 2020 ). It is necessary to distinguish between hybrid teaching, mirror classrooms, blended teaching, and the new methodology proposed in this study, i.e., online guides in the classroom.

Hybrid Learning

Hybrid education assumes that half of the students in a class attend the classroom and the other half follow the class from home, partially online and partially face-to-face ( Misseyanni et al., 2018 ; Bao, 2020 ).

The use of the hybrid-flexible ( HyFlex ) instructional methodologies is relatively recent in higher education ( Beatty, 2019 ). As has been previously reported in descriptive case studies, the HyFlex techniques are implemented by an instructor. Previous research has shown efforts to include this methodology, although few studies report the impact on student learning and the associated metrics of interest, such as qualifications, retention, pass rate, and time to graduation ( Lightner and Lightner-Laws, 2016 ; Beatty, 2019 , Binnewies and Wang, 2019 ; Mumford and Dikilitaş, 2020 ).

From September 2020, in Spanish universities that followed this methodology, groups of face-to-face students and online students alternated to achieve social distance without having to modify the structure of the classrooms.

Mirror Rooms

With the accumulated incidence of COVID-19, one of the options used in Spanish University education was the so-called “ Mirror Rooms ,” which allows face-to-face classes but at a safe distance, ensuring a distance of at least 1.5 m between the chairs. To maintain the safety distance measures in the case of not having large enough classrooms, the group of students is divided into two subgroups. Half of the group is in a classroom, with the teacher, while the other half is in an adjoining classroom, watching the class by live videoconference. The advantage of this typology compared with hybrid education, in which half of the students follow the class from home, or compared with a blended education, in which the face-to-face education is alternated with online teaching, is that, in Mirror Rooms , the students do not depend on their resources or the connection in their homes, since the entire process is carried out in the educational center, including the online part. They have their classmates in class for support and motivation and are able to continue enjoying contact with classmates and a University environment ( Misseyanni et al., 2018 ).

The drawbacks of this type of methodology are the need to have enough classrooms, in addition to the technical resources necessary to broadcast the class live and personnel who can control these mirror classrooms. Another disadvantage supposes students do not have any engagement directly with the lecturer, who will be in standing in another classroom, being a similar situation to that in asynchronous online classes. In University studies, this methodology may be feasible, but not so much in other educational stages, in which it will not be easy for students to be alone in a class and pay attention.

A “Semi-Presential Learning” Blended System

The approach of the blended system is mostly carried out with the alternation between face-to-face classes and online education, either by videoconference or by independently following, i.e., individually or in groups, the tasks begun in class in person. A variety of this model is splitting up students and having those groups take turns going to class. According to the study by Cândido, in the semi-present context, students alternate online activities with face-to-face meetings ( Cândido et al., 2020 ). This means fewer contact hours for each subject, which will be compensated with work from home. For example, if we work on projects, students can take part in the classroom and stay at home when they cannot go to the school in person.

Online Guide in the Classroom

Another new approach to blended learning education that is proposed in this study is what we have called the “ Online guide classroom .” This new methodology has been made evident by the new reality of the pandemic. A person who has been in contact with another person who has tested positive for COVID-19 should take the contagion test and stay at their home until the results of the test are known. In this situation, teachers, who physically have no symptoms and are well, have noticed how their teaching has been interrupted, being a detriment to their students.

In an Online guide classroom , the teacher stays at home, or another location, and teaches through a computer, and the students physically travel to the campus to follow the video conference. The advantage of this type of teaching is that, if the teacher is in the previous situation, is in quarantine and might have been exposed to COVID-19, or is even unable to attend a class, e.g., for other activities, e.g., assisting a Congress in another country, students will not miss class. In addition, students will be able to continue enjoying University life and to carry out group work in person with their classmates. This option is particularly necessary for science students who need to work in the laboratories for their lessons ( Anderton et al., 2021 ). The classroom will need to meet certain technical requirements to be able to project the videoconference, e.g., microphones and cameras incorporated in the classroom, i.e., the same hybrid-learning technical resources that prior research suggests ( Hwang, 2018 ; Bao, 2020 ; Salikhova et al., 2020 ), as well as staff or students responsible for connecting these devices.

Methodology

An investigation was carried out with the purpose of analyzing whether the change in the teaching–learning methodology, due to COVID-19, diminished in any way the quality of the education and/or the satisfaction of the students.

The sample consisted of 307 University students who voluntarily decided to participate in the investigation and who were subdivided into two groups. The first group, surveyed in November 2020, was made up of 152 University students, 128 women and 24 men between 19 and 22 years of age. The second group, surveyed in February 2021, was made up of 155 University students, 57 women and 98 men between 19 and 22 years of age, so the sample consisted of a total of 185 women and 122 men. The students pursued different University studies as follows: Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, and Physical Activity and Science Sports + Physiotherapy (a double degree program). We were especially interested in the point of view of the former two groups because they will become teachers. We added students not directly related to education to the sample for more heterogeneity. In addition, the first group of students, surveyed in 2020, was composed of students from a private University, and the second group, surveyed in 2021, was composed of students from a public University. The percentage of women in the first group of students surveyed was much higher, but this was compensated with the incorporation of the second group of students surveyed, reaching a final proportion of 60% women and 40% men.

To conduct the study, the surveys were sent to each student through Google Forms to avoid paper processing and to facilitate their completion, each of them having been previously informed of the study objectives.

Before administering the questionnaire to the students, compliance with all the required ethical standards was ensured as follows: written informed consent, the right to information, confidentiality, anonymity, gratuity, and the option to abandon the study ( MacMillan and Schumacher, 2001 ).

This research was not approved by an ethics committee, since the data are not clinical or sensitive, although they were anonymized.

All questions used for our study referred to three possible classroom situations experienced by all students from 2020 to 2021. The study was carried out in the different modalities developed according to the governmental restrictions in Spain and around the world as follows:

• First: The pre-COVID-19 scenario, without any social restriction: a face-to-face environment. Location(s): University.

• Second: The COVID-19 scenario, with all social restrictions: a confinement situation, and the perimetral lockdowns of regions: an online environment. Location(s): Home.

• Third: The current scenario, the COVID-19 scenario with some restrictions, living with the virus: a combination of online, semi-presential, and online guide classrooms. Location(s): Home and University.

Throughout the academic year 2020–2021, no student was able to attend their classes in the same way they did at the beginning of the previous year, since the pandemic was still in force; however, in our study, all students surveyed had experienced all scenarios because they were all University students who were currently in their second year of University studies. Therefore, the two groups surveyed were able to answer the study questions based on their experience of classes without restrictions in the previous year, before the pandemic broke out, and to compare that with the current restrictions.

Students, as well as the teacher, had to adapt to the situation that was being experienced around the world and to change their teaching–learning methodology in order to continue learning. The main objective since the beginning of all these changes was to preserve the natural progress of the classes and ensure that the changes in methodology did not affect the quality of the education and the satisfaction of the students.

To analyze whether this objective was being achieved, students were analyzed in regard to their satisfaction, the quality of the education, and the feelings of the students during these new conditions and education modalities.

Two instruments were used to measure educational quality and student satisfaction in regard to the three educational modalities described earlier. Six main items were assessed, in addition to the academic quality and the satisfaction of the students, over the three phases listed earlier. In the case of the 6 items, students were given a questionnaire made up of 6 parameters to be assessed individually. Each participant responded using a 10-point Likert-type scale, 1 being “totally disagree” and 10 “totally agree.”

Items studied were as follows:

1. Accessibility

2. Satisfaction

3. Participation

4. Results obtained

5. Innovative value of teaching practice

6. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Knowledge.

In the case of academic satisfaction with the classes, the scale suggested by Lent et al., composed of seven items that assess the degree of the satisfaction of students with respect to academic activity, was used ( Lent et al., 2005 ). Each of the students who participated in the study responded using a 5-point Likert-type scale, 1 for “totally disagree” and 5 for “totally agree.”

Limitations

The approach utilized suffers from the limitation that the study only captured the sample of two Spanish universities, i.e., one private and one public. The degrees studied are related to the field of Education (75%) and Science (25%): a degree in Early Childhood Education, a degree in Primary Education, and a degree in Physical Activity and Sports + Physiotherapy.

Statistical Analysis

Using the SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics) statistical software, the missing values were evaluated, considering the items of each instrument to estimate whether it responded to a random distribution ( Tabachnick et al., 2011 ). The arithmetic mean, SD, asymmetry, and kurtosis were also calculated in each case. As a criterion to evaluate the asymmetry and kurtosis indices, values between −1.00 and 1.00 were considered excellent, and values within the range of −2.00 to 2.00 were considered adequate ( George and Mallery, 2011 ).

Compliance with the statistical assumptions was verified, the exploratory factor analysis was applied to demonstrate the underlying structure of the scale, and its internal consistency was estimated using the Cronbach's alpha statistic. First, the amount and pattern of the missing data were examined using the Missing Value Analysis Routine in SPSS. Since no variables that present more than 5% of the missing values were observed, no studies were conducted to evaluate the randomness pattern of the missing values. No outliers were observed ( Goodyear, 2020 ). Following the recommendations of Zabala, the t distribution was used to determine the statistical significance, and the favorable results were obtained without having any case that exceeded the threshold considered ( Zabala and Arnau, 2015 ).

The descriptive statistical values of the arithmetic mean and SD were calculated, and the asymmetry and kurtosis indices were obtained to analyze the normality of the distributions. Asymmetry and kurtosis indicated the shape of the distribution of our variables. These measurements allowed us to determine the characteristics of their asymmetry and homogeneity without the need to represent them graphically. All the variables presented indices between −1.5 and 1.5. Results were considered optimal for carrying out the planned statistical analyses ( George and Mallery, 2011 ).

Three studies were carried out with the sample collected: Study 1 corresponds to the first group surveyed in November 2020, Study 2 corresponds to the second group surveyed in February 2021, and Study 3 corresponds to the entire sample, i.e., the first and second groups.

The average evaluation of the presence learning was 7.2, with satisfaction and participation being the highest-valued items in this modality. Knowledge in ICT was the least necessary for performance.

In the case of the online modality , we observed the highest scores in accessibility and knowledge in ICT but the worst score in participation. In this case, an average of 7.8 was reached.

The blended learning modality reached an average of 8.1, obtaining scores around 7.5 and 9.3. The innovative aspects of this modality were most highly evaluated ( Figure 2 ).

Figure 2 . Comparison of items in Study 1. Source: Own elaboration.

If we use the asymmetry and kurtosis values, it can be affirmed that, in all items, there is a high degree of concentration around the arithmetic mean. All participants agreed on the positivity of all the modalities of the teaching–learning classes of the study. That is, all students considered the practice carried out to be excellent and highly beneficial for their education, and their satisfaction was not affected by the fact of having to change modalities during the course, although the students of this group, in general terms, preferred blended learning.

Regarding Table 1 on the blended learning from Study 1, the degree of satisfaction in the students was very high, which indicates an excellent degree of significance ( George and Mallery, 2011 ). In addition, all variables have a high SD and high asymmetry and kurtosis indices. The innovative value of teaching practice was scored with a 9.3, the highest score.

Table 1 . Descriptive statistical analysis of the Academic Activity Scale in Study 1 with blended learning.

Table 2 represents the scores and indices of the statistical analysis of distance education . The best-scored item was Item 6, i.e., knowledge of ICTs reached 9.9 and had high asymmetry and kurtosis indices. The worst score was for the item that evaluated participation. Still, satisfaction reached a remarkable score.

Table 2 . Descriptive statistical analysis of the Academic Activity Scale in Study 1 with distance education.

Finally, Table 3 represents the scores and indices of the statistical analysis of face-to-face education . Participation and satisfaction were the best-rated items here, i.e., the best in the entire Study 1, and the worst was for knowledge about ICT applications.

Table 3 . Descriptive statistical analysis of the Academic Activity Scale in Study 1 with presence learning.

In this study, the mean scores of the three teaching modalities improved in most cases. The average evaluation of the presence learning is 8.8, with the second- and third-most valued items being satisfaction and accessibility.

In the case of the online modality , we again observed that the highest score was for knowledge of ICTs. The average evaluation in this case was 7.9.

The blended learning modality reached an average of 7.0, i.e., 1.1 percentage points lower than in the previous study. The best score was obtained for knowledge in ICTs, and the worst was for accessibility ( Figure 3 ).

Figure 3 . Comparison of items in Study 2. Source: Own elaboration.

As in the previous study, the statistical values of the arithmetic mean, SD, asymmetry, and kurtosis were recalculated. All items obtained excellent or adequate scores depending on the teaching modality, but all of them are ideal, between −1.5 and 1.5, for studying the three teaching modalities ( George and Mallery, 2011 ).

Regarding Table 4 on the blended learning from Study 2, the degree of ICT knowledge was high, but accessibility was scored with the worst value in this study for all learning modalities. Once again, it is remarkable that all the variables have ideal indices in terms of the arithmetic mean, SD, asymmetry, and kurtosis ( George and Mallery, 2011 ).

Table 4 . Descriptive statistical analysis of the Academic Activity Scale in Study 2 with blended learning.

Table 5 represents distance learning and indicates once again that ICT knowledge has one of the best scores. The other scores are excellent, except for participation, which is once again the worst score for this teaching modality (6.2). There is great unanimity in this value due to the rest of the statistical indicators.

Table 5 . Descriptive statistical analysis of the Academic Activity Scale in Study 2 with distance education.

Table 6 from Study 2 represents the presence learning , for which the scores of 9.2, 9.2, and 9.0 were obtained for satisfaction, ICT knowledge, and participation, respectively. The remaining scores for this modality were very high. The average score in this case, among all items, was 8.8, which means that it is the highest score achieved for any teaching modality among all of our studies.

Table 6 . Descriptive statistical analysis of the Academic Activity Scale in Study 2 with presence learning.

In Study 3, a comparison was made between Study 1 and Study 2, and a summary of both is provided. The following graph shows a comparison, one by one, of all items evaluated in the three teaching modalities in both studies ( Figure 4 ).

Figure 4 . Result of the items studied “Comparative of teachings in bar diagram” in Study 3. Source: Own elaboration.

The most notable evolutions are the 3.2-pp increase in ICT knowledge, the 2.2-pp increase in the innovative value of teaching practice, the 1.8-pp increase in participation, and the 1.2-pp increase in satisfaction with the presence learning in Study 2 compared with Study 1. These increases in scores will be explained in detail in the “Conclusion” section.

On the contrary, the greatest decrease in Study 2 compared with Study 1 occurred in accessibility in the blended learning modality, reaching a 2.5-pp decrease. Changes also occurred in the rest of the scores, but they were not as significant as the previous ones.

As shown in Tables 7 – 9 , the complete sample is analyzed, i.e., Study Sample 1 and Study Sample 2, which composes the complete sample of Study 3.

Table 7 . Descriptive statistical analysis of the Academic Activity Scale in Study 3 with blended learning.

Table 7 shows the total scores for the entire sample for the blended learning . Its average score is 7.5, reaching its best scores in Items 5 and 6, where the innovative value is 8.25, and the value of ICT knowledge is 8.2, respectively. The worst score, i.e., the satisfaction of the students, is 7.0.

In Table 8 , the complete distance learning sample is analyzed. The best score, as in previous studies, is the knowledge of ICT, with a score of 9.8. However, the worst score is the participation of the students (6.4), and excellent statistical indicators were obtained in all the statistical items. The average value for this modality is 7.8.

Table 8 . Descriptive statistical analysis of the Academic Activity Scale in Study 3 with distance education.

As shown in Table 9 of our analysis on the presence learning , all statistical values are excellent and optimal ( George and Mallery, 2011 ). The highest scores for satisfaction, participation, and accessibility stand out with 8.6, 8.4, and 8.0, respectively. In contrast, the values of innovation and ICT knowledge are each 7.6. Despite this, this modality obtains an average value of 8.0.

Table 9 . Descriptive statistical analysis of the Academic Activity Scale in Study 3 with presence learning.

The Pandemic, Teaching Methodologies, and Teaching Infrastructures

The pandemic has modified the vital context in which study plans are implemented for two reasons: First, the use of new platforms has been necessary, considering that the circumstances that have arisen require different methodologies from those used when the curriculum was originally designed. Second, both the knowledge and the professional competencies required to implement these methodologies are in the spotlight, requiring the training of professionals and students. The two universities studied, despite being face-to-face universities , have had different tools to quickly adapt to Emergency remote teaching . In both universities, while there are some online studies, professors who taught in the programs studied here had to become trained quickly because they were not professors in other online programs that continued to be taught without difficulty.

Presence learning involves contact with students, the elimination of technical difficulties, equal resources for all students, and the elimination of potential family conciliation problems for both teachers and students. In contrast, it has disadvantages as follows: the time needed to travel to the location of the class and the impossibility of connecting with students who live far from the educational center or even abroad. According to different authors, the change to online teaching has not meant a great change for many universities in the world ( Ali, 2020 ). However, the transition to the large-scale online learning is a very difficult and complex task for education systems. As a UNESCO report indicates, even under the best circumstances, it has become a necessity ( UNESCO, 2021 ).

Online classes are increasingly being held at prestigious International Universities both in America and Europe in which any subject can be carried out without face-to-face contact ( Hwang, 2018 ). The idea behind this study, echoing the proposals of Bigg, is the recognition that any discourse on change and transformations of the school and its teachers is not limited only to the school environment. The participation of the educational community and, in this specific case of the University, the process of change can be the determining factors in the success of any innovation initiative that is attempted and, in the guarantee, through innovation and the use of ICT, of high levels of satisfaction in our students ( Bigg, 2003 ; Tait, 2018 ; Bergdahl and Nouri, 2020 ; Reimers and Schleicher, 2020 ). The case of virtual teaching allows for more flexibility for learners who live in distant areas but also for teachers from different parts of the world. The platform used to broadcast classes live for the Emergency remote education (100% online or blended teaching) used in the private and public universities of this investigation was the same: Blackboard Collaborate. Blackboard Collaborate is a real-time video conferencing tool that allows one to add files, share applications, and use a virtual whiteboard to interact. One of the main advantages of Blackboard Collaborate is that one can run the application without having to install it on your computer. Blackboard opens directly in a browser without the need to install any software to join a session. The participation of the educational community and the involvement in the training of teachers in the two universities was evident. Both universities provided extensive help materials for the use of this tool, both written and in video format. In the case of the private University, a forum for interaction and the resolution of doubts was also set up. The private University provided an email to raise questions and gave live online courses for teachers.

The benefits of the blended education are for professors and students. With the potentiality of connection through the Internet, new learning possibilities arise, with added resources that help toward comfort, accessibility, effectiveness, and more options to access education. Classes in hybrid mode allow for optimization of the use of academic resources and grant control of the capacity and social distance, as there are fewer people in the classroom, such that the social distancing measures imposed by the state can be better complied with. In the case of mirror classrooms , they overcome many of the difficulties that the digital divide can cause ( Beatty, 2019 ; Binnewies and Wang, 2019 ). Although the interest of this cited study focuses on undergraduate teaching, it is necessary to carry out the same study with other University stages. Other investigators have shown that the blended learning training modality in postgraduate programs is currently in high demand in Spain, and for this reason, the academic institutions promote their programs through the Internet, intending to attract students and promote the quality of their programs and institutions ( López Catalán et al., 2018 ). According to Goodyear and other researchers, most studies highlight that hybrid learning modifies the role played by students. They take part not only as participants but also as protagonists in their learning, even becoming the co-configurators of learning environment/activities together with other apprentices ( Beatty, 2019 ; Goodyear, 2020 ; Raes et al., 2020 ).

However, we acknowledged that there is considerable discussion among researchers regarding the disadvantages of Hybrid learning . The results of blended education in 2021 are worse in the public University ( Figure 4 , Items 1–3) due to the technical problems experienced by students during their development. If the technical means are not very good, i.e., if there are failures in the cameras, the microphone, or the program used by students to connect at home, students will lose their attention and interest. If certain technical requirements are not met, it will not be an effective pedagogical method ( Hwang, 2018 ; Simpson, 2018 ; Traxler, 2018 ; Leoste et al., 2019 ; Goodyear, 2020 ; Hod and Katz, 2020 ).

In this study, we found differences between universities depending on the economic investment they had made in their facilities. In the case of the public University, the resources needed to broadcast the class from the University classroom for the blended methodology were scarce. There was no camera installed in the classroom, so the class had to be broadcast through the camera of a portable device, laptop, tablet, mobile, etc., in such a way that only one part of the class could be seen at one time, i.e., the face of the teacher or the blackboard. The private University installed high-quality cameras and microphones so that the classes could be broadcast live. The teacher just had to turn on the camera and connect to the Blackboard platform. The process was very simple. The students assessed that the quality of the media was adequate to fully follow the class from home.

There is no previous research using the Online guide classroom approach. To our knowledge, the Online guide classroom is an innovative methodology, appropriate for the times we live in, which potentially offers many advantages in the various situations studied in this research. It can be especially advantageous for confined situations, in science subjects where students need to use the laboratory, or under meteorological circumstances that make it impossible to travel to class. However, it also has shortcomings, as can occur with other blended methodologies, i.e., failures in technical infrastructure, image quality, audio, internet connection, etc., so universities need to make a stronger investment in technology. In addition, it will be necessary to have a person in charge of connecting devices and solving technical problems. This type of methodology, from our own experience, works very well in classes where students are autonomous and respectful, but it could be more complicated with less involved students.

One of the direct consequences of the pandemic has been the need, for both teachers and students, to modify teaching methodologies. During the periods in which the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was at very high levels, it was necessary to engage in distance education or blended education, and teachers had to quickly readjust to these changes. This adaptation has meant a great enrichment of their knowledge in new didactic resources to teach their classes.

Thanks to training during the distance education and blended education classes, face-to-face teachers have learned new skills. As a result of the enrichment of their knowledge in new didactic resources, the innovation in teaching methodologies and the ICT knowledge of teachers improved due to the pandemic. In this study, Item 6, i.e., ICT Knowledge, improved 3.2 pp, and Item 5, i.e., Innovative value of teaching practice, was also better valued in 2021 because teachers learned new applications and methodologies for online and hybrid teaching that they later incorporated into face-to-face classes.

Other important aspects to consider are accessibility, participation, and satisfaction, i.e., Items 1, 2, and 3, which also improved substantially in Study 2. There was a 1.2-pp increase in satisfaction with the presence learning in Study 2 compared with Study 1. The students in Study 2, who had already experienced the restrictions and social distancing due to the pandemic, valued these items much more than the students in Study 1, which is very likely because they were able to enjoy face-to-face teaching again. Those aspects that one does not notice on a day-to-day basis may have begun to become more important once they were lost.

These results provide a basis to carefully consider this new era in higher education. We assumed that it is essential to change the paradigm of in-University education. Any subject—understood as an educational subject—should not be approached as a body of finished knowledge but as living knowledge that can be transmitted in person or not, depending on whether the context allows it. Similarly, it will be essential that teachers have enough ICT training to be able to use the most appropriate software and adapt to other pandemics that may befall society so that they can continue to provide quality education to students. It is not a problem of the satisfaction with different formats, be in-person, online, or a combination, as we have discussed previously, although most of the students state that they prefer a face-to-face format due to the interaction with their classmates, better participation in the classroom, and better understanding of the teacher. To be able to adequately follow daily teachings, there is indeed a need for the students themselves to have the necessary resources at their disposal, such as Internet connection and smart devices, so that they can connect to classes that today seem accessible to any University student of a developed country, but it will be important to provide the necessary resources for all students of any social context. Based on our experience, we supported the idea that, working together with educational centers, mixed teaching, or remote teaching are the best facilitators of learning, and neither COVID-19 nor any other pandemic can stop teaching if we have the knowledge, skills, and adequate resources.

The literature highlights deficiencies in the transition from face-to-face teaching to online teaching due to the weakness of the online teaching infrastructure, the inexperience of teachers, the digital divide, a complex home environment, etc. Although the advances in the use of educational technology support remote learning since the pandemic became a reality, the efforts to use this technology, and the large-scale advances in the distance and online education during the pandemic compel us to face an unprecedented technological revolution and take advantage of it. It is important to highlight the fact that, if the pandemic had not had this impact on education, the use of the technological evolution in educational environments might not have evolved so quickly in the last few months.

The results of the experiment show clear support for the presence learning from students in the public University, as they appeared to be more satisfied with it than with any of the other methodologies. The public University students preferred the online teaching as a second option since the quality of the class was also very high, and the blended learning was preferred the least. The satisfaction of the private University students was very similar with respect to these three teaching methods used in this University, with a slightly higher preference for face-to-face teaching.

This research provides new perspectives on a category of teaching education in the period of COVID-19. The results obtained corroborate conclusions reached by other studies ( Hwang, 2018 ; Leoste et al., 2019 ; Goodyear, 2020 ; Wang et al., 2020 ), in which learning can be carried out in an efficient, high-quality, and satisfactory manner either through methods we choose or through methods to which the context forces us to adapt. We must choose a modality without affecting education.

Future investigations can validate the conclusions drawn from this study. In this study, we described preferences of teaching and learning modalities and showed that, although students value the possibilities of technology very positively, face-to-face communication with the teacher, to a larger degree, is believed to be required for success in their studies.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s.

Ethics Statement

Ethical approval was not required for this study in line with local legislation and institutional requirements. Before administering the questionnaire to the students, compliance with all the required ethical standards was ensured as follows: written informed consent, the right to information, confidentiality, anonymity, gratuity, and the option to abandon the study.

Author Contributions

AV and JMV conceptualized and wrote the manuscript. Both authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords: teaching and learning modalities, educational technology, COVID response, performance, satisfaction, ICT, teacher competencies, higher education

Citation: Verde A and Valero JM (2021) Teaching and Learning Modalities in Higher Education During the Pandemic: Responses to Coronavirus Disease 2019 From Spain. Front. Psychol. 12:648592. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648592

Received: 31 December 2020; Accepted: 16 July 2021; Published: 24 August 2021.

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Copyright © 2021 Verde and Valero. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Ana Verde, ana.verde@urjc.es

† ORCID: Ana Verde orcid.org/0000-0003-0339-0510 Jose Manuel Valero orcid.org/0000-0001-8670-8154

‡ These authors have contributed equally to this work

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