Blended learning for doctoral training in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Distance learning has been an option to mitigate the global spread of the highly contagious disease, named COVID-19 (coronavirus), and declared a Pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. Social confinement as a public health strategy to address the health crisis has led to the adoption of new teaching methods in the new social sphere. Higher education contexts have gradually incorporated the opportunities offered by information and communication technologies (ICT). The purpose of the article is to present some theoretical reflections on the inclusion of the Blended Learning (B-Learning) methodological model in higher education, considering the changes that have occurred in the current situation due to the pandemic. Based on the review of the specialized scientific literature in relation to the integration of ICT in educational environments, the relevance of the advantages of technological tools in blended learning in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic is recognized, specifically for the doctoral training process.

Estrategias de sensibilización del personal para el fortalecimiento del proceso educativo

“…La pandemia de la Covid-19 ha supuesto un gran reto para el currículo educativo, que debe adaptarse a las nuevas situaciones y modalidades de enseñanza y aprendizaje. Ante el aislamiento social, se han considerado diversas herramientas para el diseño de un currículo que apunte hacia nuevas formas de orientar la educación, apoyándose en las TIC para complementar lo que se venía realizando con las modalidades blended o a distancia (Carius, 2020;Semanate-Quiñonez et al, 2021;Villavicencio Simón et al, 2022) Ante la emergencia sanitaria, se ha buscado rápidamente una orientación para impartir las clases de forma solo virtual, lo que ha implicado construir un nuevo contexto curricular, que coadyuve a la alineación de una clase bajo la virtualidad necesaria para estos casos. En este sentido, ha sido indispensable contar con la participación de directivos, docentes y personal administrativo con el fin de poder abarcar los procesos necesarios para enmarcar el currículo dentro de los contenidos realmente necesarios para la formación del estudiante.…”

“…Se consideran que los elementos que ya contiene el currículo son prácticamente inamovibles, sin embargo, es importante que se consideren otros que pueden sumar significativamente en las prácticas que conllevan finalmente a lo que se desea en la educación, que sea de calidad, que llegue a todos los ámbitos y niveles, que esté a la vanguardia de las situaciones actuales y que no existan brechas educativas que puedan permear el desarrollo de un país. Se proponen entonces elementos que circundan entre lo actual, lo novedoso y que sus estrategias estén mediadas por el uso de espacios educativos tecnológicos, herramientas que nos proporciona la web y que se puedan determinar a través de experiencias virtuales o las nuevas modalidades llamadas hibridas, alternadas, semipresenciales o blended (Carius, 2020;Semanate-Quiñonez et al, 2021;Villavicencio Simón et al, 2022).…”

Implementation of Blended Learning during COVID-19

“…Favorable for students with mobility problems [16,18] Nevertheless, COVID-19 and the arrival of BL compelled universities to face a series of challenges for which they were not prepared. Since the beginning of the health crisis, universities had to ensure continuity in teaching, necessitating training programs for teachers on the different online tools, as well as the new pedagogical ways of teaching [29,30]. Simultaneously, universities had to invest in infrastructure and equipment to provide their centers, students, and teachers with the necessary resources to ensure that the learning process was effectively carried out in the new environment [31,32].…”

An Organizational Model of Online Learning in the Pandemic Period: Comparison with Traditional Face-to-Face Learning

“…Given the need to limit physical contact, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become a crucial element; so, digital literacy has been an essential element in online learning during the pandemic period [7,8]. According to Tejedor et al [9] and Simon et al [10], the learning scenario established by the pandemic highlighted the need to improve the digital skills of university staff. In this context, communication was the key element to provide students with personalized information and encourage their participation [11].…”