Distant Teaching: A Way to Face COVID-19 Pandemic in a Public University

Abstract

In México, first COVID-19 patient was identified in February and from March 23 on confinement measures were taken by the government, including the suspension of activities at universities. This paper objective is to explore the challenges that professors of a public university faced while moving into a distant teaching practice in the pandemic context. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana is located in México City and up to the pandemic, most of its faculty lacked experience with online education, so the Emerging Distant Education Project was implemented. A qualitative design was developed and in-depth interviews were made to gather information from members of the Business Administration Faculty. Main findings show that in a short time, professors managed to redesign the courses and to develop materials, while trainning themselves in the use of educational platforms, videoconference and communication devices. Among positive experiences they mentioned widening their teaching skills, the positive and helpful attitudes from students, technical support from the institution and the achievement of learning objectives; while on the negative side they mentioned that math contents demanded an extra effort in order to secure students comprehension. Technical problems with the internet and the lack of a proper learning environment were cited as barriers to students’ optimal academic achievement. Most of professors defined their experience as “a challenge”. In conclusion, professors took on and overcame the challenges in order to continue classes and to achieve the academic objectives of the term.