Emergency remote education: A perspective of its potentialities and limitations in a Peruvian university

Abstract

This research aims to identify the potentialities and limitations of emergency remote education in the Peruvian university context as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic based on teachers’ experience of the Hermilio Valdizán National University (UNHEVAL). The type of this research was descriptive and the sample consisted of 123 teachers of the academic period 2020-I. For the data collection, a questionnaire was used, whose validation was made through the judgment of experts (0.96) and the reliability of the results through the Z-test. According to the results, flexibility stands out between the potentialities in regards to topics’ distribution, time, and the possibility to produce greater interest in the participants. It was observed that time flexibility is not considered as favorable unlike what was detected through literature. Infrastructure stands out, especially when is related to the connectivity and Internet access as well as the distractors produced by the easy access to devices and applications that are not related to the class session. The paper revealed weakness in the digital competencies of both teachers and students, and the scarce level of social interaction caused by social isolation. It is concluded that the potentialities and limits of emergency remote education in a Peruvian university are conditioned by different elements specific to each context or country and must be considered for the production of new educational proposals as a policy of prevention of the possibility of new events that require mandatory isolation. Received: 1 July 2021Accepted: 19 April 2022