Virtual learning environments adopted by the university due to COVID-19

Abstract

Education in times of crisis is due to various causes, among them the sanitary. The world is currently experiencing a coronavirus pandemic that has led educational institutions to suspend face-to-face classes in most of the world. In this context, our aim was to identify the virtual learning environments (VLE) that teachers and students of higher education have resorted to, revealing the correlations between these environments and educational practices. The Virtual Educational Practices Questionnaire for COVID-19 was applied to 425 students from various universities, and the main finding was that the teachers resorted to the use of institutional virtual platforms, as well as instant mobile messaging and complementary asynchronous means of personal communication. Support from institutional VAS correlated with feedback to students, so they can be considered effective. These results allow us to recognize that some formal VAS have excelled, and other informal or personal means of communication have had a lesser impact on educational task support.