Planning and beginning a university course in a global pandemic: the case of agricultural engineering at the University of La Laguna (Canary Islands, Spain)

Resumen

Educators have been forced to change their teaching methodologies very suddenly. In Spain, from March 15, 2020, the daily routines of the country's inhabitants have changed due to COVID-19. The nation's students and professors had to adapt to new technologies quickly, in order to avoid their education being paralyzed during the lockdown which, in the case of Spain, lasted 99 days. We have studied the effect of this period of forced online teaching/learning at the University of La Laguna (ULL), Agricultural Engineering degree, through a survey sent to students.For this purpose, a survey was created and sent online to students of the Agricultural Engineering degree of the ULL, which solicited the students' opinions regarding the following:1) the availability of hardware and software in the students’ homes, to be able to follow the classes normally, as well as if they have a separate room where it is possible for them to study;2) to what degree they have been able to follow the classes online, if this has been sufficient, and if they have been up to the face classes, if they have been able to manage the virtual classes, and if they have sufficiently learned the content in this way;3) if students feel their generation will suffer a comparative disadvantage with those students who have been able to complete a traditional in-class university education , and if they are afraid for their future employability due to the impacts of COVID-19; 4) how many students intended to go on an exchange to another European country and how many have managed this. The data provided through the survey reflects that students believe they will have difficulties in finding a job due to the way they have received part of their university education, although most of the respondents are satisfied with the training received during the online period.