Digital skills of university teachers in times of Covid-19

Abstract

The area of digital skills currently in demand is key within university activities. The situation of the Covid-19 pandemic critically exposes the need to learn, innovate and implement virtual teaching strategies. Thus, to address the problem of digital skills, this educational case study was carried out. As a method of collecting information, the survey technique was used, with its instrument the Google Forms digital questionnaire. It was applied to 184 undergraduate students from the Polytechnic Faculty of the National University of Asunción. The population studied is young with a predominance of the female gender. Most of the participants use information and communication technologies ICT for the development of academic activities. University students naturally and efficiently incorporate technologies such as smartphones and laptops for the development of classes. For connections to virtual classes, the most used connection is Wi-Fi, followed by fiber optics; being the form of the development of virtual classes, mostly the mixed method, with synchronous and asynchronous classes. A good percentage of students attend classes regularly; the factor affecting attendance is the lack of internet connection. The most used application for student-teacher communication is the WhatsApp network; and among the managers to develop virtual classes, the most used are Moodle and Google Meet. The learning experience according to most students is good and average; stating, in a significant percentage, that the materials raised digitally on the platforms are extensive and difficult to understand. But, when evaluating the skills of the teachers, most of the students considered that they possess skills in the use of digital tools.