Development of emergency remote education in a public higher education institution

Abstract

The year 2020 had a reality imposed and beyond humanity's control, we had to review certain behaviors, as well as readjust to new procedures, including restrictions on social contacts, keeping social distance, all due to a pandemic generated by the COVID-19 virus. Faced with this reality, educational institutions suffered from the suspension of classes and rethinking a new way of offering education, with the emergence, by education authorities, of emergency remote teaching (ERE). In this context, we carried out a survey in which we sought to understand how the professors of a public higher education institution adapted their teaching activities with the implementation of the ERE. For the development of this article, we worked with a mostly qualitative approach, using the technique of content analysis to assess the data collected through interviews with professors at the institution, selected using the snowball technique. In this way, we evidenced that the professors judged the ERE as necessary, in order to maintain the educational activities, not causing greater harm to the students. However, they mentioned that teaching is precarious when compared to distance learning, that at times the institution did not have a full discussion with the academic community about its implementation, in addition to feeling a greater workload than in face-to-face teaching , for trying to meet the demands of students as well as studying strategies that help greater interaction of students in virtual classes.