Some effects of implementing the blended education modality in the FMP-UES for the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

study was carried out in the 1-2022 academic cycle to determine, according to the students, the effects of the blended modality on the academic activities carried out at the Paracentral Multidisciplinary Faculty of the University of El Salvador. It was from this cycle that in-person activities began to be included, because from the beginning of the pandemic until cycle 2-2021 the activities were completely online. The study was conducted using a quantitative approach and is planned in different phases including planning, execution, and data analysis. 500 students from the 12 undergraduate courses offered by the FMP-UES participated by completing the survey. This number corresponds to the probabilistic sample according to the total number enrolled in that cycle. As part of the results, it is evident that there are a series of limitations in access to professional training at the faculty, the main problem being connectivity since 66.2% expressed losing the internet signal when it rains or worse, more than one third of students have coverage difficulties that prevent them from fully attending classes. The device that the majority of students used to connect to classes was the cell phone (93.8%) and taking into account the size of the screens of these devices, the correct visualization of the contents is not always guaranteed. Despite some not so favorable situations, the opinion about the learning obtained under the blended modality is positive (76%).