Teaching and Learning Online: Experiences from Technical Higher Education

Abstract

During the last three years, Peru has been suffering from a social crisis, strikes, protests, etc., triggered by political circumstances, which forced the country to abandon, once again, face-to-face class sessions in order to adopt the virtual teaching model. In this context, the students of technological institutes have been suffering an 80% of interrupted instruction time. The aim of this study was to explore the social phenomenon of online teaching and learning, caused by emergent situations, through the accounts of students and teachers of a technical education institution. For this purpose, the qualitative approach was used, with a phenomenological design, and through the interview technique whose saturation allowed the collaboration of 31 participants. The findings of this phenomenological analysis highlight the complexity of the challenges faced by students and teachers during virtual sessions, addressing technical, social and pedagogical aspects. It infers the need to develop comprehensive strategies to improve connectivity, foster participation and address technological and emotional demands in the online educational environment.

Received: 11 September 2024 / Accepted: 21 December 2024 / Published: 05 January 2025