Distance education: an emerging pedagogy in higher education institutions in Latin America during the Covid-19

Abstract

This research presents a review of several case studies that describe the reaction of faculty of higher education institutions in Latin American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay and Mexico, particularly in the state of Zacatecas, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was based on the premise that the lack of teacher training to work remotely was a problem in itself because it generated emerging pedagogical practices but of a reactive type derived from the urgency of transferring the face-to-face educational model to the virtual, but without having mastery in the use of ICT and extensive knowledge of distance educational resources. Teachers recognized that not only was it enough to teach by videoconference or leave assignments, but that adjustments to teaching materials and methodology needed to be made for successful teaching and efficient learning; Therefore, it had to choose the most suitable and accessible educational digital tools for its students, that is, consider the resources that the students really possessed or had at their disposal and leave behind the planning for face-to-face teaching. The basis of the efficiency of their work was the realization of a good instructional design so that the learning in the students was satisfactory. Despite these valuable efforts, only in Uruguay there was an innovative educational project whose support was teacher training in distance education, consequently, they responded during confinement with a distance model.