Engineering education in the new face-to-face environment

Authors

Bueno-Pizarro, Natalia A.

Macia-Lalinde, Enrique

Lalinde-Pulido, Juan G.

Abstract

In 2020, universities were forced to move to remote training as a preventative measure to control the spread of COVID-19. Now, after almost two years, they are returning to face-to-face training. In this process, students and professors had experiences in all areas. The migration to remote activity was not planned and both teachers and students faced multiple challenges. Migrating from campus to home not only changed the context of education but also transformed relationships. In this process, the role played by the physical space of the university campus as a space for training, interaction and socialization became evident, but which had gone unnoticed as it occurred naturally in the face-to-face setting. Now, with the return to the campus, it is necessary to generate a new face-to-face environment which includes, in addition to the successful experiences prior to the pandemic, the practices that gave the best results in remote training and the university campus is strengthened as a space that generates training experiences and neutralizes social differences.