Analysis of the usage of virtual classrooms in the National Polytechnic School of Ecuador: Teachers' perception

This paper summarizes the findings of the analysis of the usage of virtual classrooms in the Escuela Politecnica Nacional-EPN (National Polytechnic School) in Quito (Ecuador), from teachers' perspective. In the current context of teaching and learning processes, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) should incorporate Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as tools in their processes to achieve more and better learning outcomes of students. One of the most popular tools is the virtual classroom. Virtual classrooms are used as a tool to support learning, either e-learning or face to face learning. The main objective of this research is to increase the use of virtual classrooms in the EPN. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to determine which of the activities, teaching and assessment strategies has been used by the teachers of the virtual campus of the EPN. To conduct this study, a survey has been done to explore teachers' perceptions in order to have a diagnostic of the situation. The analysis has allowed us to identify several significant problems, such as the limited use of the variety of resources and activities that the platform provides due to the lack of knowledge and training of the teachers, which leads to a limited use of the platform. To tackle this problem, we propose solutions that can help other institutions apart from the EPN to promote the usage of virtual classrooms: a methodology for design and using virtual classrooms, a teacher training in the use of the platform and finally the creation at support team for solve troubles to teachers and students for best results.