Percepction of virtual classes during COVID-19 by university students

As a result of the declaration of the global pandemic due to COVID-19, universities around the world had to adapt their classes to the online mode for long periods or alternate this mode with face-to-face. The lack of planning related to this change could have consequences on teaching. This study aimed to know the perception of university students about online classes during this pandemic period and to analyze some variables associated with the degree of acceptance of these classes. To do this, 266 students belonging to 20 different degrees and 14 Spanish universities have been surveyed. A questionnaire was developed based on previous studies to collect information on the experience of the students with the online modality, the comparison between the online and face-to-face modality in terms of advantages and disadvantages, and satisfaction with the online modality. The results indicate that more than half of the students surveyed prefer face-to-face training, although they perceive some advantages associated with online training. Students also perceived face-to-face training as more effective in achieving learning objectives. Satisfaction with online teaching was related to greater interaction with peers, greater student involvement in training, and better perception of the role the teacher.