This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the entire world and forced universities, including the University of Panama, to quickly switch from face-to-face to virtual. The crisis accelerated the use and adaptation of virtual education, revealing the problem of inequality, especially in access to technology. Even so, the University of Panama, at a national level, managed to overcome the technological and socioeconomic obstacles to comply with the education and all the administrative processes of the entire university community. During the year 2021, an investigation was carried out to identify the socioeconomic factors that influenced the teaching-learning process at the Colon Regional University Center (CRUColon) during the year 2020. Through an exploratory and descriptive study, data was collected to know the experiences on virtual classes, since there are no preliminary studies on this subject. A selection of students from different degrees with a proportional stratified sample were surveyed and, with a simple sample, focus groups were held with teachers from all departments, categories, and dedication of CRUColon. The research recognized that, regardless of the return to the face-to-face modality, it is important to identify those sites where virtual education was null or deficient, due to internet access and the type of device used by students for their virtual education. Despite all, virtual education is here to stay and should be a complement for the development of classes, including bringing innovative and useful educational programs to distant communities.
Este obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional.
