Sustainable mobility in higher education through virtual attendance

Abstract

In this chapter, we present various proposals for improving student mobility on their journeys to and from university. Specifically, we describe a student service delivered by the virtual attendance system implemented by the National Distance-Learning University (UNED) which is not only a reference in terms of support for the teaching-learning process, but also enables the reduction of student journeys to UNED-associated centres and university campuses, thus reducing both the air and noise pollution caused by the use of motorized vehicles. Furthermore, we analyze from the perspective of social networking analysis (SNA), the network of interactions obtained in online discussion forums about the benefits of using virtual attendance at University. The results show that students’ perceptions about this system enables the reduction of private motor vehicles, contributes to the elimination of mobility wastes and fosters academic networking and collaborative work at university.