The teaching modalities in the new normal for the 2020-21 academic year in Spanish public universities

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic and the health measure adopted through the confinement of the population at a global level with different degrees and intensities to try to control infections have affected practically all sectors of the population and the ways and means of developing work. On a global scale, the confinement measures have meant, at the same time, the closure of educational centers at all levels. This measure has driven, for the most part, that education went from the face-to-face mode to the online mode. International organizations would recommend the development of contingency protocols and adaptation of teaching to Higher Education institutions. In this sense, the Spanish public universities, before the imminent start of the course, have developed their teaching and contingency plans for the 2020-21 academic year following recommendations from the Ministry of Universities. The objective of the study was to identify which face-to-face, mixed or online teaching modalities have been proposed by the 50 Spanish public universities. For this, the methodology of qualitative content analysis was used on more than 50 documents located on the web pages of the universities that would allow the development of a series of categories to classify the methodologies in the different scenarios presented by the universities. The main methodologies used by public universities in the current new normal have been the mixed modality and the adapted secure face-to-face modality, anticipating moving to the online modality if the health situation requires it.