How the COVID-19 pandemic fueled educational innovation in higher education.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic was the largest disruption to education systems in the world. Universities faced vulnerabilities such as low levels of digitization, deficits in their structures, low levels of digital literacy, and lack of financial resources. The students faced problems because they had low digital skills, less internet access and inadequate computers for a good virtual education. But the COVID-19 pandemic had another side. On the one hand, it meant the possibility of stimulating innovation in education. And on the other hand, it transformed several of the contexts for the implementation of the curriculum, so that various learning and skills became more relevant. In the present investigative work, the objective is to make visible the case of the Indoamerican University of Ecuador, which has a student population of 9,000 students and about 400 professors. The different actors were open to learning about educational technological tools, which helped to deal with complexity and uncertainty. In the present investigation it is established that the training in virtual education and the elaboration of digital material, the change of new educational platforms, the generation of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses), the radio programs and the production of academic ebooks, constituted educational innovations that supported the educational processes. at that university.

Keywords: Education, COVID-19, Educational innovation, Educational technologies, Virtual education

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1002381