Communication at university classrooms in the context of COVID-19 by means of videoconferencing with Google Meet

ABSTRACT

The new reality imposed by COVID-19 has meant one of the greatest challenges that face-to-face university teaching has had to confront, as these higher education centres were suddenly forced to change from a face-to-face format to a virtual, contingent kind of teaching. More precisely, face-to-face communication at classrooms now must rely on synchronous videoconferences which have digitally "occupied" the space that was previously regulated in ordinary lessons. It all required using a wide range of technological applications, amongst which Google Meet stood out as one of the most popular. Based on this, our study set itself two objectives: (1) identifying the communication needs that university students have felt throughout this period of virtual teaching;and (2) verifying the extent to which Google Meet succeeded in meeting those needs. Seeking to accomplish the aforesaid goals, we involved 52 students from the Degree in Primary Education Teacher Training imparted at the University of Alicante. A mixed methodological approach was adopted, the software programs utilized for data processing purposes being SPSS v. 25 and AQUAD 7, which enabled us to carry out a descriptive study and a content analysis, respectively. In view of the results, and although the teaching staff have used a synchronous type of audiovisual communication suited to the demands of students, the degree of satisfaction amongst the latter is remarkably low. Something similar happens when it comes to Google Meet because, despite recognizing that it has positive aspects such as a certain degree of usefulness and enjoyment, they claim to have had serious difficulties in using it. Such findings lead us to conclude that a compelling need exists to fine tune the technological response that universities are giving before the situation caused by COVID-19.