Biotechnology and biochemistry laboratorial education through the SARS-CoV2 pandemic: challenges, truths and takeaways

ABSTRACT

In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the higher education institutions to adapt to a new form of teaching and learning, from presential to full remote, blended and hybrid environment. This challenge had a particular impact in the life sciences field where the courses have a high content of laboratorial classes. The main issue was how to transition from hands-on practical classes to remote instruction, assuring that our students continued engaged and acquiring the necessary skills, in a short amount of time. To address this, we took advantage of already available digital tools that facilitated the interface with the students such as Moodle, Skype, Teams and ZOOM and explored online resources such as virtual labs, simulations and video demonstrations. Additionally, several classes and laboratorial experiments were recorded by the teachers in the school labs and the research labs where we develop our research activity. The creation of teachers' work groups to share experiences and tools was key in the success of this process. To ensure the students evaluation we used preferentially Moodle platform which allowed the used of digital tools to control and prevent fraud by copying, plagiarism or false identity. Despite all efforts from teachers and students, crucial elements of the high education experience, particularly for undergraduates, were disrupted. Namely the student-teacher and student-student contact and interaction and the integration in the academic setting, resulting in stress and feeling of isolation and overwhelm. Even with the difficulties faced by all the academic community, we observed no major changes regarding the academic success reflected in the final grades, comparing with previous years. In our understanding the core skills proposed for these courses were acquired successfully and the digital tools used with exception for the student's evaluation, are now considered an added value and bring flexibility to the teaching-learning process.