By: Estefani Mejía, Saul Lopez, Fryda Castro, Melina Pinzón, and Jacob Cruz.
XALAPA, SEE.- The lack of internet and computer equipment suitable to receive your online classes forced Carlos Gutierrez to cancel half of their educational experiences (subjects) in the career of Communication Sciences and Techniques, from Veracruz University (UV).
Carlos it is originally from White land and is in the fifth semester at open teaching system. Her university experience in this period at a distance that UV implemented during the pandemic for him virus SARS Cov-2 reflects difficulty in learning in the Marginalized zone of Veracruz and the country.
“I do not have internet and I have very little phone signal. It is difficult for me to enter my classes,” the young man shared in an interview through the WhatsApp application. The connectivity from his home, located in the La Cuenca del Papaloapan region, does not allow the conversation to take place through a video call.
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The semester is coming to an end and the 20-year-old has failed to take any of the six lessons in which it is registered. The consequence is the delay in his administrative burden for this period, which in turn affects his qualifications and the time he had budgeted to complete his higher education.
“I have not learned as I expected,” says Carlos through messages on his cell phone, who has had to resort to a cybercafé to be able to send some activities.
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Unlike other years, when lessons were carried out in person, students like Carlos enrolled between nine and 11 subjects per period or four-month period. Now they chose to cover the minimum percentage required due to the technological difficulties that they face in this pandemic from Covid-19.
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In case of Carlos Gutierrez It is not an isolated incident. Professors who make up the academic board of the faculty assure that there are more similar situations, in addition to a difference in attendance at lessons (virtual) and in the delivery of activities during the health contingency.
According to the “Questionnaire Challenges of Distance Education SEA”, carried out by students of the UV of the Open system, out of 100 students surveyed, 83 reported that they have faced “technological difficulties“related to access to Internet and disposition of computer equipment.
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Faced with the new online modality, young people reduced their educational experiences up to fifty percent, compared to previous periods. Now they only try to cover the minimum percentage required for registration. Additionally, seventy-seven percent were affected by reducing their burden of subjects.
Although there have been no definitive casualties, the loss of subjects it affects young people’s time to graduate. “If the quarantine stretches probably instead of carrying nine or 10 subjects go the classmates will enter five or six “, commented Paulina Aguilar, counselor student of FACICO.
According to the aforementioned survey, 80 percent considered that this reduction in subjects it affects not only their learning, but also their progress in the number of credits they must cover each semester.
Even though the UV provides different communication tools, such as digital platforms and educational processes to the homes during this confinement, these are not entirely feasible, the students said. They even pointed out that the Eminus institutional platform is one of the most problematic in the face of connectivity to take online classes.
According to the data collected in the survey, almost fifty percent of the students have had problems with Eminus.
A determining factor to unsubscribe educational experiences In this second semester in virtual mode, it is the dynamic implemented by some professors, because despite the fact that the institution offers them academic freedom, the university students stated, there have been cases where they maintain an inconsistent and inconsistent communication, giving confusing indications for the students. students.
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The online classes They do not ensure full attention to the teacher, since there are various distractors, for example, many young people, regardless of having a good connection or not, do not turn on their cameras since, according to the survey, fifty percent feel discomfort when turning them on. The psychologist and professor of Phaco, Sara Rodríguez, explained that “this is as if in a lessons everyone was looking at the wall “
Meanwhile, the director Rosy Lorena Laurencio Meza stated that the quality of education has not been totally bad, since there have been cases of students who have found it more beneficial to take their educational experiences in this mode. However, he said, everything is being done so that most of the students achieve the expected learning.
Not everyone has the same facility to handle the media, “in a group of maybe 30 students 15 or 10 only have good condition, so teachers must adapt our lessons, prepare ourselves so that everyone can work efficiently, “said psychologist Sara Rodríguez.
For the students surveyed, the teaching organization also does not have a planned guide for the monitoring and development of student learning, since only a report is provided to the management to provide information on their activities.
Principal Rosy Laurencio Meza mentioned that the current situation is increasingly difficult for both young people and teachers; There are many reasons, he explained, and there is no optimal solution for all the problems that have arisen throughout these months of online classes.
It is not yet known with certainty what will happen with the following semesters and if the modality will remain virtually, however, cases such as that of Carlos reflect the complexity to pursue their subjects in marginalized municipalities affected by the digital divide, compared to what happened before the pandemic.
“Clean Slate for Failed Students in pandemic” rector
In an interview with the rector from UV, Sara Ladrón de Guevara, explained that the students who failed subjects in the first and second opportunities during semesters taken at the pandemic They can rest easy, because they can register again to take them as if they had never taken those subjects.
That is, there will be two opportunities to “repeat” or the right to enroll in the next semester will not be lost, as the case may be, he said.
The official pointed out that a modification was made to the university statutes so that students who had some type of complication derived from the pandemic they were not affected in their studies.
The statute of the UV allows all its students to repeat a subject up to twice in case they do not pass the extraordinary exam, however, until before the pandemic There was no exception for a third opportunity, since not approving it on the second occasion was established by the university’s definitive low regulation, he explained.
“We have made an agreement by which the students who last semester requested withdrawal or did not pass the subjects, their educational experiences will not count as enrollment in this option of two; if they were taking it a second time we do not take them into account, the they can take it again; if it was the first time we don’t take them into account, when they enroll it will be the first time “.
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Guevara thief said that it is one of the actions that the authorities of the UV they took to avoid possible university dropouts and a possible increase in school dropouts for this reason.
In a context of health emergency, students faced problems of adaptation of a remote system, the use of new technologies, access to Internet and, in the worst case, financial problems in their homes, he added.
“This is a modification of a regulation that is in the statutes of the students and we have modified it to be empathetic with the young people who could not, one due to the bandwidth issue, another due to lack of technological tools, another due to financial situations that it has required them to go to work instead of continuing with their classes, that is an institutional way to be able to serve the population that could mean a significant drop “.
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This journalistic work was prepared by students of the Faculty of Communication Sciences and Techniques, in coordination with La Silla Rota Veracruz and E- Consultation Veracruz, through Miguel León Carmona, as part of the Investigative Journalism Educational Experience of the Semi-schooled System, taught by María Teresa de Jesús Arroyo Gopar.
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