The Role of IoT in Migration to Emergency Remote Teaching During the Confinement of COVID-19

Resumen

The last months of the 2019-2020 academic year have been faced with significant modifications due to the spread of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). On April 1, UNESCO reported that the considerable number of learners affected by school closures reached 1,598,099,008, which is 91.3% of total enrolled learners in 194 countries in all levels of educational centers (2020). Across the world, colleges and universities were forced to suspend face-to-face teaching activities including researches, laboratories, and other learning experiences with the emergency remote teaching and learning through a mix of technologies.
Moving remote teaching enabled the necessary flexibility of place and time to prevent the spread of the virus. However, faculty obliged to improvise rapid solu­tions in less than ideal circumstances and many instructors faced with the demand­ing process . To achieve high-quality online education, it is required to elaborate on lesson planning with well-designed teaching materials and technical support teams. In addition to these challenges, the inadequacy of Internet of Things (IoT) tools has occurred in some universities as well as challenges on the technology adoption process due to the fast transition.
Indistinguishably, since March 11, 2020, Spanish universities have been experi­encing country wide and localized closures. Face-to-face educa­tional activity was suspended in all academic centers and stages, cycles, degrees, courses, and levels of education contemplated in article 3 of Ley Orgánica 2/2006, of May 3, including university education, as well as any other educational or train­ing activities taught in other public or private centers. During the suspension period, academic activities were maintained through distance and online modalities. Within a few days, the accelerating technology of internet enabled objects and networks has been enabled to shift the mode of face-to-face instruction to remote teaching to a large extent experienced for the first time in human history. This research has revealed the insights of the IoT devices and technologies that have been used to maintain education throughout the confinement of the novel coronavirus.
The organization of the research as follows: in the first place, it has been discussed the difference between online learning and emergency remote teaching consisting of emergency shift, quality of the instruction, and the technology as well as acces­sibility and equity. Second, it has been revised the use of IoT tools and technologies that have been used to alternate instructional delivery modes under specific circum­stances. Then, it has been focused on the case context of the public university, Polytechnic University of Madrid, from the perspective of both faculty and students to clarify their experience and approach to remote teaching during the confinement of COVID-19.