Academic performance before and during the state of emergency due to COVID-19: analysis from the perspective of distance education

Abstract

Faced with Covid-19, and the need to adapt to environments that guarantee continuity of educational service in the context of social distancing, many universities did not initially plan the mechanisms for adapting to the virtual modality adequately. Therefore, this period of transition to e-learning was characterised by a decrease in academic performance . This article reports on a study that focused on determining whether the transition from a classroom to a virtual teaching–learning model had an effect or influence on the academic performance of university students in mechanical and electrical engineering at a public university in Peru during the period 2018 to 2021. The purpose of the study was to ensure the quality of the education system in the face of the implementation of a hybrid mode of teaching. Methodologically, a descriptive type of investigation and longitudinal non-experimental design were undertaken. The research methodology followed a hypothetical-deductive approach. The number of participants was 157 and a registration form was used to collect data on the indicators that made up the academic performance variable. The results reveal that the switch to a virtual teaching–learning modality significantly influenced the academic performance of the students. Student’s t-test found a significance equal to 0.000. Passing grades were achieved by 98.57% of students under the virtual teaching–learning modality, compared to 68.4% under classroom learning.