Health higher education and the use of technology during the pandemic of COVID-19 in Brazil

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected educational institutions worldwide. The objective of this study is to present changes during the pandemic regarding the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by Brazilian faculty, undergraduate and graduate students in the field of health. A convergent mixed methods study (QUAN+QUAL) with cross-sectional data collection was carried out in 2020. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (QUAN) and thematic analysis (QUAL). This study had 1172 participants, comprising 533 undergraduate students, 257 graduate students and 382 lecturers. During the pandemic, the average number of daily hours of ICT use for academic activities increased from 5.90 hours in 2019 to 7.18 hours in 2020 (+21.7%). Virtual learning environments were the most used technology, but technologies that showed largest significant increase in use were videoconference and virtual simulation. Five main themes emerged from the analysis of participants' perceptions: use of ICT for educational activities; comparison and preference of participants regarding teaching modality; changes in education; institutional support for the use of ICT in education; and problems to access the Internet. Some recommendations based on this research include emergency training for the academic community in online teaching; maintenance of online education; inclusion of more interactive technological tools in virtual learning environments; actions to improve Internet connection and access to equipment; and review of the load of academic activities.