Teaching Instrumental Analytical Chemistry during COVID-19 Times in a Developing Country: Asynchronous versus Synchronous Communication

VILLANUEVA, MARÍA EMILIA; CAMILLI, EMILIANO; CHIRILLANO, ANA CLARA; CUFRÉ, JUAN ANGEL; DE LANDETA, MARIA CRISTINA; RIGACCI, LAURA NATALIA; VELAZCO, VIVIANA MIRIAM; PIGHIN, ANDRÉS FABIÁN

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Año: 2020

0021-9584

On Mar. 19, 2020, Argentina?s government decided to closeacademic institutions for an indefinite time in an attempt to contain the spread ofthe COVID-19 pandemic. Since the University established that, when thequarantine ends, 5 weeks will be reserved for face-to-face activities that could notbe carried out virtually (laboratory lessons and final exams), the main focus on theonline activities was in the theoretical lessons. For the Instrumental AnalyticalChemistry course both synchronous strategy such as questions and answer sessionsand asynchronous communication such as Microsoft PowerPoint presentationswith explicative audios, simulated assays, and assignments were adopted. A surveyconducted with our students indicated that although synchronous lessons providedface-to-face interaction, the lack of good Internet connectivity was the mainweakness of this strategy. On the other hand, asynchronous lessons did not requirevery high bandwidth networks and had the possibility of stopping the lesson andcontinuing it later. However, students? lack of interaction with their teachers wasthe main drawback of this type of communication. Most of the students pointed out that a blend of synchronous and asynchronouscommunication is more desirable for Instrumental Analytical Chemistry lessons than asynchronous or synchronous communicationseparately.