Impactos do ensino remoto no ensino superior privado em Portugal: competências socioemocionais e digitais

The European Commission, in the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027. Reconfiguring education and training for the digital age (2020) underlines the need to exploit the potential of digital technologies for learning and teaching and develop digital skills for all. In this digital age, education plays an essential role in modifying society, as does technology. Together they comprise a fundamental dimension of social change, since the evolution and transformation of societies are built through the complex interaction of cultural, economic, political and technological factors. In this framework, the objectives that guided this research were to capture and compare the perceptions of private higher education students (university and polytechnic) about remote learning and analyse the impact of this teaching modality on socioemotional and digital skills. To do this study, the methodology used was the construction and application of a questionnaire to 1st year students of different fields of study from two private higher education institutions. The sample was purposive (Creswell, 2014). Data were collected via online questionnaire, composed of multiple-choice and open-ended questions. The results of this study show that the imposed confinement measures affected the way of being, learning and teaching. And that the surveyed students show similarity in terms of socio-emotional skills but divergence in terms of digital skills. The vast majority of students surveyed are in favour of a clear focus on hybrid education. From this research, of exploratory nature, we can conclude that the use of technologies, explored in online classes, represent a great possibility to boost post-pandemic education, and that digital skills are strategically important in the context of ecological and digital transitions.