From emergency remote teaching to quality blended learning: our view from the Institute of Biosciences at University of São Paulo (IB-USP)

Abstract

The training of biologists is strongly based on a face-to-face curriculum, including numerous hands-on laboratory and field activities. This structure was abruptly changed by the 2020 pandemic, forcing us to move to emergency remote teaching (ERT). We survived and adapted, and we can now seize the opportunity to reflect on our teaching practices. How
about we take advantage of what we learned in the heart of the battle and think about adopting the blended learning approach in the course of Biological Sciences at IB-USP? Just as biological and cultural evolution occur; it is only natural that our teaching practices and the teaching-learning processes also evolve. We had hits and misses with ERT, and these
experiences allowed us to embrace adaptation, transforming our teaching practices. Surely,
adopting the blended learning approach in a biology course, by definition, does not involve abolishing hands-on activities that foster fundamental skills and competences of the professional biologist. Therefore, we do not advocate here for a full migration to distance education (DE) or massive open online courses (MOOC), but rather to the incorporation of
educational technology tools, used during the ERT, within traditional place-based teaching methods. Crucially, blended learning has the potential to improve teaching practices in higher education courses. For example, it allows each student to become an autonomous learner where they can establish their own pace of study and take an active role in the exploration of new content. As a consequence, this can increase student performance in hands-on laboratory and field activities, and other activities that are more productive in person. In blended learning, most of the content is passed on remotely, making the learning experience more enjoyable and enabling the construction of knowledge in a more collaborative, active and integrated way. In summary, it is clear that we are facing one of the greatest challenges of our era but, fortunately, we have the opportunity to combine our
experiences and improve our teaching practices, while promoting social acceptance and inclusive classrooms.