Perspectives of the use of ICT for the teaching-learning process among Peruvian university students and lecturers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Universities in Peru were unexpectedly physically closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020. This forced university to transition from face-to-face education to virtual distance education. This was prior to them having any information on the digital tools that lecturers and students have access to, for the teaching-learning process. Faced with this situation, this study seeks to identify the knowledge, use and ways of the learning of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), before and during the emergency. A total of 126 students and 48 lecturers from a private university in Lima were surveyed virtually. The results showed that there were no substantial changes in the knowledge and use of ICT, in both groups, except for the videoconference platform, which was established by the university for the development of the classes. Likewise, it was found that lecturers improved their self-evaluation during the emergency. On the other hand, ICT learning occurred basically on the lecturers and students’ own initiative and in a self-taught way, especially for students, with a low incidence of formal courses within the university. These results show that both lecturers and university students were not prepared to face the use of digital tools for the teaching-learning environment which was required for them in the context of this health emergency.