Certainty and uncertainties about academic dropout at the Juan misael Saracho Autonomous University during the covid 19 pandemic

Abstract

The transition from face-to-face classes to virtual classes in higher education caused by the COVID 19 pandemic produced a sudden change in the teaching and learning process, both teachers and students had to adapt to this new educational scenario. One of the aspects that was interesting to know during this transition period was related to how the students dropped out. Therefore, the objective of this study was to reflect on the certainties and uncertainties generated about the dropout of students at the Juan Misael Saracho Autonomous University during this pandemic period. The study was based on the review of scientific articles referring to the following educational categories: complexity of education, the educational transition from face-to-face to virtual classes, virtual education as an alternative to the pandemic, evaluation during virtual classes, the student dropout and the analysis of student dropout data in the period 2018 - 2022. The results show that during the transition period there were several factors that influenced the dropout percentage of students; the complexity of the education process, the lack of teacher training for the use of ICT, the flexibility in the educational evaluation of the knowledge acquired by students, the digital skills of students, and access to the internet and availability of equipment for access classes that caused an increase in the dropout rate at the beginning of the pandemic (2020), but decreasing the following year (2021).