Development of Teaching Strategies Using Virtualization Strategies as Complementary Resources on Geology, Crystallography, and Archaeology

Abstract

In the last couple of years, the high-education system has quickly adopted and developed new virtual teaching resources and strategies, looking forward to suitable alternatives to face-to-face teaching. Some knowledge fields faced significant challenges on that path, but the remarkable effort performed by the high-education professionals overcome most of them in record time. Nowadays, the developed virtual resources continue helping on a daily basis in a situation in which some necessary safety restrictions (e.g., distances between students, the maximum number of students per room, etc.) continue to impede the normal development of classes. However, once the pandemic has been completely overcome, what will be the fate of these virtual resources? After these years of enormous efforts by university professors, an immediate return to pre-pandemic methodologies cannot be ruled out. Returning to methodologies within the comfort zone is something perfectly understandable, but it would lead to the abandonment of new and powerful virtual resources, and the wasting of the effort made over the years. Despite this situation, the implementation of these virtual resources must necessarily become a first-level tool to alleviate the lack of equipment and the limitations of teaching materials that a wide part of educational centers suffer now. Accordingly, it is necessary to study and discuss how the virtualization strategies and virtual resources can coexist and improve the pre-pandemic teaching methodologies and strategies, looking forward to synergies that strengthen the high-education system. The Crystallography and Mineralogy area of the University of Valladolid has recently started a teaching innovation project focused on the further development of virtual teaching resources and the implementation of mixed teaching strategies capable of taking advantage of these resources in normal teaching scenarios. Herein, the design and development of this project are described, providing information about the implementation of these strategies in subjects related to Geology, Crystallography, Natural Sciences, and Archaeology.