Online teaching and learning processes in an interdisciplinary course focused on design for social innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru

Abstract

This review shows the experience of industrial design professors at PUCP in their teaching and learning process during the pandemic COVID-19, of an interdisciplinary course between Industrial Design and Electronic and Civil Engineering, under a university social responsibility approach in a virtual mode. The aim was to develop a demonstration plot for the agricultural village of Chillaco in the highlands of Lima, affected by the pandemic. A research was conducted to find out the consequences of the virtual scenario on students. The main results were: uncertainty about how to develop ethnography remotely and demotivation due to the absence of face-to-face social interaction. As an action plan to face this scenario, a teaching and learning methodology was developed for the development of the interdisciplinary course and a didactic proposal for virtual classroom sessions based on 4 didactic strategies: problem-based learning (PBL), flipped classroom, synchronous and asynchronous environments, and computer-mediated collaborative learning. For the development of the remote ethnography, the Swiss NGO EcoHumanita was a strategic ally that facilitated the communication between the community and the interdisciplinary student groups, through the use of multimedia tools to learn more about the reality of the population. In conclusion, the methodological approach proposed for the non-classroom modality aimed at projects with a social focus, allowed students to empathize and propose solutions for a rural context, develop skills for autonomous learning, and recognize the contribution they can make to the development of society.