Student engagement and academic performance during remote education at a public university in Peru

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has been the opportune context for the pedagogical disruption that has not only demanded new responses to confront the circumstances but has also led to new experiences to enrich knowledge and pedagogical practice. In university education, the pandemic has marked a before and after. Remote teaching has reduced the gap between traditional teaching and the virtual modality, which is emerging in the public university. This requires exploring the new environment to understand and act proactively with management that favors educational quality, in a context of external evaluation and accreditation, evidencing not only technical and cognitive performance; but in the development of skills that adjust to the demands of today's society.The study is quantitative, descriptive-correlational design, and cross-sectional, whose objective is to determine if there is a correlation between student commitment and academic performance in the context of remote education, by Covid-19. The sample was stratified and consisted of 87 students, enrolled for the first time in the first year of a public university in Peru. The evaluation instrument used was Schaufeli's (2011) 17-item version of the Academic Engagement Questionnaire for Students (UWES-S), which was self-administered through a Google form, accessed individually through institutional mail, and completed anonymously, with prior informed consent. The results show that there is a correlation between student commitment and academic performance. It is concluded that the higher the student commitment, the higher the academic performance and that the dimensions vigor, dedication, and absorption are indicators of commitment, and are configured as predictors for retention and university educational quality, in which the challenge is not only to train good professionals, but also good people, capable of transforming society by generating personal and social well-being.