Analysis of Mediatized Educational Practices in the Context of COVID-19 in a Educational Sciences

this article presents a multidimensional analysis of the mediated educational practices (mEp) carried out during the process of emergency educational virtualization in the course of 2020 at the Faculty School of Education Sciences of the National University of Entre Rios (Argentina). This experience constitutes a relevant case because there were previous experiences of virtual education and, in general, technological accessibility was moderately solved. However, difficulties arose when the virtual modality became the only pedagogical possibility after the establishment of physical isolation to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic. In consideration of the theoretical perspective of mediatization, a study is postulated that includes diverse aspects in the institutional, technological, social and textual dimensions. Based on a qualitative approach, a descriptive and synchronic case study is conducted. The study reveals that, in spite of the existence of certain favorable conditions for pedagogical innovation, in this institution the implementation of virtuality took the form of an attempt to reproduce face-to-face classes. The conclusion reached is that this virtualization process motivated the teaching staff to reflect on the improvement of their face-to-face subjects, after the integration of mediatized instances, and enabled the possibility of experimenting and reflecting on the technical-cultural complexity demanded by an integral virtualization of the educational process.