COVID-19 impact on the laboratory practices of the automation subjects at the University of La Laguna

Abstract

Our practice programs have changed drastically after the appearance of COVID-19. The practical sessions designed for all Automation subjects until 2019 were face-to-face. But the arrival of the pandemic and health restrictions resulted in the closure of our university facilities, which forced us to redo the laboratory experiences. It isin this context thatsimulation and gamification helped usto move forward,since the solution we followed was the virtualization of the laboratory. Although the degree of satisfaction of the students with the new practical sessions is quite good, the purpose of this paper is not to present a detailed analysis of all the simulation and gamification tools we studied, but to explain what our situation was like before COVID- 19, how we faced the change, what we learned in the process, what the new practice programs we are currently following are like, what tools have helped us, and what goals we still have to achieve. We hope that our experience can be useful to other teachers.