The social and academic needs of high school students in a hybrid modality environment

Abstract

The new post-pandemic challenges that the State in general and educational institutions in particular have had to face in order to mitigate the enormous educational and digital gap are clear, as this has been the natural consequence of social inequality in economic matters. It will not be possible to advance in the implementation of a hybrid educational model if basic problems and needs are not solved first, as is the case in Mexico, where 32.6% of basic schools are located in rural communities, in the state of Guerrero only 47.1% of households have internet service. Several researches have highlighted the importance of the hybrid modality to improve the quality of learning and enhance student autonomy, but they have also recognized that digital illiteracy and the passive role of the student have led to discourage the use of technology. Considering that the hybrid modality for schools is a very near future, the question for this paper arises: what are the conditions in which students in two public schools are able to adapt to this new modality? The new post-pandemic challenges that the State in general and educational institutions in particular have had to face in order to mitigate the enormous educational and digital gap are clear, as this has been the natural consequence of social inequality in economic matters. It will not be possible to advance in the implementation of a hybrid educational model if basic problems and needs are not solved first, as is the case in Mexico, where 32.6% of basic schools are located in rural communities, in the state of Guerrero only 47.1% of households have internet service. Several researches have highlighted the importance of the hybrid modality to improve the quality of learning and enhance student autonomy, but they have also recognized that digital illiteracy and the passive role of the student have led to discourage the use of technology. Considering that the hybrid modality for schools is a very near future, the question for this paper arises: what are the conditions in which students in two public schools are able to adapt to this new modality? The research was qualitative-phenomenological, interviews were conducted with fifteen students based on a generative question. The data were analyzed with the support of grounded theory, creating code groups in ATLAS.ti v23. It was found that the digital divide is not only the result of economic problems and digital literacy, it is also of utmost importance to take into account that both teachers and students continue with traditional practices, the latter of dependence and passivity.