*Article* **Impact of the COVID-19 Confinement on the Physics and Chemistry Didactic in High Schools**

**Elena Jiménez Sánchez 1,\*, Estrella Montes-López <sup>2</sup> and María Jesús Santos Sánchez <sup>1</sup>**


**Abstract:** Online education due to COVID-19 confinement impacted the use of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Spain, where it was poorly implemented. The aim of this paper was to inspect the methodological changes in Physics and Chemistry teaching during the confinement as well as in the ICT use and the lockdown impact afterwards. For this purpose, an online survey was administered by email to the Physics and Chemistry teachers of three provinces of Spain. Based on the analysis, the most widely used methodology was the traditional one. Still, during the lockdown, its use decreased, and others, such as the flipped classroom, increased significantly. Other adaptations included increasing the use of virtual simulations and self-learning by the student. It can be outlined the incorporation of new tools such as WebQuests, the smartphone, or online education platforms, whose use has continued. The ICT was used for new functionalities such as evaluation or answering student questions. According to the respondents, the lockdown had entailed that they strengthen implementation of ICT. In conclusion, there have been changes that have remained in the Physics and Chemistry didactic and in the ICT use due to the lockdown situation.

**Keywords:** educational technologies; digital technologies; teaching experiences; learning experiences; pedagogy

#### **1. Introduction**

COVID-19 confinement caused an absolute rupture of the way life had been until then. Everyone was forced to remain at home and significant changes had to be implemented in order to minimize disruption on the economy and life. In this regard, education was one of the affected areas since there was a huge shift, especially in primary schools and high schools, from face-to-face teaching to online teaching.

Even if Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has a large presence in the classrooms, it has been proven that they are not really used during the lessons [1]. Nevertheless, due to the confinement, its implementation was imposed.

The aim of this article is to acquaint the changes in the Physics and Chemistry didactic due to the COVID-19 global confinement and its impact afterwards in the employed methodologies and in the use of ICT. For this purpose, an online survey was administered to the secondary teachers of Physics and Chemistry working in three provinces of Castille and Leon, Spain.

For this purpose, first, the situation of the ICT in high schools in Spain was analysed, as well as its main applications in the Physics and Chemistry didactic and the difficulties encountered to implement them in the classroom. In addition, the use of the ICT during the confinement is presented in the introduction. Next, the methodology employed is described. Then, the results are analysed, and last, we present the the discussion and the conclusions of the paper.

**Citation:** Jiménez Sánchez, E.; Montes-López, E.; Santos Sánchez, M.J. Impact of the COVID-19 Confinement on the Physics and Chemistry Didactic in High Schools. *Sustainability* **2022**, *14*, 6754. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116754

Academic Editors: Noora J. Al-Thani and Zubair Ahmad

Received: 12 May 2022 Accepted: 28 May 2022 Published: 31 May 2022

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

#### *1.1. Situation of the ICT in Spain and in High Schools*

The proportion of high schools with Internet access and computers was 100% in Spain in 2020. Moreover, 95.4% of households report to have an Internet connection and 91.3% of people used it frequently, at least once a week [2].

During the 2018–2019 academic year, the number of students per computer was 2.9 in high schools; 96.7% of the classrooms had an Internet connection, and 60.1% had interactive digital systems. Besides this, 89.1% of the educational centres counted with a website. Many centres, 45.4%, employed learning visual environments, which allow the interaction of the students so that they can continue with the learning process, and 59.2% supplied cloud services. Lastly, the mobile phone was used in 42.2% of high schools for younger students, and 50.2% for the older students [3].

Hence, high schools in Spain account to have a good supply of technology as well as Internet connection. Nevertheless, they were not that widely used, and the resources employed were very limited, as explained in the following section.

#### *1.2. Causes of the Low Implementation of ICT in the Classrooms*

The application of ICT in education is very limited [4–6]. ICT is barely used in comparison to the presence they have in high schools [7]. Moreover, the supply of ICT in the classroom has not meant almost any changes or adaptations in the teaching methodologies [5,8,9].

Some of the causes of this low use are the need of methodological changes in order to integrate ICT into the classes, which take time; the adaptability of educators to change, since they are comfortable with the methodologies they already know [10,11]; and the lack of knowledge on how to implement ICT in their classes [6]. Other causes are the poor formation of ICT tools and applications [9,11], together with the insecurities it generates or the frustration when the exercises implemented do not have the expected outcome.

Because of that, the ICT are mainly used by means of the traditional methodology for exposition or search purposes, and there is no real application of all the available resources [1].

#### *1.3. Main Applications of ICT in Education and for the Physics and Chemistry Didactic*

Even if not frequently implemented, some of the most common applications of ICT are short research on the Internet, and assignments and presentations with PowerPoint or the virtual classroom [9,11]. Interactive digital boards are also employed [12].

As for the Physics and Chemistry didactic, other applications are the use of simulators to illustrate phenomena, explanatory videos or measuring applications [11,13]. Nevertheless, there are a wide variety of methodologies or projects that could be implemented by means of the ICT but there is no real place for them in most of the classrooms. Some of them are the use of projects to research about everyday phenomena by implementing the scientific method and the ICT [8] or the use of WebQuest to guide the student in long projects [14].

Nonetheless, COVID-19 confinement necessitated the change from in-person to online education, forcing the use of ICT and a total rupture with classic high school education.

#### *1.4. Ict Use and Didactic during Covid-19 Confinement*

The COVID-19 confinement led to a complete shift from face-to-face teaching to fully online education in Spanish high schools from 12 March 2020 until the end of the academic year (30 June 2020). Because of this situation, teachers had to adapt and transform their didactic in order to perform online teaching [15]. Some of the taken measures were the use of online environments, the creation of online content and the implementation of online evaluation. It supposed a situation of huge learning of ICT tools by the educators. Online platforms, such as Zoom or Classroom, were used in order to interact with students; new materials, such as infographics, podcasts or applications, were also implemented, as well as new activities [15].

Besides these, there was a need to adapt the methodologies that had been employed until then, since technology as the main educational resource had never been used before [16–18]. In terms of online education, active methodologies are considered as the ideal ones. In them, the students are mainly responsible of their learning and they are more autonomous. These methodologies include project-based learning or the flipped classroom [19,20].

Thus, COVID-19 confinement entailed a completely new teaching situation, shifting from in-person to online education. Because of that, new resources, applications as well as methodologies should have been used during this period. Still, it demands the question whether physics and chemistry teaching was really adapted or if the methodology changed during that period.

#### *1.5. Research Objectives*

COVID-19 confinement should have led to a complete adaptation of the teaching methodology as well as to the adoption of new ICT resources. Before the lockdown, most educators implemented the traditional methodology with a very limited use of ICT in their classes [1]. Nevertheless, in terms of online education, active methodologies are recommended, and the education process must be implemented by means of the ICT resources.

Hence, the aim of this article was to learn about the changes that the confinement situation led to in the teaching methodologies and in the ICT tools being employed for teaching. Moreover, it was of interest to study if these tools have remained in education with the return of face-to-face education.

In more detail, the specific objectives were:


Once the objectives were defined, the research technique was chosen as described in the methodology. For this purpose, an online survey was implemented and was answered by Physics and Chemistry teachers in some of the regions of Castile and Leon in Spain.

#### **2. Materials and Methods**

In this article, a social investigation was implemented. In order to achieve the research objectives, a self-administered online survey was designed and completed by secondary school Physics and Chemistry teachers in the regions of Salamanca, Avila and Zamora in Spain. This research technique was chosen so that the largest sample could be reached and to collect the maximum number of responses. Hence, for this purpose, first, the survey was created (Section 2.1), then, the data was collected by sending the survey access link to the teachers via email (Section 2.2), and last, the responses were analysed (Section 2.3). The phases of the whole research process are summarised in Figure 1.

#### *2.1. Questionnaire Development*

The questionnaire was designed based on the literature review and on the defined objectives. Some of the questions from the survey were directly extracted or adapted from similar questionnaires [4,11,21–25]. Besides this, the ICT tools, websites, platforms and so on, asked on the questionnaire were the ones that are used in the high schools based on the bibliography research.

The development of the questionnaire and the final drafting of the questions involved different stages of refinement and correction. First, the topics to be covered in the survey were determined. Then, the questions within each topic were drafted. Finally, the order of

each topic, and of the questions within it, in the questionnaire was decided. In the workflow of the questionnaire, which is depicted in Figure 2, the question grouping can be seen.

**Figure 1.** Phases of the research process. Abbreviations: DC, During Confinement; ICT, Information and Communication Technology.

The final structure of the questionnaire was as follows: firstly, socio-demographic variables (e.g., gender, age, years of teaching experience, professional category; size of the high school or province where the teacher worked, etc.) were included. Secondly, the questions related to the methodologies that the educators implemented were presented. Prior to this cluster, the methodologies were defined in order to ensure that all the respondents knew what each methodology implies. Thirdly, they were asked about the didactic experience during the confinement. This includes how the lessons had been implemented, what tools they had used, what modifications had been made and so on. Subsequently, questions related to changes in the use of ICTs—which ones they used and for what purpose—before, during and after confinement were included. Finally, respondents were given the opportunity to add additional comments on their experience during confinement. In contrast to the other, close-ended questions, this last question was drafted in an open-ended format.


**Figure 2.** Questionnaire workflow and grouping of the questions that was done. Abbreviations: AC, After Confinement; BC, Before Confinement.

Once that they were completely clear, the survey was created in Qualtrics application [26], where different question formats, filters and logical conditions were implemented. Besides this, two versions with different formats were generated to provide enhanced visualisation depending on the device being used to response, either mobile phone, tablet or laptop. The differences in the two versions of the questions (one for computers and the other for mobile phones) that were created in the Qualtrics software are displayed in Figure 3;

both the version prior to the adaptation and after are shown. Once the questionnaire had been designed and implemented in the application, a pilot study was conducted. In this pilot study, respondents were fellow students from the masters program that qualifies for Secondary Education teaching in Spain [27].


**Figure 3.** At the **top**, computer version of one question. At the **bottom**, mobile phone version of the same question: on the **left**, before adapting the questionnaire to the device; on the **right**, after adapting it to the device.

This pilot study allowed some questions to be revised and some response options to be completed. Hence, the average response time for the complete questionnaire was estimated to be 15 min, which was considered adequate. Once that the survey was completed and corrected, it was sent to the target population sample.

#### *2.2. Data Collection and Sample*

The final developed questionnaire was sent to high school Physics and Chemistry educators of the provinces of Ávila, Salamanca and Zamora (Spain) by electronic mail. It was also distributed to the high schools, asking for their collaboration in informing and requesting the responses of the teaching staff of that department. In addition, fellow students in the masters program were asked to send the questionnaire to their internship advisors and to other teachers, since they were doing their internships in high schools by that time. By doing so, it was aimed to reach the target population by several strategies in order to achieve a large sample.

Based on the Castile and Leon Resolution of 8 April 2021 [28], the estimated population of Physics and Chemistry teachers is 164 for the three provinces, counting private and public high schools. In order to answer the survey, some conditions were required: first, having been informed about their data being used only for the study; second, having

accepted the research conditions; and, third, being a Physics and Chemistry teacher in the provinces of Ávila, Salamanca and Zamora. Since the survey was completed by 78 teachers who accomplished the imposed conditions, and considering the population indicated in the aforementioned resolution [28], almost 50% of the total population was reached. However, not all teachers taught at all three points in time. Some people retired during this time and were replaced by others. It is not possible to calculate the achieved sample reliably as we have not been able to access a sample census that includes teachers who did teach at all three points in time.

#### *2.3. Data Analysis*

Data was registered in the Qualtrics platform. Afterwards, both the platform, with its reports tool, and Microsoft Excel were used to analyse the responses.

The conducted study of the results was mainly descriptive so as to inspect the changes in the methodology due to the confinement and its impact on the use of ICT.

#### **3. Results**

The results were clustered into four different categories: the first one referred to the population profile (Section 3.1); the second to the methodological changes implemented because of the confinement (Section 3.2); the third one about how the didactic was during confinement (Section 3.3); and the fourth one showing the evolution in the employed ICT tools and how they were used (Section 3.4).

#### *3.1. Sociodemographic Information*

There were in total 78 investigation respondents that continued until the end of the survey. Among them, most were women, accounting for 60.26%. In terms of age, only 6.41% were younger than 30 years old; 71.4% of the sample was older than 41 years, with the largest group of age being between 51 and 60 with 35.9% of the responses. Even if the sample was of advanced age, 25.32% accounted with less than 5 years in teaching. Hence, most of them started teaching after the age of 25.

A total of 58.23% of respondents taught in municipalities larger than 25,000 residents, so most of them worked in big areas rather than small villages. Then, 80.52% of the sample was employed by the public sector, with 69.35% having a permanent position. The centres accounted with 201 students or more in 74% of the cases; and in 62.47%, there were at least 401 students. Hence, the teachers taught in larger high schools. The most reduced class had less than 15 students for 61.54% of the respondents, and their largest class had between 16 and 25 students for 69.23%.

In terms of ICT media, most teachers (63.64%) taught in centres where there were 1 or 2 IT rooms, and 35.06% where there were 3 or more. Only in 1.30% of the centres were there no IT rooms. Besides this, in 71.9% of the cases all the classrooms had a projector and a computer; in 25.64% these were only available in some classrooms; and for 2.56% they did not have them available in the classrooms.

#### *3.2. Comparison of the Methodologies Employed before, during and after the Confinement*

The methodologies were compared in two different ways. Firstly, by asking the frequency in which they were used (never, little/low frequency or much frequency). Secondly, by the methodology that was employed the most during their lessons. In both cases, the question was posed for the three periods of time: before (BC), during (DC) and after confinement (AC). In Table the percentage of teachers and the frequency ("never" in the central column and "very frequently" in the right) at which they used each of the teaching methodologies is depicted for the three periods of time. This evolution can be observed graphically in Figure 4, which displays the percentage of teachers that "very frequently" employed each methodology before (BC), during (DC) and after (AC) the confinement, as well as in Figure 5, which shows the percentage of teachers who "never" used each methodology before (BC), during (DC) or after the confinement (AC).

For the first comparison, there was a significant change in the methodologies that were employed very frequently from before to during the confinement. More specifically, the traditional methodology passed from 90.4% of the teachers employing it very frequently (BC) to 47.2% (DC), as shown in Figure 4. The mobile learning methodology increased from 7.0% (BC) to 35.3% (DC) of the survey respondents that used it with much frequency before and during the lockdown. Moreover, the flipped classroom rose significantly from 1.4% (BC) to 33.8% (DC). The same observation can be made in terms of the methodologies that were never used before and during the confinement, since the percentage of respondents that never used the mobile learning and flipped classroom methodologies decreased from BC to DC.

**Figure 4.** Percentage of teachers that employed very frequently each methodology before, during and after the confinement.

The fact that these methodologies (mobile learning and flipped classroom) started to be used during confinement had an impact for the period afterwards, since it decreased the percentage of teachers that never employed them from 57.7% (BC) to 44.9% (AC), and from 71.4% (BC) to 63.2% (AC), respectively, as depicted in Figure 5.

In terms of the most used methodology, from before, during and after the confinement, there were also some changes, as detailed in Figure 6, similar to the aforementioned. Hence, before confinement, the most used methodology was the traditional (83.8% of respondents). Then, during confinement, this methodology decreased to 37.3% of the teachers using it predominantly, and others, such as mobile learning and flipped classroom, increased to 22.4% (DC) and 20.9% (DC) of educators using it the most. After the confinement, the implementation of the new methodologies decreased again to their original values, and the traditional one was again the most employed methodology with 86.8% of the responses.

#### *3.3. The Didactic of Physics and Chemistry during the Confinement and ICT Use*

A total of 98.55% of the respondents considered that they had adapted the methodology during the lockdown. Besides this, 71.69% stated that they had kept these changes afterwards.

**Figure 5.** Percentage of teachers that never employed each methodology before, during and after the confinement.

**Figure 6.** The most used methodologies before, during and after the confinement.

In Figure 7, some of the methodological changes that took place during confinement are shown, and presents if their implementation was decreased, increased or remained the same. Among the implemented changes, 56.72% increased the amount of student assignments, and 61.76% the student autonomous learning. Moreover, the use of virtual simulators and PowerPoint presentations increased for 65.67% and 64.71% of the respondents respectively. The participation of the students during classes was decreased for the case of 53.73% as

well as the number of exposition lessons by the teachers, for 42.65% of the educators. Still, there was 48.53% of them that kept the exposition as before confinement. The percentage of respondents that used the cooperative learning in the same proportion was 56.92%. All the detailed data can be found in Figure 7. Thus, the use of virtual simulators, PowerPoint presentations, autonomous learning and student assignments increased the most, and the participation of the students, the exposition lessons and the interaction with the students decreased the most.

**Figure 7.** Methodological changes that took place during confinement, either their use was decreased, increased, or remained the same.

In terms of the exposition lessons, they were performed with spoken explanations in a virtual platform by a majority, 43.48%. A total of 20.29% used PowerPoint or similar tools, 18.94% uploaded notes to the platform, 7.25% employed their own videos and the 4.35% used mostly the book.

In order to solve exercises and problems, most of them did them virtually live, accounting for 47.83%; next, 36.23% of the teachers uploaded the solutions to the platform so that the students could ask questions; lastly, 13.04% gave the exercises with no solutions, so the students asked about the ones they did not manage to solve.

#### *3.4. Evolution in ICT Tools Implementation before, during and after the Confinement and How They Were Used*

In terms of the implementation of ICT, there was an increase in their use for each of the methodologies after the confinement, as shown in Figure 8.

**Figure 8.** Number of teachers that used ICT for each methodology (from a total of 78 responses).

For this section, the respondents were asked to answer at which time period they had used any of the tools. These periods of time could be that they had implemented them before, during and/or after the confinement. Moreover, they could indicate if they had been using them for the three time periods: BC, DC and AC, as shown in Figure 9.

**Figure 9.** Percentage of teachers that employed these ICT tools before, after and during confinement (from a total of 78 responses).

The respondents had been using mostly Internet for students' research assignments, PowerPoint and virtual simulators, with more than 45% each. The least used were Genially, having their own blog, WebQuest and videoplatforms, as shown in Figure 9.

During quarantine, the largest differences in implementation were for the video platforms (almost 70% of the teachers), then the virtual education platform, the mobile phone and then WebQuests, with at least the 25% of the respondents starting to use them, as depicted in Figure 10. After confinement, the ones that continued to be implemented in the highest number were the video platforms, the virtual education platform and WebQuest. Their use continued after the lockdown but in lower proportion.

**Figure 10.** Percentage of teachers that employed the ICT tools at each time period: before, during or after confinement (from a total of 78 responses).

The simulators and websites that had been employed the most for the three time periods were Educacyl (Castile and Leon educational platform) [29], Educaplus [30] and Phet simulator [31] (both websites with educational simulators), with more than 30% of educators stating that they used these. During confinement, the most implemented website for new users was Educacyl (20% of the teachers), and most of them kept with it afterwards.

The most employed ICT resources during the whole period were the interactive resources and the YouTube videos, both with 55% of users. The least used was the Podcast. During confinement, 20% and 17% of respondents started using YouTube and the interactive resources, respectively, and most kept them afterwards.

In terms of the finality, the most common uses are depicted in Figure 11. It depicts the percentage of teachers and the purpose for which the ICT were used before, during and after confinement. Hence, the ICT had been used at all times to present the lessons by means of PowerPoint and use of online resources, with 46% of responses. The least voted purposes were creating materials and online activities.

**Figure 11.** Percentage of teachers and the purpose for which the ICT were used before, during and after confinement (from a total of 78 responses).

During confinement, ICT started to be used for new functionalities and many of them continued. In Figure 10, it can be seen the number of teachers and the purpose for which the ICT were used BC, DC or AC. Some of them were resolving questions, evaluating, using online resources and asking for assignments with at least 32% of responses there.

During lockdown, the main implemented tools for video conference were Microsoft Teams (74.63% of the respondents); followed by Meet, with 14.93%; Zoom and Skype. Currently, 75% of respondents continued using them after confinement. In order to communicate with students, Microsoft Teams was again the favourite platform, with 50.75% of educators using it during confinement; then Moodle and email, with 20.90% for each during confinement. Their use was kept by 91.18% of respondents afterwards. To upload or send materials to the students during confinement, 44.12% employed mainly Microsoft Teams; 20.59% Moodle; and 19.12% via email. The two latter applications had been used at all time periods to upload materials and to communicate with the students, accounting with more than 40% users among the respondents. However, during lockdown, these tools started to be implemented as well for evaluation, delivery of assignments and exercises, communication with the students and uploading materials, ranging from 51% to 30% of the respondents respectively for the DC period. Many of them continued to use these tools for these purposes upon the return to classrooms.

A total of 89.39% of the respondents consider that the lockdown had entailed that they implement more the ICT afterwards. In terms of the main learning during this period, 46.27% responded that they learned new resources and ICT tools; 22.39% new methodologies and didactic options; and 22.39% that they improved their abilities with the ICT.

Last, some respondents stated that because of confinement, the differences in ICT resources in the centres were visible, since, while in many centres they were totally instituted, in others had not almost been used. Moreover, remarkable differences were appreciated between the rural and the city centres. In terms of the main difficulties encountered, they mentioned the students' low implication and the great effort they had to make, which led to new learnings. Others responded insisting on the importance of in-classroom education.

#### **4. Discussion**

The present article has allowed to analyse the methodological changes in the Physics and Chemistry didactic that were implemented because of the COVID-19 confinement and the situation afterwards. Besides this, the implemented ICT tools and the use made of them has also been inspected for the time periods before, during and after the confinement. Hence, this paper has permitted to compare the didactic for the three periods of time, including the impact on the use of the ICT after the confinement. This contrasts with many of the previously conducted research, since, to the authors' knowledge, investigation has focused on the experiences before and during lockdown, but the didactic situation afterwards has not been specifically inspected [32–34]. In addition, the specific employed methodologies have been assessed. Thus, by means of this research the truthful impact of the quarantine in the Physics and Chemistry didactic can be evaluated with the return to face-to-face education.

Based on the questionnaire, most of the high schools reported to have good ICT equipment, with 71.74% of them having a computer and a projector in each classroom. The most employed methodology is the traditional one; even if its use decreased during the confinement situation, it was again implemented with the return to classes. As seen, the presence of ICT has not led to significant changes on the didactic and the traditional methodology is still the most employed, as already exposed by [5,8,9]. Moreover, as shown in Figure 8, the ICT were mainly implemented by this methodology. This also stays in line with the European Commission Survey of schools [1], as it was stated that the ICT were mainly used by this methodology for exposition, search purposes or the use of the virtual platform [9,11]. This is also confirmed by the findings made on this survey (Figure 10). In addition, for the didactic of the Physics and Chemistry subject, other common uses of the ICT were virtual simulators or explanatory videos [11,13], which were also very common uses according to this survey.

Nonetheless, during the lockdown, there were some significant changes for the implemented methodologies as well as the ICT tools and functionalities being used.

During the lockdown, methodologies such as the mobile learning and the flipped classroom were favoured, and they started to be used at this period. Although the frequency of use decreased after the lockdown, it has risen in comparison to the situation before lockdown, as depicted in Figure 5. Hence, during confinement, more active methodologies were employed (Figures 4 and 6). The increase of the active methodologies and autonomous learning shown in this study matches other studies performed in terms of the didactic during confinement [35,36]. The fact that the autonomous learning of the student was favoured during this period can also be observed in Figure 7. As shown in Figure 5, the Practical experiences and laboratory sessions were very much affected DC, since they were never employed at much higher rates than BC or AC. This stays in line with other studies, where it was seen that the amount of experiences decreased DC, but the impact afterwards was not evaluated [32]. Still, there are papers where the teachers' effort to continue with the practical experiences are visible and their implementation DC is described [33,37–39].

Only 56% of the respondents were familiar with all the mentioned methodologies, remarking that there is a large lack of awareness on new methodologies. On the other hand, 99% considered that they adapted their methodology during confinement and 71.72% has kept these changes. Besides this, the number of teachers that use the ICT for each methodology has increased from before to after, as depicted in Figure 8.

During confinement, the theoretical lessons were taught mostly by verbal explanations in a virtual platform, by PowerPoint or by uploading notes. In order to solve exercises, most of them either solved them live online or gave the solutions. Furthermore, the use of virtual simulators, PowerPoint presentation, the autonomous learning of the students and the number of assignments increased. The participation of the students and the interaction with the students decreased as well as the amount of exposition lessons (by 42.65% of respondents); however, there was a high percentage that kept them the same (48.53%) as depicted in Figure 7. These results agree with previous studies, where the video conference

or the individual activities with live corrections played a role during confinement [35,40–42]. There have been other studies where the role of computer simulators and PowerPoint presentations during lockdown has been shown [34,42,43] as in this study.

Because of quarantine, some of the ICT tools incorporated and whose use has continued afterwards were video-conference platforms, education portal, the mobile phone and WebQuest, as shown in Figure 9. In addition, some of the new purposes for which ICT were used during confinement and that have continued were PowerPoint presentations, website materials, answering questions, evaluation, and homework assignment as depicted in Figure 12. According to the present study, the most used platform was Microsoft Teams, followed by Moodle. In this aspect, in terms of the preferred platforms, there is a wider variety of results over literature. According to some papers, the most used platforms were Moodle or Google Classroom in Spain [43], with Google Classroom being favoured if they were public employees, while others claimed it to be Classroom and Meet in Spain [44,45], or Zoom and Google Classroom as the most mentioned platforms according to a COVID-19 paper review [46]. In terms of communication with the students, there are again more dissimilar results. For instance, in Castile and Leon, the preferred platforms were Teams (by 50.75%), followed by Moodle and email (with 20.90%). Nevertheless, according to other studies, email [35,47] or Meet [44] were the most widely used tools for communication.

**Figure 12.** Percentage of teachers and the purpose for which the ICT were used before, during or after confinement (from a total of 78 responses).

It is remarkable that 89% of the respondents considered that, due to confinement, they currently employed more frequently the ICT. This was also the case in other studies where it was stated that the teachers were planning to continue with the ICT use [32,44,48]. Moreover, all of them had some learning because of the lockdown, either related to the methodologies, the ICT tools and possibilities or their ICT abilities. Many of them remarked that they acquired big learnings because of this situation. As stated by [6,9–11], some of the causes of the low use of the ICT in the classes were the teachers' low formation in ICT tools and applications, in how to implement them, and that they were comfortable in the

methodologies they used. Hence, thanks to these new learnings, the situation might be reverted in the coming years as the importance of being formed and prepared for the ICT implementation has been proven. According to literature, during confinement it has been seen that the teachers lack knowledge on the ICT use [32], whereas, in another study [49], the teachers claimed to have a medium level of knowledge in ICT according to their own perception. Other papers have also noted the learning of the educators with regard to this situation, and they have pointed out the need of formation plans and training for them in these technologies [40,42,43,47,50].

Moreover, by means of the last open-ended question, the respondents pointed out the noticeable differences between centres, the urban and rural areas, the low implication of the students, and the great effort they made. These differences must also be tackled since the digital divide can have a great impact on the education of the students as shown by several studies [48,51,52]. Other concerns reflected by the respondents (such as the low implication of the students) have already proven to have impacted on the students' results according to conducted research [53–55], where it has been shown the lower performance levels (with a decrease in Maths or Physics and Chemistry) as well as the influence of excessive parental participation during confinement.

#### *Limitations and Future Work*

The main limitation of the current study is the fact that the sample that responded the questionnaire was not very large since they had to accomplish the conditions that they had been teaching Physics and Chemistry before, during and after the confinement in specific provinces of Castile and Leon. Hence, they had to have been active for a period of time and to continue working by the time they responded. Consequently, only a descriptive analysis of the data collected has been carried out.

Future lines of work should include the extension of the study population and, therefore, of the sample. It could also be convenient to incorporate all the provinces of the selected Autonomous Community or even implement a nationwide study. Furthermore, it would be appropriate to carry out a bi-variate analyses that would allow to determine, for example, whether the location of the workplace in rural areas influences the implementation of ICT tools or not.

On the other hand, based on this and other analyses, recommendations could be made to improve the training of educators in ICT and methodologies. This could also be of special interest to the universities teaching the masters program that qualifies for Secondary Education teaching in Spain and that aims to adequately prepare students and future educators. In this aspect, there have already been papers making recommendations about how to evaluate, virtualise the lessons, train the teachers in ICT, or other pedagogical suggestions [50].

#### **5. Conclusions**

In conclusion, this study has allowed to inspect the changes that the confinement has supposed in the Physics and Chemistry methodology as well as in the ICT use and in the purpose for which they were employed. Moreover, how the lessons were implemented during the quarantine has been evaluated. Based on the results, recommendations and measures could be proposed for future situations. Thus, it has been concluded that, during the lockdown, the traditional methodology was less employed while others, such as the mobile learning and flipped classroom methodologies, were implemented more frequently. With the return to the classrooms, the traditional methodology increased again and, even if the implementation of the introduced methodologies decreased, it has increased in comparison to the initial situation. In terms of the ICT tools, it must be outlined the importance of the virtual platforms and education websites during and after lockdown, being Microsoft Teams the most widely used. Moreover, the ICT were applied for new purposes (such as evaluation). All the survey respondents considered that they had

acquired some knowledge and 89% stated that they had increased their use of the ICT due to the lockdown situation.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, E.J.S.; methodology, E.J.S. and E.M.-L.; project administration, M.J.S.S.; formal analysis, E.J.S.; data curation, E.J.S., E.M.-L. and M.J.S.S.; writing—original draft preparation, E.J.S.; writing—review and editing, E.J.S., E.M.-L. and M.J.S.S.; supervision, E.M.-L. and M.J.S.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received funding from Universidad de Salamanca and the Applied Physics Department of Universidad de Salamanca.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data will be available in: https://gredos.usal.es/handle/10366/ 139417 (accessed on 11 May 2022).

**Acknowledgments:** This research would have not been possible without the contribution of the 78 teachers of Physics and Chemistry in the provinces of Ávila, Salamanca and Zamora (Spain) who completed the survey.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **Abbreviations**

The following abbreviations are used in this manuscript:


#### **References**


**Sálvora Feliz 1, María-Carmen Ricoy 2,\*, Juan-Andrés Buedo <sup>1</sup> and Tiberio Feliz-Murias <sup>3</sup>**

	- 28040 Madrid, Spain; tfeliz@edu.uned.es

**Abstract:** The objective of this study is two-fold. Firstly, to analyse and discover the ability of HE students to use the physical home context for e-learning via ICT during the new normal; and secondly, to ascertain the underlying patterns of the adequacy of such domestic spaces. The authors offer a multidisciplinary approach combining pedagogic, architectural backgrounds with considerable experience in didactics, organization management of education, and ICT applied to education. A qualitative, arts-based research methodology that analyses photographs was used. A total of 220 domestic work environment photographs sent by higher education students were analysed. Results and conclusions show that students are able to attend virtual classrooms in a domestic atmosphere. Bedrooms and studies are usually the most-used spaces. Laptops and smartphones are the most frequent central hubs of student learning sessions. Students use other training resources (desktop computers, tablets, etc.) to supplement the most common digital devices. An intense relationship is observed between Space (bedroom and other rooms) and the Sofa and Beds variables, while a moderate one is observed between Age and Care items. The relationship between other variables is weak or non-existent.

**Keywords:** higher education; digital technologies; online learning; distributed learning environments; media in education; domestic space

#### **1. Introduction**

The evolution of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) impacted on methods and techniques used in the higher education (HE) teaching [1]. Some of these strategies are supported on the Internet, as synchronous or asynchronous communication. Synchronous means use real-time connections for direct interactions with other members such as students, teachers, or other professionals. Examples of synchronous means are the phone, chat, or web-conference. Asynchronous means allow a delay between participant interactions. Examples of asynchronous means are mail, a forum, or social media. In these cases, the utterers could be connected at different times, and they do not need real-time connections. At this moment, there is a clear growth of synchronous means related to immediacy and mass media, and some chat tools are very popular, especially WhatsApp [2]. Transferring this tendency to HE didactics, web-conference tools are also becoming more and more popular, for different reasons. One of them was the confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that university responses to this problem would not have been the same two decades earlier. Most persons were caught off guard in terms of reinventing their living space and converting home into a new classroom. Many activities, jobs, and businesses were converted to telecommuting. Thus, HE students and teachers faced an important challenge of using home space and their own technological resources. Students were forced to carve an area within the home for e-learning. This

**Citation:** Feliz, S.; Ricoy, M.-C.; Buedo, J.-A.; Feliz-Murias, T. Students' E-Learning Domestic Space in Higher Education in the New Normal. *Sustainability* **2022**, *14*, 7787. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137787

Academic Editors: Zubair Ahmad and Noora J. Al-Thani

Received: 16 May 2022 Accepted: 20 June 2022 Published: 26 June 2022

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

situation resembles what was already pointed out at the creation of learning environments, understood as symbolic inhabited spaces where people protect themselves, train, evolve, and manufacture their identity [3]. Living in society is akin to living in relationship spaces, and their analysis can throw more light on human life than the one obtained either through individual consideration, or through the diverse positions assigned to it by science and metaphysics [4].

Generally speaking, actions taken by students also converge when they take on different challenges to facilitate ubiquitous learning [5,6]. Domestic life accompanies each person throughout his or her journey, and forms his or her inner construct and understanding of private relationships. People's aspirations about their home space may be conditioned by images they receive through the media, social media, or their digital device screens. The visibility of intimate environments generated a very direct perception of reality because domestic spaces were highly exposed. It is during this time, more than ever before, that students learned about the private environments of their peers and teachers, and possibly expanded their understanding of the lives of such people.

Web-conferences, web meetings, and web tutorials open your own home to partners, colleagues, and students. Living in this reality demands a previously non-existent domestic and pedagogical framework. Many meetings, classrooms, tutorials, conferences, etc., changed to virtual environments, both in face-to-face education and in distance education. People's daily lives, and that of students in particular, changed dramatically. Movement restrictions, social distancing, and forced migration of work and learning spaces into the domestic sphere meant a radical transformation. This led to changes not only in habitat management, but also in public areas for interaction and coexistence. Private spaces were made public. The possible difficulties generated by these new physical variables were appeased by using ICT. Therefore, formal and informal meetings today do not take place exclusively within a conventional physical framework, but are often reduced to virtual meetings, where multiple screens are the protagonists.

#### *1.1. New Learning Spaces and ICT*

The diverse digital communication platforms and multiple learning environments were already typical in the various forms of distance education, and accelerated the construction of the usual teaching–learning structures during confinement. This unexpected situation forced many HE institutions into a largely unplanned distance education process [7,8]; organizational factors contribute to the successful implementation of emergency remote teaching, and individual factors are also relevant. Moreover, the resultant crisis requires utilisation, not only of new methodologies and resources, but also of the characteristics of a new workplace, which is probably less suitable for training HE students than physical classrooms [9].

Digital tools were already generating greater citizenry participation, and of HE students both inside and outside the classroom. Nevertheless, training with digital resources and innovative methodologies still needs continued and systematic support, in order to expand the arising educational changes in the home environment. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) themselves include digital competence as a key aspect in the 2030 Agenda. In addition, the implementation of digital transformation plans at the mesolevel will ensure the sustainability of organizations and jobs in the new normal [10]. Digital devices, the Internet, and e-learning platforms are essential to the learning, communication, and expression of university students. All of this not only meant a change in the way we perceive and use our homes, but also new mental and relational constructions between the home environment and that of the classroom group.

The regulatory principles of distance education include student responsibility for selfstudy through the use of digital tools, self-assessment, and hetero-evaluation (primarily a teacher competence), opportunities for interaction, collaborative work, and diversification of learning tools [11,12]. This transformation led to a rapid and unavoidable transition

from face-to-face to e-learning, or to hybrid modalities in HE students and, in general, profoundly transformed everyday life [13,14].

The outstanding role played by the home and digitalization during teleworking and live virtual activities confers greater significance on intimate space and items owned for personal learning. However, the individual and group domains are mixed in virtual classes, due to constant sharing of the physical environment. This situation leads to peculiar interactions where home and academic life develop from multiple foci. All HE students were subjected to intensive use and overexposure to ICT during these activities. Nonetheless, the use of digital tools can improve academic learning, through increased student involvement in their education [15,16]. Moreover, students that use mobile devices and digital tools for learning gain higher levels of digital literacy and training than those who use traditional resources [17].

The way students face classes in this new reality generates multiple micro-situations and narratives that embody a new image of the classroom and the learning process. The threshold of the physical classroom was definitively crossed, and the private and public lives of students and teachers are now intertwined. The virtual class contains personal elements at home that are displayed on computer screens. Hence, students lose home privacy during training when they share their surrounding space through webcams with other users.

Digital learning environments in the domestic context can be termed as local cosmologies, and interpreted as systems that represent and redefine personal and collective identities [18]. Now, more than ever, students reinvented their academic space within their homes, which can be analysed through the specific weight of the items therein. Exposure through digital devices reveals the most intimate home environment, which can be equated to that of television, defined as a medium that is not only optical or acoustic, but also tactile, i.e., equipped with a texture that confers new meaning to reading screen content [19].

The unavoidable use of ICT as a means of meeting educational needs and shortfalls in face-to-face teaching is an atypical reality, from which we could draw ideas to implement new educational methodologies. In fact, changes in teaching methodologies are transforming dominant models through new knowledge access mechanisms that develop globalised learning and social relations [20,21]. Academic activities carried out beyond specific spaces preconceived for that purpose can generate new links with knowledge. In this regard, ICT resources are an essential component for accessing information and learning [22]. Governments now support the improvement of digital literacy and high digital skills in student training, so that citizens can achieve greater economic, environmental, and social development [23].

Digital tools managed to dilute boundaries between the domestic and academic spheres. The construction of communities that process and share information through the Internet is a reality, which, in turn, boosts the development of a network-based university education [24]. Moreover, digital screens can provide equal access to education, and generate a more inclusive, democratic, and fair reality. Hence, teachers should use methodological strategies that offer new opportunities to generate and share learning, and reinforce students' interest in improving performance and make a positive impact [25]. The inclusion of ICT resources in the classroom generally improves student engagement, motivation, and attention, and, furthermore, enhances the development of ubiquitous learning.

HE is now characterized by the juxtaposition of learning spaces, which combine faceto-face and remote modalities. The interaction of local household cosmologies generates a common topology, pedagogical dynamics in which personal items build a joint virtual– educational environment. This collective scenario neutralises the relationship between space and the educational intention because screens homogenise all such projections against the one backdrop. In the physical classroom, teaching is usually conducted through a singlefocal point, wherein eyes are directed towards the teacher, a screen, or the blackboard. However, the virtual classroom represents a multi-focal and flexible pedagogical space

where attendees participate sequentially, and perform autonomous inquiry using digital tools and more innovative practices.

#### *1.2. Current Study*

Several studies have already been carried out on ICT e-learning in HE students from different countries during this exceptional COVID-19 period [26,27]. However, this is a singular article starting from a different point of view; a multidisciplinary approach combining pedagogic, architectural backgrounds. To date, there is only one exploratory study about this topic with preliminary results [28]. Living in this new COVID-19 pandemic reality demanded a previously non-existent domestic and pedagogical framework.

The objective of this study is two-fold: firstly, to analyse and discover the ability of HE students to appropriate to their physical home context for training–learning via ICT, and, secondly, to ascertain the underlying patterns of the adequacy of such domestic spaces. The study was guided by the following research questions (RQs):

RQ1: What are the elements found in the physical learning space of HE students in their homes? RQ2: Which rooms are used by students for e-learning?

RQ3: What are the features of the rooms based on the academic components they contain? RQ4: What are the spatial relationships between the home and the digital screens used?

RQ5: What are the screen backgrounds used by students during online training connections? RQ6: What is the relationship between the analysed variables?

#### **2. Materials and Methods**

This study involved analysis of photographs, and essentially followed a qualitative methodology framed within Arts-Based Research (ABR). ABR is quite useful as a data collection and analysis technique in education since it facilitates research into the context surrounding student practices [29]. This type of research avails of tools to analyse the situation under study, and offers a scientific and intuitive view of reality. The value of studying photographs in the present research through ABR lies in the possibility of collecting and capturing evidence of home use by HE students during e-learning.

#### *2.1. Sample and Data Collection*

This research was carried out at the Higher Technical School of Architecture, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain). The University offers undergraduate, master's, and PhD studies in architecture through specialised departments, which, similar to its staff members, enjoy a certain level of autonomy. The Foundations of Architecture, where this research was carried out, is a five year degree program. The fieldwork study was performed with the participation of 31 third year students (20 females and 11 males), 6 fourth year students (2 females and 4 males), and 23 fifth year students (16 females and 7 males).

To facilitate information collection for the study, one teaching staff member and author of this article sent emails to students from the Foundations of Architecture degree program at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), and published this call for participation on Instagram. Emails requested photographs from the aforementioned HE students, asking them to send photographs of themselves taken in the domestic learning environment, which they had shared on their digital screens; students sent their photographs. A stratified sample was used, inviting students from the five undergraduate courses. Participation was voluntary, and, perhaps due to their lack of maturity and commitment, the first and second year students did not send any photographs; this was the reason for not including them. However, voluntary participation is preferable to compulsory participation. The absence of associations between the student's levels and other variables does not allow the idea that the participation of first and second level students would change the results obtained.

In qualitative research, the sample is traditionally justified on the saturation point [30]. We analysed the occurrence of new subcodes in groups of six environments during the analysis while controlling internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha (Figure 1) [31]. It is

observed how, starting from the 42 photographs analysed, having reached 68 subcodes out of a total of 73, a consistency higher than 0.80 is achieved and maintained from that point on. This point could be considered the saturation point; starting from this point, further analysis are confirmatory.

**Figure 1.** Analysis of new subcodes and Cronbach's alpha during coding new environments. Note. This is a dual scale graph. The blue bars indicate the new subcodes registered during the analysis of environments grouped six by six (left scale), while the green line reflects the evolution of internal consistency through Cronbach's alpha (right scale).

HE students that collaborated in this research provided a set of photographs that reflected their domestic learning environment. To visualize the entire room on a 360◦ basis, each student sent 4 photographs, one of each wall, or 2 × 180◦ panoramic photographs. A total of 50 students sent 4 photographs, and 10 students sent 2 photographs × 180◦. The study sample consisted of 220 photographs provided by 60 students.

#### *2.2. Data Analysis*

The information collected was subject to content analysis using the AQUAD (version 7), and Excel (for performance of content and contingency analysis). The analysis categories were linked to the respective research questions [32]. The different categories were extracted by an inductive process from the photographic content analysed, and the absolute frequency of coding was computed to detect preponderance or absence. Code frequency is commonly used in content analysis [33], and can be completed with other calculations or analysis strategies.

The following content analysis order was used to construct the analysis categories: detailed identification of the items that make up the new academic spaces of HE students at home; determination of the physical variables that influence digital device screen location inside the home; and characterization of the rooms at home. Information was analysed from an individual and group perspective, for which researchers met from time to time to discuss coding. In the final stage, the researchers shared and discussed all results, and reached agreement whenever slight discrepancies occurred. Credibility of results was strengthened by maintaining balanced independence among researchers [34].

Excel was also used to study any possible associations between variables to ascertain their relationships. Cross-checks were performed not only between the profile variables (gender and age), the identified content analysis element categories, and use of HE students in the domestic sphere for e-learning with ICT, but also between the content variables themselves. To this end, a contingency analysis was applied, to obtain own statistics. Values from the contingency tables were used to calculate the expected ones, chi-square (χ2), *p*-value, and Cramér's V, which determines the intensity of association between the different variables (for a 95% confidence level, α = 0.05). The independent variables were grouped into balanced dichotomous categories whenever there were three or more categories, to perform analyses, gain robustness, and, thus, strengthen contrast and concentrate values. The following Cramér's V values were used to interpret the degree of association between variables [35]: 0–0.19 (very low); 0.20–0.39 (low); 0.40–0.69 (moderate); 0.70–0.89 (high); 0.90–1 (very high).

#### **3. Results**

The results of this study are grouped in sub-sections, to match the study objectives and research questions.

#### *3.1. Everyday Household Items Used by Students (RQ1)*

The analysis provides codes and subcodes categorising the elements used by students for e-learning, and to establish order relations that define the patterns that shape these local cosmologies (Table 1). The five standard elements found in all home study environments are doors, windows, radiators, ceiling lamps, and cell phones. Less common elements (≤5%) include floor-to-ceiling carpentry, sofa beds, low tables, side tables, dining tables, bookcase cum TV cabinet, clocks, and baby cots.

**Table 1.** Elements used by students for learning in the domestic scenario.



Note. Every code identifies a type of element that is described by several elements identified by a subcode. The percentages are calculated with respect to all 60 environments analysed.

Among the variety of items found in the rooms at home, those worth highlighting are laptops (98%); decorative wall paintings (85%); books (80%); desk tables (72%); office chairs (57%); and wall shelves (55%). The presence of the laptop against the desktop computer (8%) is striking.

The usual work accessories are books (80%), pencil cases (73%), pencil containers (72%), and calendars (40%). The home environment of these students also contains leisure and personal care items, such as floor exercise machines (18%), televisions (12%), pets (10%), and baby cots (2%). Some have built-in tables and beds (20%), indicating that the bedroom is dual purpose: rest and work; and ergonomic chairs (22%), designed to spend hours in front of computer screens, revealing that the activities require many hours.

#### *3.2. Rooms Used to Study in the Domestic Scenario and Their Transformation (RQ2, RQ3)*

The analysis shows a variety of rooms that HE students use to interact with digital screens in their home learning sessions. Room characteristics were extracted from the data, and help us identify their type from the items they contain. The results further indicate whether the initial purpose is domestic or academic use. HE students use the following rooms to connect digitally for training:

Bedroom (59%), of which 61% have an average area of between 10 and 15 m2; Study (25%), of which 53% have an average area of between 10 and 15 m2; Living room (6%), of which 50% have an average area of between 15 and 20 m2; Kitchen (2%), very rarely.

Analytical sub-atlases specific to each environment were developed, based on the graphic representation of the four domestic spaces, to depict the different academic items found there. Various items are found to be used purely for academic purposes within homes. This is the case of desk lamps, desk tables, shelf–table units, ergonomic chairs, bookshelves, cell phones, laptops, additional screens, printers, scanner, desktops, books, pencil cases, pencil containers, calendars, and filing cabinets. The room with the most items related to academic tasks is the study (64%), which is followed by the bedroom (52%), and the rooms with the least transformation possibility are the living room (33%) and the kitchen (31%), since they have few items destined for work. As well, the academic items used by students, for example in bedrooms and studios at home, could be compared (Figure 2).

**Figure 2.** Academic items used by students in bedrooms and studios at home. Note. The percentages are calculated with respect to all 60 environments analysed.

*3.3. Spatial Relationship of Digital Screens in the Home and Backgrounds Seen during Connections (RQ4, RQ5)*

Results are depicted as drawings of the room types used by students. They show the spatial relationships between the essential architectural elements (such as windows and doors), the digital device screens used, and the screen backgrounds used during online learning connections.

The position of the digital device with integrated camera (broadcast source) is either located on one side, in front of, or behind the door; while the position of the device, with respect to the natural light source, windows, is either at the side (laterally), behind, in front, or in the zenith position (Figure 3).

**Figure 3.** Relationship between the architectural elements and the broadcasting source (screen). Note. The percentages are calculated with respect to all 60 environments analysed.

The broadcasting device of most students is placed behind the door (53%), although a sizeable number also place it laterally (38%). With respect to the window, the device is mostly placed laterally (50%), although a sizeable number also place the device in front of the window (42%). Placement in a location at the back (5%) and in the zenith position (3%) occurs rarely.

The backgrounds exhibited by students in their online connections with camera have two variables. The first is related to the colour of the background wall (white or other colours). The second relates to items that are viewed as a backdrop, which can be: neutral or empty; have minimum décor; or display a number of items, thereby providing a wealth of information about users. The physical background shared in digital connections is mainly white (52%), but in other cases, it contains other colours or prints (48%). The elements found in most rooms comprise a complex backdrop of items (43%), but other environments show an empty or neutral background (40%). Some backgrounds (17%) have decorative elements.

#### *3.4. Associations between Variables (RQ6)*

The relationships between the different variables were analysed, and, depending on the Cramér's V results obtained, the interactions are presented as high (0.70–0.89), moderate (0.40–0.69), or low (0.20–0.39).

The highest association is seen between the variables Content, Space (bedroom and others), and Sofas and beds (sofa, sofa bed, bed) which give a χ<sup>2</sup> = 29.1275 and *p* = 0, with a Cramér's V = 0.87551. On the other hand, one moderate and two low associations are also detected. A moderate association is seen between the profile variable Age (<23 years and >22 years) and presence of Personal care items (Cramér's V = 0.41667), while two low associations with values 0.34331 and 0.32604 respectively, are observed in the profile variables. These low relationships are seen between variables Age and Access to room (lateral, in front, or behind), and between Gender (female and male) and Storage unit (wall shelves, shelves, bookcase cum TV cabinet, sideboard or chest of drawers, closet, built-in closet).

Moderate association in the content variables is seen between Space (bedroom and others) and Tables (desk table, built-in table and bed, shelf–table unit, low table, side table, dining table), and between Sofas and beds (sofa, sofa bed, bed) and presence of Storage units (wall shelf, shelf, bookcase cum TV cabinet, sideboard or chest of drawers, closet, built-in closet). Another moderate association is seen between Access to room (lateral and others) and the presence of Tables (desk table, built-in table and bed, shelf–table unit, low table, side table, dining table), Sofas and beds (sofa, sofa bed, bed), and the Light source (in relation to screen position: lateral, frontal, back, and zenith). Colour (white and others) is associated with the type of workspace (bedroom, study, living room, kitchen), with Tables (desk table, built-in table and bed, shelf–table unit, low table, side table, dining table), and with the presence of care items (baby cots, pets). There is some association between Area (up to 10 m<sup>2</sup> and > 10 m2) and the presence of Personal care items (baby cots, pets) (Table 2).

**Table 2.** Moderate associations between content variables.


Legend. Chi-square (χ2), *p*-value, and Cramér's V, which determines the intensity of association between the different variables (for a 95% confidence level, α = 0.05).

A low association is seen between the Natural light source (lateral and others) and the presence of Tables (desk table, built-in table and bed, shelf–table unit, low table, side table, dining table). The Background (neutral–empty and other) is associated with the Natural light source (lateral, frontal, back, zenith), and with presence of Sofas and beds (sofa, sofa bed, bed). Colour (white and others) is associated with three variables: Leisure facilities (music equipment, floor exercise machines, television, musical instrument, fitness equipment); relationship with Access to room (lateral, frontal, back); and with the presence of Sofas and beds (sofa, sofa bed, bed). Lastly, also notable is the presence of three other associations between Access to room (lateral and others) and Space (bedroom, studio, living room, kitchen), the estimated Area (5–10 m2, 10–15 m2, 15–20 m2, >20 m2), and Storage unit (wall shelf, shelf, bookcase cum TV cabinet, sideboard or chest of drawers, closet, built-in closet) (Table 3).

**Table 3.** Low associations between content variables.


Legend. Chi-square (χ2), *p*-value, and Cramér's V, which determines the intensity of association between the different variables (for a 95% confidence level, α = 0.05).

As the first whole example of analysis, we present the gender analysis (Table 4). This variable does not show relationships with any other except the Storage Units (Library shelf, Shelf, Living room furniture, Chest of drawers, Wardrobe cabinet). In this case, we find a low association, with a *p*-value of 0.02805 and Cramer's V of 0.32604. In other cases, *p*-values are greater than 0.05000, and Cramer's V is less than 0.30000.


**Table 4.** Associations between student's gender and other variables.

Legend. Chi-square (χ2), *p*-value, and Cramér's V, which determines the intensity of association between the different variables (for a 95% confidence level, α = 0.05).

The second example is about the students' level (Table 5). Only a low significant relationship is found between the Screen and room access, and the level of students with a *p*-value of 0.02914 and Cramer's V of 0.34331. According to only the Cramer's V, we also found a moderate relationship with Care items (0.41667). In other cases, there are no associations. There were no answers from students of level 1 and 2. However, no data suggests that the results would change, at least in the descriptive and qualitative dimension.

**Table 5.** Associations between student's level and other variables.


Legend. Chi-square (χ2), *p*-value, and Cramér's V, which determines the intensity of association between the different variables (for a 95% confidence level, α = 0.05).

#### **4. Discussion**

This study shows that the elements surrounding HE students in the physical space at home during ICT-mediated e-learning can be grouped into different types. In this sense, many household items are detected in spaces used for academic purposes. Among digital devices, worth mentioning are laptops and cell phones, whose proportion is higher than any other item, allowing for greater flexibility, and showing complementarity between the different devices, clearly reflected by the presence of multiple screens. The desktop seems to be a technological device that supplements the two most commonly used devices (cell phone and laptop). This preponderance of mobile devices in education reinforces the characterisation already seen among citizens. Moreover, the main advantages of digital mobile devices lie in the possibilities they offer for communication, interactions, ubiquitous learning, and information management in general [36,37].

The new HE context forced a reversal of the classic classroom structures, and conferred relevance to homes and digital devices. A possible adaptation of items present in the respective rooms to a pedagogical environment is also seen, based on the symbolic and functional distribution of items within the environments analysed. More than ever, students use household items for their educational purposes. This implies a topological, rather than a distributive, spatial organization.

The most frequently observed scenarios are bedroom, study, living room, and kitchen; nevertheless the most common is the bedroom and, due to its functionality, the study is the room with the highest possibility for affinity to e-learning space and use of ICT. This reaffirms the suitability of this domestic space for training HE students. The daily life of university students is marked to a great extent by the relationship between the home items and possibility to alter the use of space, i.e., space-reconfiguring possibilities. Some studies report that spatial changes and the emotional state of HE students do not affect their academic performance, but they do affect the incorporation of innovative tools, such as ICT, used for learning [38].

At home, students often place the digital device cameras to face the access door; but its position with respect to the window is mainly lateral or at the back of the device, to avoid light reflection during sessions. Insofar as the items identified in the spaces analysed are concerned, the environment is intentionally customized by students, to reflect a generally neutral environment during learning sessions. In general, students avoid transmitting excessive private information.

This new pedagogical reality within the domestic scenario, and its relationship with the home elements, characterise the configuration of new classrooms, highlighted by the atypical use of home space and interaction through digital screens. The effort put in by HE students to resolve online learning requirements embodies the educational response to connect to innovative tendencies, and to ensure continuity of training, despite the prevailing deficiencies in knowledge, pedagogical techniques, and resources [39]. Moreover, an essential function of education is to promote student use of digital technology, to benefit from the changing environment [40].

This study shows that the space in which we live can be used to a new hybrid domestic– academic reality. However, this appropriation for virtual education is a besieged reality, in which screens and hyper-connectivity have also become the main protagonists. The virtual means confirms the great versatility offered by homes for space use, as well as the need to create versatile spaces for the different activities carried out in the home. Therefore, digital infrastructure, fast Internet connection, and institutional and educational support are the essential requisites at all educational levels [28,41].

Of the associations detected between the variables analysed, worth highlighting is the interaction between the variables Space and Tables, which can be considered as a confirmatory relationship, because the type of room somehow determines the furniture in it. The study shows that students have a good knowledge of space, which helps them to transform the physical environment easily and in a particular way [42]. In other cases, and in line with our expectations, a moderate association is seen between the variable Age and the presence of Personal care items. Some moderate associations are seen in Access to the room (lateral and other), presence of several types of Tables, sofas (among other items), and the Natural light source (in relation to location of the digital device). The latter association shows that there is complementarity between the Natural light source and Access to the room. On the other hand, the position of the Natural light source is related to the presence of Tables, which is consistent with the technical recommendations regarding light source and work area. In fact, daylight is an essential element in studying [43].

Room colour is associated with the presence of Personal care items, tables, and room type. This association attributes white colour to rooms other than bedrooms, such as the living room or the study, which is somewhat confirmatory, because users often prefer warmer colours in intimate spaces. On the other hand, it should be noted that Space is associated with the presence of Storage furniture and Tables, which is likewise coherent. Moreover, it should be noted that daily home activities such as sitting, watching TV, or working on the computer are common routines and users appropriate space and furniture to avoid body stress [44].

Lastly, this research detects weak associations between the profile variables Gender and Age, as well as between Storage furniture and room access variables. One study finds differences in time spent on household activities by gender [45], which may explain differences in the spatial organization of environments, since cultural issues and habits rooted in society can influence.

#### **5. Conclusions**

The most common items seen in virtual classes are parts and elements of their homes, and laptops and cell phones are the most used devices, indicating that students are prepared to easily move their workspace. Four scenarios in student homes were identified for training (bedroom, study, living room, and kitchen), highlighting the occurrence of the bedrooms and the functionality of the study for attendance to e-learning sessions and use of ICT.

Students intentionally customize the environment to reflect a generally neutral environment during learning sessions, avoiding transmitting too many private data. The digital device cameras often face the access door, at a mainly lateral or back position with respect to the window, to avoid light reflection during sessions. The screen backgrounds used by students during online training connections confirm the great versatility offered by homes for space use, and attendance for the different activities carried out in the home. The absence of clear patterns reflects the great versatility of homes and uses. Most frequent associations are only confirming logical relationships.

#### **6. Limitations and Prospects**

It should be noted that this study was carried out on a small sample within the context of the Foundations of Architecture HE degree program, and hence, one would expect the participating students to not only have a sound awareness of the importance of spatial order, but also better strategies, as compared to other students, when transforming home space into an academic environment. Moreover, the user profile in this study is more concerned about design, and, hence, conclusions drawn may not be directly transferable to other profiles.

On the other hand, a bigger sample would help ascertain whether the moderately stable associations observed between the analysed variables are reaffirmed or increase. New studies are needed to confirm the low intensity associations between the different profile variables.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, S.F. and M.-C.R.; data curation, S.F. and J.-A.B.; methodology, M.-C.R. and T.F.-M.; formal analysis, S.F., M.-C.R., J.-A.B. and T.F.-M.; investigation, S.F., M.-C.R. and T.F.-M.; project administration, S.F.; resources S.F., M.-C.R., J.-A.B. and T.F.-M.; software S.F., J.-A.B. and T.F.-M.; validation, M.-C.R. and T.F.-M.; writing—original draft preparation, S.F. and J.-A.B.; supervision, M.-C.R. and T.F.-M.; visualization, S.F., M.-C.R., J.-A.B. and T.F.-M.; Writing– review and editing, M.-C.R. and T.F.-M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data presented in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors thank the students and colleagues who participated in the research for their collaboration and good practices.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**

