Introduction

COVID-19 is an acute respiratory disease caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The disease emerged in Wuhan, China in early December 2019 and spread rapidly worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed the disease as pandemic on March 11, 2020 (^{World Health Organization, 2020}).

Worldwide, this pandemic made countries take measures such as lockdown, quarantine, and social distancing to avoid uncontrolled spreading, affecting different aspects of human behavior, including communication, personal interaction, and daily activities. In the educational aspect, face-to-face activities migrated to a remote dynamic, suddenly, forcing educators to reflect on the impact that this will have on the teaching-learning process of students and the repercussions on the development of soft skills that are generated through formal education.

Higher education institutions had to migrate to a remote dynamic, adopting online learning models and virtual environments in the middle of the spring term. UNESCO estimated as of April 20, that the temporary closure of schools affected 91.3% of the world's student population (around 1,500 million students) (^{United Nations Educational Organization, 2020}). Among the strategies proposed to complete the lessons, there were asynchronous classes where students can develop activities at their own pace, and synchronous classes, in which interaction can be direct between the teacher and the groupmates at a specific time, mimicking a classroom environment.

In the case of Universidad La Salle Mexico, its infrastructure, including communication platforms, learning management tools, and learning content management, allowed the academic community an easier adaptation despite the technical problems they could face at their homes. Teachers continued the accompanying and monitoring of their students, promoting their self-motivation and self-learning-management, always inspired by the university’s educational model, which is based on the socio-cognitive paradigm. This means that the person learns as result of their interaction with others (^{Universidad La Salle Mexico, 2013}).

One of the biggest concerns in the academic field, is the impact, as result of this pandemic, on the teaching-learning process of students, and the development of soft skills, which are believed to be generated through formal education. Recent works affirm that a virtual environment can be even better than a traditional environment, however, it depends on a good planning and the personal disposition of the actors. ^{De Luca, M.P. (2020)} proposes that through virtual environments there can exist a pedagogical continuity. She implies that one of the faced paradigms is the deconstruction and reconstruction of the language. The learning experience must not be the same, but it can be good on its own dimension. In the same line, ^{Crisol-Moya, E. et. al. (2020)} describes the virtual education as an “education for everyone”, which leads to another perspective: besides the traditional skills acquired in traditional education, students are faced to a multicultural, multidisciplinary environment that can be even richer. In terms of soft skills, ^{Myers, t. et. al (2014)} report a case of study where students successfully develop communication soft skills in an online learning environment. Techniques such as immediate peer-feedback, and process-oriented guided teamwork give the students practice in these skills and motivation. Finally, ^{Silva-Quiroz, J. (2010)} comments that for an online course to be successful, the tutor must acquire the role of guide and mediator instead of a one direction mentor.

Another great concern is the personal psychological aspect. A confinement situation may lead to higher levels of stress and other psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety. According to ^{Fatima and Utsav (2020)}, almost 70% of students surveyed in their study (which include 500 students of different institutions in undergraduate level), suffered from stress derived from the pandemic situation. ^{Irawan, et. al. (2020)} report that students in their college suffered from different psychological disorders during the first month of confinement. First, students showed lack of interest in their courses and boredom, turning into drastic mood changes and in some cases anxiety. The whole situation may lead to decrease in motivation and lack of interest in school. On the other hand, ^{Bono, et. al (2020)} comment that, after performing surveys in which grit and gratitude were evaluated, they observe that these variables were more related to the psychological wellbeing of their students. This would mean that psychological disorders during a stressful situation may be attenuated or avoided with the help of correct guidance.

In this way, academic programs in which teachers play the role of guide and companion of students and their learning process have a better adaptation to an online experience. This hypothesis has been confirmed in courses planned and structured from scratch (^{Kearns, L. 2012}, ^{Gaytan, J. 2004}). Students show a better performance in written and oral skills, as well as in time management. However, there is not enough evidence about the advantages and disadvantages that students could present during confinement measures due to COVID-19, or in an intervention of an already planned course. Thus, the purpose of our study is to analyze the impact in the academic performance and personal perception of the students, derived from the actions taken to face the migration of activities to a virtual environment. It is to notice that this study is also focused on students of a chemistry department, where most of the courses are science and applied science related and the personal guidance is not always easy to achieve.

Method

A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in students at the Chemistry Sciences School at the end of the spring regular term. At mid-term, activities had to be transitioned to distance education due to containment measures to decrease the spread of COVID. The Chemistry Sciences School belongs to Universidad La Salle Mexico and offers undergraduate programs such as: Chemical Engineering, Biology and Pharmaceutical Chemist, Food Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, and graduate programs of Clinical Pharmacology, Food Science and Technology, Statistics and Project Engineering. The rough population is about 604 students. All students were asked to fill out an electronic self-applying survey. Participation was voluntary and non-remunerated. Students were asked to answer an informed consent in which they were assured all data would be used only for statistical and research purposes. Also, they were not allowed to provide personal or contact information and were able to stop their participation and leave the questionnaire at any stage before the submission process. If doing so, their responses would not be saved. By completing the instrument, participants acknowledged their voluntary approval to participate in this anonymous study in addition to the already signed consent.

Online research by anonymous surveys is a recommended approach to swiftly reach a specific collective, ensuring their safety and promoting adherence to contagion containment measures due this pandemic (^{Rzymski, et.al. 2020}; ^{Geldsetzer, 2020}). Thus, data collection was carried out through a structured questionnaire created in Google Forms (Google LLC,Menlo Park, CA, USA), designed by a steering group who integrated 43 items based on a review literature aimed to explore different aspects of the students’ performance and adaptation, the accompaniment by their teachers, the (re-)structure of the courses into a virtual modality, as well as questions aimed to identify barriers and advantages that they experienced through this “new” academic process.

The instrument included multiple-choice, yes-no, and open questions to assess quantitative and qualitative variables. Examples of different questions can be addressed in Table 1.

To analyze the provided answers, dummy variables were created according to the number of advantages or disadvantages reported. Answers were grouped into categories related to technological, academic, and personal aspects. This was performed in such a way that the binary variables obtained could be quantitatively analyzed.

The anonymous nature of the use of this web-survey does not allow tracing in any way sensitive personal data and obtain more reliable answers. Therefore, the present study does not require approval by Ethics Committee. On the other hand, this tool allowed us to work with a dataset in a spreadsheet that was exported and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistical Package software version 21.0 ®. Variables of interest were described by absolute values and relative frequencies.

Two groups according to their perception of changes in the structure of the course were organized: those who reported none or minimal changes vs those who considered partial and significant changes in the course during the transition to a virtual environment. Comparison tests according to these groups were made by χ2 or Fisher's Exact Test [13]. For all the analyses a statistical significance was considered from a value of p<0.05.

Results

A total of 266 responses were obtained by active students in undergraduate and graduate programs. They were enrolled with an average of 8 courses per semester in undergraduate and 3 courses in graduate. Rate of response represents a 44% of the alumni; of which 52.7% were freshmen and sophomore students of undergraduate programs (1st to 4th semester), 38.7% were senior students (5th to 9th semesters) and 8.6% were students of graduate programs. It is important to emphasize that after 16 weeks, the courses concluded and reported from 75 - 90% of topics reviewed with a low student desertion (<5%).

Regarding the appreciation of their performance under the contingence and on the online courses, 75.6% of the alumni reported having a good or excellent disposition with reference to virtual sessions, no differences were observed according to their level (p=0.491). Likewise, 48.9% reported adapting appropriately to the remote working modality, with a higher figure in graduate students (p=0.046). 95 of the students (35.7%) perceived few changes in the dynamic of the course, emphasizing resolution of problems and project based learning, without differences according to the level of the students (p = 0.305), their disposition (p = 0.209), their adaptation to the modality virtual (p = 0.678) or the report of difficulties (p = 0.162).

In terms of the methodologies, results indicated that 71.8% of the students considered that the course approach was modified partially or significantly, in the same line, 64.3% of the students noted a partial to significant increase in the amount of problem solving during the classes in comparison to only theoretical concepts and 41.4% of the students mentioned they have developed a project, as stated at the beginning of the course.

Regardless of the disposition and adaptation of students, results of the instrument indicated that 45.8% of the students presented at least 2 difficulties during their learning process. These were classified into categories as technological, academic, and personal ones. The most common difficulties encountered during the process were technological, of which 78.2% of the students reported failures in the internet service, problems with video conferences applications, disruptions during synchronous activities and little or no ability to handle digital or technological tools, and these were presented in a similar way in accordance with their project and problem-based learning perception (Table 2).

According to academic issues 69.9% of the surveyed suggested problems as low amount of available didactical resources, an excessive amount of work, or perceived unclear objectives with the didactics and dynamics that the teachers proposed. Likewise, switching to a remote environment, having little or null experience in structuring, and following online courses, and the potential psychological harm the pandemic represents, caused problems during the learning process. According to the survey, 29.3% students report that they faced personal problems such as: discontinuous or prolonged schedules, low or null organization, lack of concentration and motivation and personal and family conflicts. No differences were found when comparing the presence of these problems according to the student level or appreciation of changes of the dynamic of the course, which prioritizes problem and project-based learning. The appreciation was similar regarding students with little or lack of experience in the university environment (freshmen) or students with familiarity with the courses demands.

On the other hand, students reported some advantages during their academic process. 99.6% of them stated an improvement in several aspects as working at their own pace (55.3%) an improvement into their technological abilities (51.9%), an enhance of their final grades (43.2%), a better time organization (41.7%), as well as a perceived improvement in the teacher's didactics (30.5%), a decreased stress and pressure from their academic activities (13.9%) and an integral learning (10.5%). Also, 83.5% of students recognize the labor of the teachers by acknowledging that their effort and dedication was excellent or good (Table 3).

In general, comparing groups according to their perceptions in the changes of the dynamic of the courses, no statistical differences were found when students reported advantages or disadvantages, in fact, almost every student reported at least one improvement in their academic or personal field as well as in a better communication with their teachers during the transition from academic activities to a completely remote modality (Fig. 1). Among which, the most important were those related to their academic performance reflected in better grades, a perceived integral learning (application of knowledge addressed in several course) and an improvement in the use of technological tools. In contrast to only 3.5-7.4% of the population who suggested not having any problems during this contingency, while the most common ones where related to technology education besides the limited access and availability to technological tools.

Fig. 1 Perceived advantages and disadvantages reported during the contingency due COVID-19 according to students. a) Disadvantages (top), b) Advantages (bottom) 

Discussion

Results show that students do not appreciate a notorious difference in academic development and achievement. This was also confirmed by comparing results between previous terms and present. We observe an increase in self-motivation and clear notion of responsibility in self-management of learning. Students seemed more committed to their learning considering that working at their own pace and organizing their own time gave them more confidence although they faced time management problems during the transition process. They also thanked the presence of teachers in synchronic sessions, resulting in important support for their learning process.

Regarding the disadvantages, this sample of students reported the expected ones as stated by ^{O’Doherty et. al. (2018)}, suggesting that the key barriers include time constraints, poor technical skills, inadequate infrastructure at their homes.

It is to notice that most higher education institutions were not prepared to respond to this emerging phenomenon, and that the impact on the quality for the services they offer was mediated through their response capacity, adaptation and their education foundations, processes and methodologies. In the case of the Chemistry Sciences Department of Universidad La Salle Mexico, students were able to migrate successfully to the online environment and expressed an improvement in the development of soft skills, especially communication, self-management of learning and motivation. These results suggest that the Lasallian educational model was preserved through teachers’ accompaniment and monitoring during the synchronous sessions, what has been suggested as part of institutional strategies to guarantee a positive attitude amongst all those involved in the development and delivery of online content (^{O’Doherty, 2018}). This reinforces the idea that virtual academic environments are technological tools to generate virtual work communities and establish effective two-way dialogues (^{Miranda-Díaz,2004}), and asserting that online education or any innovation in the academic process are becoming a driving force and a need in higher education, transforming the teaching-learning process (^{Blackmond, 2013}).

Students seemed more committed to their learning considering that working at their own pace and organizing their own time gave them more confidence. They also reported a certain increase in the amount of problem solving and the development of projects, however they did not seem overwhelmed nor represented a burden for them because chemistry-based programs already encourage this kind of activities. This could be attributed to the nature of chemistry-based programs that are designed to encourage students to the resolution of problems and development of projects during their courses.

Teachers accompaniment was priority in developing student’s self-confidence and self-time management. As they were not attached to a schedule, students could organize their time in the way they considered better. They could interact with their teachers at any time due to e-mail and took advantage of synchronic sessions to get advice in specific topics. As stated by ^{Wandler and Imbrialle (2017)} students self-regulate when the core of the learning process depends on themselves. The student has the responsibility of his time, he has a clear objective stated at the beginning of the course and has continuous feedback from the tutors.

Students show decrease in stress due to academic activities. We consider this aspect important, because by self-time management and organization, students could face not only their academic performance, but also their personal situation in the face of the pandemic. Finally, students appreciate that they got better grades, which, in addition to having developed a personal learning strategy derived in personal motivation.

Despite the presented study has several limitations, such a low representative of new students in higher education, this was the first study analyzing the improvement of soft skills and the perception of their academic performance during the lockdown period among students of "hard science" like chemistry sciences, where laboratory activities and practical skills are important.

Conclusions

Although chemistry programs seem to have a reputation for being difficult and abstract, these results suggested that despite the expected technological difficulties, students were able to successfully complete their courses during the transition to virtual education due the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advantages in the student’s performance were perceived greater than the reported barriers, especially those related to the improvement of self-motivation and a clear notion of responsibility in self-management of their learning, competencies that are considered as a part of the graduation profiles of the educational programs offered by this faculty. Besides, students perceived a decrease in stress for academic activities and they also appreciated an increase in their grades, which, as result of their personal effort in their learning process derived in motivation.

Furthermore, online modalities allowed maintaining interaction and accompaniment between students and their teachers, and completing the review of the academic contents, as they were planned from the beginning of the course.

Soft skills such as self-time and learning management; written, oral and technological communication skills were achieved by students during the transition to online modalities, this could be explained by an effective adjustment of activities and tutoring and also because of the access to the necessary resources for the adaptation process.