THE IMPORTANCE of the USE of SIMULATORS in REMOTE EDUCATION. ACCELERATED by the GLOBAL PANDEMIC LA IMPORTANCIA DEL USO DE SIMULADORES EN LA EDUCACIÓN REMOTA. ACELERADO POR LA PANDEMIA GLOBAL

abstract

© 2021 Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions. All rights reserved.The COVID-19 crisis has forced to transform not only the operation of educational institutions but also the way that knowledge creation is taught, learned and coordinated, achieving, as in a science fiction movie, the accelerated movement in time. Thus, the demands and needs that were expected in the next five or ten years have occurred in a few months. It is up to each organization to accept, implement or exceed the needs of the new roles for both teachers and students, raise the technological level of the infrastructure and fundamentally, change the way of understanding education, accepting that new formats are here to stay and combine " with the wisdom of the past and the technology of the future, the best of both worlds¿. Undoubtedly, the hasty implementation of the distance modality has meant an abrupt change in education and several processes have had to adapt and rethink, especially for subjects with a practical approach, so the use of simulators as part of a new educational model, have taken on singular importance. Through simulators the student acquires his knowledge through experience practicing in real environments, safely. In addition, the student can experiment with various situations, which will serve as a context for meaningful learning on a topic. In order to strengthen disciplinary and transversal competencies, as well as to realize the potential of engineering students, at Tecnológico de Monterrey the use of simulators has been promoted for the formation of concepts, the construction of knowledge and innovative proposals for solution to problems in real situations, as well as linking with vulnerable communities and the government, through the implementation of these proposals. The results demonstrate the development of disciplinary and transversal competences with the methodology proposed in this research, because these digital tools allow the reproduction of diverse activities with sufficient fidelity to achieve the participation of the students in a realistic and meaningful way.