In view of the global pandemic, the confinement and the closings of schools, the educational community had to rise to the challenge and adapt to online methodologies. To be able to continue with their classes, many teachers have opted for online methodologies or e-learning, based on the use of technology devices and digital resources. In like manner, in many cases, online teaching allows the continuity of the use of mixed methods that were already being used in the classroom. This way, this digital material can be used as complementary material to other methodologies that make use of digital resources like the Flipped Classroom method or game-based learning.

On the other hand, Smile and Learn has launched several action plans supporting education, in order to support the Education Community:

• A direct solution to access the resources during the confinement period. With this solution, and given the situation, a more specific offer has been developed aimed for schools and families.
• There has been an agreement with the Spanish Ministry of Education and Training, and Radio Televisión Española (Spanish public service television) according to which specific Smile and Learn didactic content (videos) have been broadcasted during the morning time slots on La 2 and Clan TV. The morning show “Aprendemos En Casa” (Learning At Home) is an inclusive, educative program, which aims at reaching every household.

Smile and Learn has also presented families with an offer exclusive for them, which enables free access to all platform content for the first month.  In the light of this situation, a research investigation has been initiated, whose first indagation lies in the use of online methodologies andthe analysis of usage trends of the Smile and Learn educational resources.

This investigation in collaboration with several other investigators from Universities in the Community of Madrid has the objective to improve the processes based on online methodologies and identify teacher needs.

This way, there has been observed that the need to use technology resources to aid education has increased. It has also been observed that these resources were used outside school hours as well, owing to the fact that parents had to take on a new role in supporting their children to continue with their classes. It is worth noting that the activities on the Smile and Learn platform classified as games have been the stellar element which helped students to continue their learning.

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Natalia Lara  – Research team Smile and Learn