Virtual Platforms, great allies of education in times of health emergency

Abstract

During the health emergency, education was developed virtually, using virtual platforms (PV) to carry out the classes. Objective. The objective of this documentary research is to explore the types of virtual platforms and their elements; as well as analyze and describe the VPs most used by teachers in Latin America during the health emergency. Materials and methods. To systematize and process the information collected, Mendeley was used as a bibliographic manager, Microsoft Excel as a database; and the online Smallpdf converter. EBSCO and SCOPUS were taken as prioritized search engines, expanding the search to DOAJ, REDALYC, ERIHPLUS, SJR, and Google Scholar. Results. After an exhaustive review, 26 investigations on specific VPs were selected, showing that the VPs most used during the health emergency are Google Classroom and Moodle; Furthermore, social platforms are considered to have great pedagogical potential. The communication and content management tools prioritized are Google Tools, email and WhatsApp. Conclusion. The virtual platforms most used during the health emergency are free to access and allow the development of collaborative work such as the Google Classroom and Google tools.