Analysis of the Perception of University Students About the Use of Microsoft OneNote as an Electronic Laboratory Notebook in Response to Non-Face-to-Face Education in Pandemic Times

Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN) have been used in scientific laboratories for their flexibility in collecting non-standardized data. Microsoft OneNote emerges as a useful working tool for different educational institutions where technology allows you to optimize your resources. Because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, over 850 million students in the world have been affected, so that 1 in 4 students has had to adapt to non-classroom learning conditions. In the present study, an analysis of the perception of the use of Microsoft OneNote as an ELN were carried out for students from three engineering degrees at the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana in Quito, in Ecuador during the months of April to June 2020. The results show that students rate the use of this tool as useful (52%) to very useful (36%) compared to a paper notebook. Also, most of the students (>80%) recommend the use of the electronic notebook in the laboratory’s development practices, they would recommend its use to other students and teachers. Finally, the general perception was rated as good (37%) and very good (32%). These results allow to conclude that the use of electronic resources is accepted by students, adopting information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance virtual education in pandemic times.