Evaluation of educational programs in the context of remote education and COVID 19

In early 2020 the world was surprised by the emergence and rapid advance of Covid-19. The impact on educational programs was enormous. Since social distancing is one of the few ways to mitigate the pandemic’s advance, emergency remote education (ERE) has become an imposition. In this context, it is of great relevance to evaluate these initiatives to quickly promote the necessary changes so that it is possible, at least, to fulfill the objectives of the educational programs. In this article, we discuss the fundamentals for evaluating educational programs in the context of ERE and Covid-19. We present the basic principles of evaluation applicable from a single class to a course as a whole. We discuss the application of the following models: experimental, Kirkpatrick, logical model, and CIPP (Context, Input, Process, and Product). The evaluation of the educational activities that used the ERE, implemented during the pandemic in 2020, is an opportunity to review practices and induce substantial changes in the training of next generations of health professionals and academic teachers.