Contribució a l’adaptació a l'EEES d’assignatures de tecnologia electrònicaun mètode sistemàtic

Resumen

Learning specific knowledge and developing cross-curricular competencies under the new frame of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), is a problem not yet solved by teaching practices based on traditional instructional methodologies. The objective of the thesis consists of designing and validating a systematic learning model based on active methodologies that allows the adaptation of courses in the area of electronic technology, hitherto organised in a traditional fashion, to the EHEA requirements. The proposed instructional method, organised in five sections (learning objectives, problem-based learning activities and study time planning, cooperative learning, formative assessment, and reflection on the teaching/learning process), integrates the specific content and the cross-curricular competencies corresponding to the course. Four hypotheses are considered to start the research, which after the experimentation and the examination of the results are successfully validated. First: active learning as we propose it, allows that more students reach an acceptable level of subject knowledge, with the corresponding increase of academic performance. The data analysis on the courses in which teaching experiences were carried out, allows reaching the conclusion that our methodology increases significantly the performance, while at the same time more students achieve higher scores. Second: the active and systematic methodology proposed in this research is more efficient than traditional instruction with respect to the achievement of content and cross-curricular skills as they are defined in the EHEA. In other words, students learn meaningfully the specific content of the course and unfold efficiently the generic competencies associated with the studies when immersing them in our active learning environment organised systematically to solve problems and projects. To accept this hypothesis, evidences archived in student learning portfolios are presented; we have documented skills such as teamwork, problem solving, efficient oral and written communication and the use of information resources to acquire specific content. Furthermore, teaching content through English has promoted the use and understanding of this third language. Third: The proposed systematic learning model based on active methodologies can be successfully applied in courses of the area of electronic technology in bachelor degrees, and equally be effective in other branches of engineering studies. The materials produced teaching basic and advanced subjects in the area of electronic technology demonstrate the successful adaptation to the EHEA. We have disseminated for many years under the umbrella of the Research and Innovation in Learning Methodologies (RIMA) group of the Institute of Education Sciences (ICE), our teaching experiences on electronic technology courses in seminars, conferences and publications, which in itself represents an explicit validation of our methodology. Discussion and peer review have become key factors in enhancing procedures and finding solutions. Fourth: The proposed model demands a workload that can be permanently accepted by university lecturers, thus making possible to widespread teaching of content and generic competencies throughout university education. Data from our experiences show that the coordinator can start a course based in our methodology employing the usual teaching time and the other professors can follow up without interfering other academic tasks