Volumen 18 – Número 1 – ES

Using IF-AT Cards to Engage Students in Deeper Learning of Course Content

(Utilización de tarjetas IF-AT para que los alumnos profundicen en el aprendizaje de los contenidos del curso)

Autores/as:

Luna, Ana and Izu, Cruz

Resumen:

The free access to online materials has changed the role of traditional lectures from being a vehicle to deliver course content to providing face-to-face guidance to clarify and expand on difficult concepts. This means students instead of listening and taking notes, participate in interactive activities that revise the lecture’s content. Active learning strategies are seen as positive steps towards increasing students’ engagement and learning during class time. In particular, posting multiple-choice questions (MCQ) is a popular technique to both capture student attention and fix possible misconceptions. Quizzes using IF-AT cards differ from other in-class MCQ approaches such as clickers in that students work in groups, and that they must continue to discuss a question until they find the correct answer. This paper reports on two different experiences of using IF-AT cards to revise course content for (a) a second- year Computer Systems course at the University of Adelaide and (b) a first-year Physics course at Universidad del Pacifico. The dynamics of team collaboration and its impact on test results is analysed for each course. Both case studies indicate that IF-AT cards succeed in engaging students to discuss and consolidate their knowledge. Additionally, collaborative discussion supports soft skills development such as technical communication skills.

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Development of Experimental and Collaborative Work Skills in the Students of Mechanics of Solids by Implementing a Low-Cost Torsiometer and Digital Image Correlation

(Desarrollo de Competencias Experimentales y de Trabajo Colaborativo en los Estudiantes de Mecánica de Sólidos Integrando un Torsiómetro de Bajo Costo y Correlación de Imágenes Digitales)

Autores/as:

Benjumea, José M. and Prieto, David Cotes and Oyaga, Laureen Carvajal and Sepúlveda, Laura Niño and Pulido, Samantha Moreno

Resumen:

The theoretical and experimental components in the mechanics of solids course at the Civil Engineering School at Universidad Industrial de Santander in Colombia are not integrated. This hinders the students’ understanding of the relationships between the loads applied to structural elements and the effects. An experimental and theoretical learning experience for pure torsion in elastic beams is proposed to address this issue. The experiment was also intended to contribute to the students’ team skills and the capacity to conduct experiments and draw conclusions based on the results. A total of 81 students organized in 23 teams used a low-cost torsiometer designed by the authors and applied the digital image correlation technique to measure deformations on specimens. The results from a virtual survey applied to the students after the tests showed the effectiveness of the proposed learning experience to enhance the comprehension of the physical phenomena studied and a positive impact on the students’ learning.

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Data-Driven Modeling Through the Moodle Learning Management System: An Empirical Study Based on a Mathematics Teaching Subject

(Modelización basada en datos a través del sistema de gestión del aprendizaje Moodle: Un estudio empírico basado en una asignatura de ensenanza de las matemáticas)

Autores/as:

Pérez-Suay, Adrián and Van Vaerenbergh, Steven and Diago, Pascual D. and Pascual-Venteo, Ana B. and Ferri, Francesc J.

Resumen:

This work addresses the problem of inferring student performance from information acquired in a Learning Management System (LMS). In particular, we explore the capabilities offered by Moodle, a widely used LMS. The study is performed on data acquired from four classes within the same subject, for whom we make inferences about student performance marks. The developed methodology describes the degree in which the acquired information allows to predict the student marks belonging to the continuous evaluation, while the prediction of the final students marks has a higher intrinsic complexity that would require a more in- depth study of the relevant variables. Then, we follow a fully data-driven process to discover similarities among classes. In particular, we propose the use of a dependence estimation measure, the normalized Hilbert-Schmidt Independence criterion. We show how this dependence measure is useful to determine relations among classes, based on their particular teaching methodology, by only using data acquired from the LMS. This opens the door to explore the capabilities of LMS in similarity search between offered courses along an educational platform. In order to help the community and serve as a common way of comparison, we provide the source code of the proposed methodology.

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Faculty Self-Assessment on Telesimulation for Health Sciences Education

(Autodiagnóstico docente sobre Telesimulación en la enseñanza de ciencias de la salud)

Autores/as:

Barrientos, Elena Ríos and Turrubiates Corolla, Miriam Lizzeth and Olivares Olivares, Silvia Lizett

Resumen:

The COVID-19 pandemic put the regular and daily operation of the simulation centers on hold, thus reinventing the ways to ensure academic continuity. Faculty had to migrate from traditional face-to-face teaching to the remote digital online modality due to the emergency Covid-19 health confinement; this drastic change did not occur because of innovation. The instrument “Self-assessment on telesimulation for health sciences education” was designed and applied to 100 teachers from various Latin American countries. The dimensions of Active Learning, Interaction and communication, Multimedia, and Telesimulation were evaluated. The dimension with the highest average was Multimedia, and the one with the lowest average was Telesimulation. The telesimulation technique promotes the development of cognitive, kinesthetic, and psychomotor skills allowing training and feedback. There were identified gaps that impact professors’ use of telesimulation as a pedagogical strategy.

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As Early as Possible: Training Medical Students to Deliver Bad News

(Lo antes posible: entrenando a estudiantes de medicina para dar malas noticias)

Autores/as:

García, Andrea Romo and Suarez, Daniel and Carrion, Belinda and Reguera, E. Aniela Méndez

Resumen:

Receiving or delivering bad news is inevitable, especially when taking care of patients. The extent of how they affect us depends on their severity but also on the abilities of the informer. Successfully handling sensitive topics are some of the difficult scenarios that health professionals may encounter. We aimed to foster the development of key abilities in the health students such as communication and empathy using a peer-role-play simulation. Our results show the utility of these dynamics in providing students with a perspective from all involved parties, highlight the importance of multidisciplinary work in healthcare education and practice on how to effectively establish a healthy doctor-patient relationship.

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Student Learning and Motivation: What, How, and Why?

(Aprendizaje y Motivación en Estudiantes: ¿Qué, Cómo y Por qué?)

Autores/as:

López, Angélica Aguilar and Herrera Padilla, Luis Felipe and Carrión, Belinda and Méndez Reguera, Elsa Aniela

Resumen:

The learning process is continuous and active, influenced by extrinsic and intrinsic factors, such as motivation. This study aimed to identify the perception of 32 students about strategies that helped them learn and engage in the classroom. The results showed that repetitive activities in the learning spaces and note-taking were perceived as the most preferred when learning, while the most motivating factors were discussion, participation, and technology platforms. The design and implementation of strategies in the classroom should occur in active environments that motivate students to learn.

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Serious Games and Computer Programming Competencies Development in Educational Contexts

(Juegos Serios y el Desarrollo de Competencias de Programación en Contextos Educativos)

Autores/as:

Caldas Quintero, Carlos Andrés and Cifuentes Álvarez, Gary Alberto

Resumen:

This paper aims to identify the relationship between Serious Games (SG) and the development of competencies related to computer programming. A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was applied, based on a learning experience with Serious Games focused on computer programming languages. The principal finding was a parallel development between computer programming and other generic skills related to English, Math and Spanish. It is concluded that SG have a positive relationship with the development of competencies within the formal education environment, which indicate a great potential to support teaching and learning processes.

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Women in Computer Science Degrees: A Cross-National and Longitudinal Study

(Las mujeres en los grados en Informática: un estudio en diferentes países a lo largo del tiempo)

Autores/as:

Navarro, Sara Roman and Martín, Marcos Sánchez-Élez

Resumen:

This study focuses on the numerical gap in CS from different angles, whether it presents a similar behavior in all countries or not, and how it evolves over time. We have analyzed OECD statistics from 1998 to 2016 in twenty-nine countries and present results that show that this is a global problem. The average of women who graduated in CS is lower in 2016 than it was in 1998 and the tendency is to continue to diminish, although the situation is very different from some groups of countries to others. We have made statistical analysis that has allowed to present a country classification. This analysis has shown that there is a wide difference between countries such as Mexico, Italy and Belgium for example. We have also carried out statistical analysis of possible relations between economic and social variables for the countries studied along the almost 19 years’ span and have found no statistically significant correlation in global terms, which shows that the problem is complex and that the solutions adopted are only partial.

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A Systematic Mapping Study on Low-Cost Immersive Virtual Reality for Microbiology

(A Systematic Mapping Study on Low-Cost Immersive Virtual Reality for Microbiology)

Autores/as:

Damasceno, Eduardo Filgueiras and Fernandes, Larissa and Silva, Armando Paulo da and Días, José Barbosa

Resumen:

Educators are increasingly recognizing the advantages and benefits of Virtual Reality to broaden their teaching experiences in biology. Besides giving them another way to visualize learning objects, transforming their students from spectators to actors in the learning process. However, little has been discussed about the use of these low-cost immersive environments. Thus, the reviewed publications were retrieved by extracting keywords from documents indexed in four digital scientific libraries, which were then systematically filtered using exclusion, inclusion, semi-automated methods. This paper addresses three key points: which technologies are used in microbiology teaching, which of these are in the Virtual Reality technology domain, and which are implemented with low-cost resources. The mapping was performed between application domains and learning content and between design elements and learning content. We noted that most of the reviewed works have an evaluation of the usability of the applications, not focusing on the educational feasibility or the learning outcomes that can be obtained by them. We observed that the publications show gaps in the actual use and our review indicates unexplored areas, both at the level of the application project centered on the user and in the requirements of educational viability, thus being able to motivate future work in the field.

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ICT in the University Environment: Twitch and Instagram as Learning Tools

(Las TIC en el ámbito Universitario. Twitch e Instagram como herramientas de aprendizaje)

Autores/as:

Calatayud Requena, Laura Calatayud and Juan, Mireia Guardeño and Lorente, Laura Monsalve

Resumen:

In recent days, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have been incorporated into the teaching-learning process. The study aims to achieve greater student engagement, and satisfaction using Instagram and Twitch platforms as methodological tools in teaching. The sample collects 50 students from the degree of a primary school teacher at the University of Valencia. The evaluation instrument has been based on direct observation and the use of the survey Barrado et al. (1999), evaluating the practical program, and the degree of satisfaction of the students. The results show the benefits of accessing learning at any time. Active participation in the platforms has made possible the involvement of students, receiving immediate feedback, and allowing them to build continuous learning.

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