Design and Application of Project-Based Learning Methodologies for Small Groups Within Computer Fundamentals Subjects

In higher education, it is usual to separate the theoretical contents from the practical ones and use teacher-centered methodologies. This fact makes students lose motivation due to the lack of connection with real professional tasks. Conversely, student-centered learning methods, such as project-based learning (PBL) or flipped classroom, aim to integrate both theoretical and practical contents and to apply them on real-world problems, thus increasing the students’ motivation and involvement. These methodologies are usually applied in the last years of a degree, but it is difficult to find them in basic first-year subjects. The aim of this paper consists in assessing the application of a PBL methodology in the first-year subjects of computer engineering. This methodological change aims to achieve a significant improvement in the students’ learning achievement of the core subject computer fundamentals. The project involved in the PBL proposal consists of developing a portable calculator. The performance of the PBL group is compared with that of other groups with a traditional, teacher-centered learning system. The evolution of the knowledge acquisition is determined by means of an initial evaluation and a final assessment after developing the project. An exhaustive statistical analysis is performed so as to evaluate the PBL application. Quantitative results show a significant improvement in the experimental group marks, which increased by up to 20% compared to the control groups. As a conclusion, applying PBL and flipped classroom engaged students within the subject, thus achieving a deeper understanding of its theoretical concepts.This work was supported by the I3CE Network Program of research in university teaching at the Institute of Educational Sciences of the University of Alicante (ICE call 2018-19) under Grant 4331

On the influence of creativity in basic programming learning at a first-year Engineering course

Teaching fundamentals of programming is a complex task that involves the students’ acquisition of diverse knowledge and skills. It is also well known that programming often requires a certain degree of creativity. There are some studies on how to foster creativity with programming, but few studies have analyzed the influence of students creativity on their performance as programmers. In this paper we present the results of a study, with a sample of 89 freshmen engineering students. Our results suggest (p<0.01) that a high level of creativity is correlated with achieving excellence in programming. Creativity is a generic competence which is not currently covered with in most engineering curricula, and we conclude it should be taken into account. Females, diverse thinking student and some disadvantage groups may benefit from a free-thinking environment in the classroom, in particular at their first-year in college.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Evaluation in a project life‐cycle: The hypermedia CAMILLE project

In the CAL literature, the issue of integrating evaluation into the life‐cycle of a project has often been recommended but less frequently reported, at least for large‐scale hypermedia environments. Indeed, CAL developers face a difficult problem because effective evaluation needs to satisfy the potentially conflicting demands of a variety of audiences (teachers, administrators, the research community, sponsors, etc.). This paper first examines some of the various forms of evaluation adopted by different kinds of audiences. It then reports on evaluations, formative as well as summative, set up by the European CAMILLE project teams in four countries during a large‐scale courseware development project. It stresses the advantages, despite drawbacks and pitfalls, for CAL developers to systematically undertake evaluation. Lastly, it points out some general outcomes concerning learning issues of interest to teachers, trainers and educational advisers. These include topics such as the impact of multimedia, of learner variability and learner autonomy on the effectiveness of learning with respect to language skills

Teaching and learning in information retrieval

A literature review of pedagogical methods for teaching and learning information retrieval is presented. From the analysis of the literature a taxonomy was built and it is used to structure the paper. Information Retrieval (IR) is presented from different points of view: technical levels, educational goals, teaching and learning methods, assessment and curricula. The review is organized around two levels of abstraction which form a taxonomy that deals with the different aspects of pedagogy as applied to information retrieval. The first level looks at the technical level of delivering information retrieval concepts, and at the educational goals as articulated by the two main subject domains where IR is delivered: computer science (CS) and library and information science (LIS). The second level focuses on pedagogical issues, such as teaching and learning methods, delivery modes (classroom, online or e-learning), use of IR systems for teaching, assessment and feedback, and curricula design. The survey, and its bibliography, provides an overview of the pedagogical research carried out in the field of IR. It also provides a guide for educators on approaches that can be applied to improving the student learning experiences

Turning an Idea into a Valuable Teaching Resource and Research Output

This paper describes the journey of a teacher who became an author in Higher Education. The journey began with a simple idea about a fundamental resource book, designed to improve teaching in design and illustration classes with ever increasing numbers of novice fashion students, back in 1991. This resource was a taxonomy of fashion, designed to increase the awareness of garment shapes, context, proportion, terminology, construction, production and finish with a view to improving student knowledge, design and visual communication skills. The paper reflects upon the subsequent publications that built on the previous resource, as outputs of rigour, significance and integrity in shaping the author‘s approaches to teaching and research in fashion and other disciplines. It describes the development of the original idea and the subsequent acceptance of this for publication and illustrates how this one idea allowed for further opportunities for publications in a partnership with a global publisher. There are resource issues around gathering content for publications of rigour and originality and there have been challenges around communicating in the publications themselves due to technological and economical constraints. There are also practical resource issues around creating and designing the publications as well as the need for the development of personal skills when keeping up with changes in technology and the fashion industry. Each publication requires careful planning and needs to have unique reasons for being‘ that make it different to the competition. It describes the positive aspects of working with a colleague who brings similar skills and understanding, but a different handwriting and point of view to the publications. It looks at the impact of updating original editions and keeping the works contemporary. It also looks at personal and practical insights learned across almost 20 years of being an author with the same publisher

Special Session on Industry 4.0

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