Rediseño de la asignatura Mecánica I para su impertición en modalidad b-learning.

Esta experiencia se enmarca dentro del conjunto de Proyectos coordinados de Innovación Educativa de distintas Escuelas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) cuyo objetivo principal es la generación y adaptación de materiales didácticos para transformar de forma progresiva la docencia a formato semi-presencial o completamente a distancia. Como recursos educativos se han utilizado los Objetos de Aprendizaje (OA). En este trabajo se describe la experiencia en la asignatura de Mecánica I y se muestran algunos de los materiales preparados. También se presenta los resultados académicos alcanzados por los alumnos y la valoración cualitativa que hacen los estudiantes respecto a disponer de objetos digitales de aprendizaje

Looking for students' enthusiasm: flipped classroom

The “flipped classroom” is a pedagogical model that consists of putting certain learning processes outside the classroom so that the teacher can devote more class time to students’ acquisition of practical skills, for example. In this way, the teacher is not limited to the transmission of course content, but in addition assumes the role of a mediator in the cognitive process, allowing students to actively construct their own knowledge. In this role, the teacher’s main task is to encourage students to become independent learners. This paper describes the implementation and initial results of the application of the flipped classroom in higher education. This study is part of a larger research project to improve our students’ motivation through the use of the flipped learning. The sample consisted of about 3000 students taking 17 different subjects, in Management and Administration Business, Finance and Accounting, Marketing and Market Research, and Chemistry, at the University of Málaga, and in Accounting and Administration, Business Communication and Marketing at the Polytechnic of Porto. According to our results, students’ motivation and class attendance increased with the application of this model; a comparison of the final exam results from two years with traditional classes and from two years with flipped learning shows that the proportion of students failing the exam decreased, which confirms that the use of this pedagogic model improves student learning.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. This project is financed by Educational Innovation Projects 2017-2019 from Malaga University

Gamificacion in education and active methodologies at Higher education

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in applying Gamification in Education, which can be defined as the application of game design elements to learning activities. Its purpose is to motivate students by creating an engaging learning experience that can keep students focused on the learning task and its application in the classroom, is still in its emergent stages. Gamification is a great challenge for education, particularly in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in such a traditional context, as is the case with courses like Management and Administration Business, Finance and Accounting, Marketing and Market Research, Chemistry, Accounting and Administration and Business Communication. This paper presents a study, applied in the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 academic years, in which the teaching method focuses on a blended learning approach, through the implementation of a flipped classroom model and also through the introduction of online gamification activities such Kahoot! application. Kahoot is a game-based learning platform, used as educational technology that can easily be used for initial, formative and summative assessment of students’ knowledge using individual or collaborative team work mode, adding vitality, student engagement, and also meta-cognitive supports to higher education classrooms with limited instructor or student training required. The participants, in the study, were about 3 000 students of 17 different subjects from the aforementioned courses, of the Malaga University and Polytechnic of Porto. The results of this study suggest that this model improves student learning and are of relevance to researchers, educators and game-based learning designers.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Holocene fossil woods from the Caldera de Taburiente National Park (Canary Islands, Spain)

The study of 39 Pinus canariensis Holocene fossil woods from the Caldera de Taburiente is presente

Cooperative Learning In Virtual Environments: The Jigsaw Method In Statistical Courses

This document sets out a novel teaching methodology as used in subjects with statistical content, traditionally regarded by students as difficult. In a virtual learning environment, instructional techniques little used in mathematical courses were employed, such as the Jigsaw cooperative learning method, which had to be adapted to the peculiarities of the subject. The aim of this methodological project is to adapt the teaching of statistical courses to the new European Higher Education Area

Metodologias Activas en la Asignatura de Mecánica, Resultados de Tres Años de Experiencia.

La asignatura de Mecánica I forma parte de las experiencias piloto de curso completo que la EUIT Aeronáutica viene desarrollando desde 2005 con el fin de adaptar sus enseñanzas al EEES. En todos los casos, la experiencia se ha dirigido a un colectivo de alumnos de nuevo ingreso (Grupo Piloto), pero con tamaños de grupos y notas de corte muy diferentes. La Mecánica I es una asignatura troncal de primer curso que se imparte durante el segundo semestre y, desde 2006, también se ofrece durante el primer semestre con la nueva metodología a un grupo de alumnos repetidores en la modalidad de Docencia complementaria. En este trabajo se presenta, mediante una revisión histórica, la nueva metodología basada en el aprendizaje cooperativo, la evaluación continua y la incorporación de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC). Se muestran los resultados académicos obtenidos por los alumnos del Grupo Piloto comparados mediante los indicadores ANECA con los obtenidos por el Grupo de Control constituido por los alumnos de nuevo ingreso de las mismas carreras, y los resultados alcanzados por el grupo de Docencia complementaria. También se expone la valoración cualitativa de los alumnos de disponer de objetos digitales de aprendizaje

The Holocene Cedrus pollen record from Sierra Nevada (S Spain), a proxy for climate change in N Africa

Comprehending the effects of climate variability and disturbance on forested ecosystems is paramount to successfully managing forest environments under future climate scenarios (e.g., global warming, aridi-fication increase). Changes in fossil pollen abundance in sedimentary archives record past vegetation dynamics at regional scales, mainly related to climate changes and, in the last few millennia, to human impact. Pollen records can thus provide long databases with information on how the environment reacted to climate change before the historical record. In this study, we synthesized fossil pollen data from seven sites from the Sierra Nevada in southern Spain to investigate the response of forests in the western Mediterranean area to millennial-scale climate changes and to human impact during the Holocene. In particular, here we focused on Cedrus pollen abundances, which most-likely originated from Northern Africa and were carried to Sierra Nevada by wind. Cedrus pollen has received little attention in the Iberian Peninsula palynological records, for it occurs in low concentrations and has an African source, and thus this article explores the potential to reconstruct its past history and climate. Although Cedrus abundances are generally lower than 1% in the studied pollen samples, a comparison with North African (Moroccan) Cedrus pollen records shows similar trends at long- and short-term time-scales. Therefore, this record could be used as a proxy for changes in this forest species in North Africa. As observed in the Sierra Nevada synthetic record, the increasing trend of Cedrus pollen during the Middle and Late Holocene closely correlates with decreasing summer insolation. This would have produced overall cooler annual temperatures in Northern Africa (Middle Atlas and Rif Mountains) as well as lower summer evaporation, benefiting the growth of this cool-adapted montane tree species while increasing available moisture during the summer, which is critical for this water-demanding species. Millennial-scale variability also characterizes the Sierra Nevada Cedrus synthetic pollen record. Cedrus abundance oscillations co-vary with well-known millennial-scale climatic variability that controlled cedar abundance and altitudinal distribution in montane areas of N Africa. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Visual processing speed in hemianopia patients secondary to acquired brain injury: a new assessment methodology

Producción CientíficaBackground: There is a clinical need to identify diagnostic parameters that objectively quantify and monitor the effective visual ability of patients with homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs). Visual processing speed (VPS) is an objective measure of visual ability. It is the reaction time (RT) needed to correctly search and/or reach for a visual stimulus. VPS depends on six main brain processing systems: auditory-cognitive, attentional, working memory, visuocognitive, visuomotor, and executive. We designed a new assessment methodology capable of activating these six systems and measuring RTs to determine the VPS of patients with HVFDs. Methods: New software was designed for assessing subject visual stimulus search and reach times (S-RT and R-RT respectively), measured in seconds. Thirty-two different everyday visual stimuli were divided in four complexity groups that were presented along 8 radial visual field positions at three different eccentricities (10o, 20o, and 30o). Thus, for each HVFD and control subject, 96 S- and R-RT measures related to VPS were registered. Three additional variables were measured to gather objective data on the validity of the test: eye-hand coordination mistakes (ehcM), eye-hand coordination accuracy (ehcA), and degrees of head movement (dHM, measured by a head-tracker system). HVFD patients and healthy controls (30 each) matched by age and gender were included. Each subject was assessed in a single visit. VPS measurements for HFVD patients and control subjects were compared for the complete test, for each stimulus complexity group, and for each eccentricity. Results: VPS was significantly slower (p < 0.0001) in the HVFD group for the complete test, each stimulus complexity group, and each eccentricity. For the complete test, the VPS of the HVFD patients was 73.0% slower than controls. They also had 335.6% more ehcMs, 41.3% worse ehcA, and 189.0% more dHMs than the controls. Conclusions: Measurement of VPS by this new assessment methodology could be an effective tool for objectively quantifying the visual ability of HVFD patients. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of this novel method for measuring the impact that any specific neurovisual rehabilitation program has for these patients

Towards a classificatión of dendrogeomorphological evidences and their utility in flood hazard analysis

Se analizan los diferentes parámetros dendrogeomorfológicos válidos para la estimación de riesgo