Fomento de las competencias experimentales utilizando recursos complementarios

[EN]The use of ICT in the academic context is a reality, in the world we live in. The young generation of students is digital native, being immersed in a virtual world during a considerable part of their day. This has an impact in their life, including on their education. In undergraduate engineering education laboratory classes are an integral part of its curriculum. These days, many laboratory classes combine traditional hands-on labs with online labs (remote and virtual labs) and several experimental resources. A “blended” or “hybrid” approach to experimental learning seems the most effective to (students’) experimental learning and the development of competences. Still this technologically mediated resource affects the way students learn and in the literature there is still a lack of works, considering the characterization of didactical implementations using a “blended” or “hybrid” approach and its impact in students’ learning and the way they construct their knowledge. In the Electric and Electronic Engineering topic and using the remote laboratory VISIR there are really very few works, reported in literature, describing some small scaled didactical experiments. The problematic which motivated this work was the need to understand the impact of different didactical approaches using this methodology (simultaneous use of several experimental resources) has on students’ academic results. Ultimately this work intends to contribute to fill a gap identified in the literature: identify factors (including some eventual students’ characteristics) which affect students’ learning and engagement in the electric and electronic circuits topic using the remote lab VISIR along with other complementary resources. To accomplish this end, four research questions where posed, each of them taking into account a set of factors in a specific field of inquiry and its influence on students’ results. The first research question approached the way the several experimental resources could be combined and its effect on students. The second dealt with the influence of the proposed VISIR tasks characteristics on students’ results. The third tackled important teacher mediation traces that could be linked to better students’ performance. And finally, the last research question investigates if there were students’ characteristics that were more associated with good learning outcomes and engagement. Considering the former objectives, it was chosen a multi-case study research methodology, using a mixed method approach, resourcing mainly to questionnaire, interview, documental analysis and observation as data gathering methods, and statistical analysis (descriptive and inferential) and content analysis, as data analysis techniques. A large-scale study analysis was conducted, including 26 courses (in a total of 43 didactical implementations using VISIR, as some of the courses have undergone more than one course implementation edition), comprising 1794 students and involving 52 different teachers. This study took place in several Higher Education Institutions (and at a minor extent, in some Technological and High Schools) in Argentina, Brazil and Portugal. In the southern hemisphere these didactical implementations happened in the 2016 and 2017 academic years while in the northern hemisphere it was possible to collect data from three semesters between 2016/17 and 2018/19 academic years. The study focused on analysing each didactical implementation (their characteristics, teachers’ usage and perception) and the matching students’ results (usage, academic results and perception). Ethical questions to guarantee both students’ and teachers’ privacy was taken care of, when using the data of the participants. The former data was only used for the purposes of this study and the state of the participation was reflected anonymously, which can be observed both in the information collected for the analysis as well as in the transcripts along the text. The study included the analysis of the collected data from various sources, the interpretation of its results using several analysis techniques, and the convergence in a process of triangulation. These results, after discussed with literature, allowed to answer in the most possible complete way the four research questions. Based on them, conclusions were drawn to identify factors that may foster students’ learning and engagement. The study also contributed to the advancement of knowledge in this research area. It allowed to conclude that VISIR and this methodology can be as useful for introductory courses as for more advanced ones (dealing with this thematic) as long as teachers plan the didactical implementation according to the type of course and students’ background. Plus, this methodology based upon VISIR can be applied with high success to courses that do not have an experimental component, nor its contents are directly related to the Electricity and Electronics topic. In these courses VISIR can be used with the purpose of contextualization, providing more interesting and appealing learning environments (e.g. theoretical mathematical courses). Finally, both teachers’ perception and students’ results suggest VISIR target public seems to be the students that require more support in their learning, that is, the students still struggling with difficulties than the more proficient students

Diferentes Abordagens Didáticas Usando um Laboratório Remoto: Identificação de Fatores de Impacto

[EN]Conducting laboratory experiments is of vital importance in science and engineering education, independently the level of education. Nowadays, teachers have different ways of allowing students to develop these competences other than hands-on labs, such as simulations and remote labs. This study is focused on the combined use of the three resources, carried out by 51 teachers, in 25 different courses. In total, 39 didactical implementations in the electric and electronics area were performed in several Higher Educational Institutions and Secondary Schools, in Argentina and Brazil. This occurred during 2016 and 2017 academic years, under the scope of the VISIR+ project and VISIR was the implemented remote lab and reached 1569 students. Teachers’ perception about student acceptance and performance with VISIR as well as teachers’ satisfaction with VISIR, were cross analysed with course characteristics as well as didactical implementation design factors and several interesting correlations stood out: Teachers extra care in designing VISIR tasks accordingly to the learning outcomes/ competences they want their students to develop revealed as a crucial factor; Teacher experience with VISIR plays an important role in students’ satisfaction with the tool; Teacher introduction and support to VISIR along the semester is also an important factor.[PO]A prática laboratorial é fundamental no ensino da ciência e engenharia, independentemente do nível de educação. Atualmente, os professores têm diferentes maneiras, para além dos laboratórios tradicionais (hands-on) de permitir que os estudantes desenvolvam competências experimentais, como simulações e laboratórios remotos. Este estudo incide sobre o uso simultâneo dos três recursos, levado a cabo por 51 professores, em 25 unidades curriculares diferentes. No total, foram realizadas 39 implementações didáticas na área da eletricidade e eletrónica em várias Instituições do Ensino Superior e Escolas Secundárias, na Argentina e no Brasil. Estas implementações aconteceram durante dois anos letivos (entre 2016 e 2017), no âmbito do projeto VISIR+, abrangendo 1569 estudantes. A perceção dos professores sobre a aceitação e desempenho dos estudantes com o laboratório remoto implementado (VISIR), bem como a satisfação dos professores com essa ferramenta, foram analisadas e cruzados com as características das unidades curriculares, bem como alguns dos fatores relativos ao desenho das implementação didáticas. Surgiram várias correlações interessantes que alertam para alguns aspetos importantes: O professor deve desenhar as tarefas com o VISIR bem alinhadas com os resultados de aprendizagem/competências que desejam que os seus estudantes desenvolvam; A experiência do professor com o VISIR tem um papel importante na satisfação dos estudantes com a ferramenta; A atividade de introdução ao VISIR assim como o suporte dado aos estudantes ao longo do semestre são também fatores decisivos

The VISIR+ Project – Helping Contextualize Math in an Engineering Course

[EN]The long-term goal of engineering education is to prepare students to work as engineers. Being a practical profession, laboratories play a crucial role in illustrating concepts and principles as well as improving technical skills. In the last decades the use of online resources (simulators and remote labs) has been growing, either as a complementary and/or as an alternative way of developing experimental competences. In the scope of the VISIR+ Project, this work presents the first results of a didactical implementation using simultaneously the remote laboratory VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality), simulation and calculus in a Math Course at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). The preliminary results indicate that the use of several resources increases students’ performance, boosting their learning and competence development

Learning from complementary ways of developing experimental competences

Engineering education has solid needs of experimental competences development. Nowadays theses competences can be developed not only in traditional laboratories (hands on) but also through the use of computer simulations and remote labs. The use of diversified methods in education and the exploration of new resources and techniques in classroom may allow teachers to motivate more students, and capture their attention due to their different learning styles./nThe main objective of this thesis project is to better understand the effects on the students’ learning outcomes in different contexts, when subject to similar design approaches using an enquiry-based teaching and learning methodology based on simultaneous use of experimental resources (hands on, simulation and remote labs) together with calculus, in class and assessment. To accomplish this goal, several insights must be taken into consideration, including the teachers’ mediation in each case and the didactical implementations adaptations, but also external factors, such as socio-cultural and/or political factors.La educación en ingeniería tiene sólidas necesidades de desarrollo de competencias experimentales. Hoy en día estas competencias pueden desarrollarse no solo en los laboratorios tradicionales (hands-on), sino también a través de simulaciones y laboratorios remotos. El uso de métodos diversificados en la educación y la exploración de nuevos recursos y técnicas en el aula puede permitir que los maestros motiven a más estudiantes y capten su atención. El objetivo principal de este diseño es comprender mejor los efectos sobre los resultados de aprendizaje de los estudiantes en diferentes contextos (país, tipo de institución, etc.), cuando están sujetos a enfoques de diseño similares utilizando una metodología de enseñanza y aprendizaje basada en la investigación. Esta metodología emplea el uso simultáneo de recursos experimentales (handson, simulaciones y laboratorios remotos) junto con cálculo, en clase y en evaluación. Para lograr este objetivo, hay que tener en cuenta varios puntos de vista, como la mediación de los profesores en cada caso y las adaptaciones didácticas, además de factores externos, como por ejemplo los factores socioculturales y/o políticos

Education in the knowledge society : EKS

Resumen basado en el de la publicaciónTítulo, resumen y palabras clave en inglés y en españolLa educación en ingeniería tiene sólidas necesidades de desarrollo de competencias experimentales que se pueden desarrollar mediante el uso de métodos diversificados en la educación y la exploración de nuevos recursos y técnicas en el aula. Por ello, se presenta un diseño cuyo objetivo principal es comprender mejor los efectos sobre los resultados de aprendizaje de los estudiantes en diferentes contextos (país, tipo de institución, etc.), cuando están sujetos a enfoques de diseño similares utilizando una metodología de enseñanza y aprendizaje basada en la investigación. Esta metodología emplea el uso simultáneo de recursos experimentales (handson, simulaciones y laboratorios remotos) junto con cálculo, en clase y en evaluación. Para lograr este objetivo, hay que tener en cuenta varios puntos de vista, como la mediación de los profesores en cada caso y las adaptaciones didácticas, además de factores externos, como por ejemplo los factores socioculturales y/o políticos.ES