We present and analyze the results of surveys conducted in recent years with students from two related subjects, but taught in different centers of the University of Madrid. These surveys are part of the objectives of various projects of educational innovation, and applied through the platform Moodle

Aguado Cortijo, P.

Arraiza Bermudez-Cañete, Maria Paz

Calderón Guerrero, C.

Lopez Alvarez, Jose Vicente

Mendiola Ubillos, María Ángeles

Servicio de Coordinación de Bibliotecas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

RESULTS OF STUDENT’S SURVEYS IN SIMILAR COURSES GIVEN 
IN DIFFERENT CENTERS OF THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF 
MADRID 
M. Mendiola Ubillos, P. Arraiza Bermudez-Cañete, P. Aguado Cortijo, C. 
Calderón Guerrero, J. V. López Álvarez 
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (SPAIN) 
paz.arraiza@upm.es, carlos.calderon@upm.es 
Abstract 
We present and analyze the results of surveys conducted in recent years with students from two 
related subjects, but taught in different centers of the University of Madrid. These surveys are part of 
the objectives of various projects of educational innovation, and applied through the platform Moodle.  
The survey template is shown, with the main points, corresponding to a custom survey, the time and 
difficulty experienced by the students, staff assessment and learning. The results provide important 
data in order to improve the methodologies used and the achievement of the goals set by teachers, in 
implementing the new criteria for adaptation to the European Space on Higher Education. 
These results have provided important data in order to improve the methodologies used and the 
achievement of the goals set by teachers, focused on the implementation of the new criteria for 
adaptation to the European Higher Education. The results have been analyzed and presented 
comparatively for each subject and year, clearly noting an improvement in the evaluation among 
consecutive years. 
Keywords: Surveys, educational innovation, Moodle. 
1 INTRODUCTION 
Two subjects of similar topics were taught in two different Centers and Degrees of the UPM (Plants of 
Agro Food Interest, PAI, in Agronomy Engineering, and Industrial Use of Medicinal and Aromatic 
Plants, IUPAM, from Forest Engineering) and have been assessed for results. The first one, PAI, was 
taught in classroom in the Degree of Agronomy Engineering, and the other one, IUMAP, was taught 
completely online as a free choice online course in the UPM. The same survey has been given to the 
students, and the results have been compared. 
2 THE SURVEY 
The survey consisted in 10 questions about the course contents, plus 4 questions about the learning 
assessment and 4 more of general assessment of the course, as shown below. The survey has been 
done by students for 5 years. We show the results of the course 2011 – 2012. 
1. What are you studying? 
2. Comparing with the rest of the courses you attended this semester, please indicate: 
The level of difficulty for this course: 
a) Easy                   b) The same              c) Difficult 
3. Please indicate the level of difficulty for this course: 
Very easy          1              2              3         Very difficult 
4. The organization of the course and work helped me to notice the advantage and importance of 
what I had to learn for this course: 
Not at all          1                  2                  3       A lot 
5. The organization of this course helped me to learn something and not only to pass the exam: 
Not at all           1                 2                  3      A lot 
Proceedings of ICERI2012 Conference 
19th-21st November 2012, Madrid, Spain
ISBN: 978-84-616-0763-1
2359
6. Please indicate which parts of the course you think were the most interesting: 
Module I Not at all 1 2 3 Very interesting 
Module II Not at all 1 2 3 Very interesting 
Module III Not at all 1 2 3 Very interesting 
Module IV Not at all 1 2 3 Very interesting 
Module V Not at all 1 2 3 Very interesting 
Module VI Not at all 1 2 3 Very interesting 
Module VII Not at all 1 2 3 Very interesting 
7. Did you follow the course regularly? 
I didn’t follow the course at all                      
I followed less than a half of this course 
I followed a half of this course 
I followed more than a half of this course 
I followed the entire course  
8. Please indicate the level of usage of the materials for this course: 
Texts   Not at all 1 2 3 Very interesting 
PPTs   Not at all 1 2 3 Very interesting 
Other sources  Not at all 1 2 3 Very interesting 
9. The time estimated for the course was adequate. 
10. Please feel free to take a few minutes and to leave any observations, positive or negative, 
regarding your own personal experience with this course. I am very much interested to hear your 
opinion, which could become helpful in improving the quality of my teaching in the future. Thank you 
very much for your collaboration and your help! 
3 RESULTS 
1. What are you studying? Results are shown in % of students 
IUMAP PAI 
  
2 
1 
5 
6 
1 
Aerospace 
Agronomy 
Architecture 
Industrial  
Its 
6% 
19% 
19% 
25% 
6% 
13% 
6% 
0% 
6% 
Agrofood 
Industries 
Environment 
Plant ProducAon 
Plant ProtecAon 
Animal ProducAon 
Agrarial Economy 
Rural Engineering 
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2. Please indicate the level of difficulty for this course, compared with the rest of the courses you 
attended this semester. 
IUMAP PAI 
  
3. Please indicate the level of difficulty for this course itself. 
IUMAP PAI 
  
62% 
33% 
5% 
Easier  The same  More Diﬃcult 
75% 
19% 
6% 
0 
48% 
52% 
Very Easy  Easy  Medium  Diﬃcult 
0 
31% 
69% 
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 4. Has the course motivated your interest in the subject? 
IUMAP PAI 
  
5. Did the organization of the course help you to notice the advantage and importance of what you 
had to learn for this course? 
IUMAP PAI 
  
5% 
29% 
67% 
Low  Medium  High 
6% 
6% 
88% 
5% 
29% 
67% 
Low  Medium  High 
6% 
6% 
88% 
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 6. Did the organization of this course help you to learn something and not only to pass the exam? 
IUMAP PAI 
  
7. Please indicate which parts of the course you think were the most interesting 
 
5% 
24% 
71% 
Low  Medium  High 
6% 
6% 
88% 
In
tr
od
uc
Ao
n 
Cu
lA
va
Ao
n 
Ra
w
 M
aO
er
 
A
cA
ve
 
co
m
po
un
ds
 
In
du
st
ri
al
 
U
se
s 
Q
ua
lit
y 
Co
nt
ro
l 
IUMAP 
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 8. Did you follow the course regularly? 
IUMAP PAI 
 
 
9. The time given for the course was enough. In this question, in both subjects, the answer was YES 
in all cases (100%). 
10. OPINIONS. The opinions given by the students are transcript literally. 
Facing the exams I do not understand the interest in memorizing as much data point, not so farfetched 
to understand the questions, it is to learn a broad overview of medicinal plants and not to retain data 
and very specific anecdotal. 
The timing of the course is perfect. One item a week to read, understand and manage information is 
good to really learn it properly. Furthermore, the possibility of an exam before final exams is 
appreciated. Moreover, few professors have both in terms of content uploaded to Moodle information. 
It's nice to get one of these PDFs and read quietly. They are very well written. In any case 
congratulations for the course.  
I enjoyed following it and learning. I have recommended it to all my classmates. 
I would recommend this course because I have seen and learned curious questions not expected. I 
found the tests easy once you've read the agenda as the questions have always been very clear and 
specific (I consider that tests help a lot to pass). Personally I have had problems in the final exam, but 
my fault entirely. I've been distracted with other subjects and my work and I missed the date. I also 
PAI 
Low  Medium  High 
0 4% 
19% 
76% 
Not at All 
Less than half 
Half 
More than half 
Always 
0 
6% 
75% 
19% 
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feel that the teacher has been involved at all times. I'm doing another virtual course and the opposite 
happens: the teacher serves no doubts, do not give us our notes or just I cannot be seen as support. 
To me, it has been very useful to think that I could send an e-mail to the teacher and the same day or 
the next day I had the answer to my question very clearly. 
Honestly, the subject is well directed. Texts (PDFs) are very well written and well understood. From 
my point of view you would not have to change / improve anything. The workload is not much and can 
combine with other subjects. Furthermore, although the work of 20 pages seemed too much, it was 
not, I just had to put forward, dedication. Being a subject "on-line", congratulations on the attention 
paid to the students, and I know of other cases where the subjects 'distance' have been disastrous.  
It was a curious subject didactics. Depending on the degree of students it may seem more or less 
interesting. 
Personally I think it was a very interesting course and has satisfied even improved expectations I had 
about it. I looked further on the subject of medicinal plants and there is no subject in my career to talk 
about this topic i was very interested, so I have to thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn 
more about it. Now I am working in an export company called "Amorós nature", I'm working in the 
laboratory doing quality analysis and identification of compounds and plants, and I can apply some of 
the concepts. 
The course has a good approach, it is very easy for the materials you have, but there is little time. I 
think that a more practical course would be better applied. On the other hand, I've learned things I 
hope they give me a base because it has aroused interest in the subjects studied. 
The truth is I have no complaints whatsoever, is an interesting course, affordable and if you read the 
agenda with a little care you can learn things, in my case, are unknown and interesting. As all such 
subjects, I highly recommend it in relation to effort and learning. 
It is a very interesting subject. Really recommended for those who not only seek to learn math 
formulas. Very fun and entertaining. 
Actually I have no contribution for improvement, as I believe that the subject is fairly well structured 
information and the focus of the course is clear. And unlike in other subjects of Moodle, the teacher 
was attentive and outstanding resources and doubts that may arise, so I'm happy to have completed 
this course. 
The general subject I found very interesting, it's true that my degree did not add anything in terms of 
expanding my professional knowledge, but from the beginning I got very curious and I really liked it, 
the way expose the issues, work, and above all that is virtual, because I count on short and thus one 
can organize whatever. 
Throughout the course, the notes in PDF and material you provided, I found it very helpful for carrying 
out the questionnaires. These notes, were very interesting to me time to study because they are 
concrete, goes straight to the concepts to be taught, without giving many rodeos. Thus the course 
awakened my interest in this subject. The questionnaires covered the whole subject, so you forced to 
read your material provided. Being unlimited performance time allowed it more calmly and thus to 
have the option to review it carefully. Overall, I liked the organization and development of this subject 
in all respects. The work had to hand it seemed a good idea because when we were forced to browse 
develop scientific articles and, in my case, find out more about it that it was in such work. 
Congratulations on the subject. 
In these lines for comments I wanted to express my great satisfaction that has been to take this 
course. I must say that when I enrolled it I did not really believe what I expected, but after the course 
went on each day I have rejoiced over having chosen it. I found it very productive and a subject that I 
liked. The organization of the course was perfect, because the teacher has met the terms originally 
proposed. I needed little help from the teacher but the times I've done your answer was quick and 
willing to help. Regarding the structure of the subject has been great. All subjects understood each 
other perfectly without any difficulty and summaries of Power Point were very neat and tidy, serving as 
support to improve comprehension. Regarding the structure of the course are all issues I find 
important and necessary, but there are issues like the heaviest item 4, yet it seems necessary to 
study. No matter if the legislation has not been entered in test and examination because coming from 
the start or do not have time, but I think this issue should not come as a subject since being the 
subject of free choice I think should prevail over knowledge "lighter" one a "very verbose" but do not 
the importance of this issue. After reading these lines may seem "rally" (believe me it is not, because if 
2365
I had not liked subject would have been as critical but in reverse) but I think it is unacceptable to thank 
and show enthusiasm awakened in my this subject, because when you do a good job (in my opinion) 
and I recognize, like and produces the satisfaction of accomplishment. Finally do not think anything 
should change the shape of the subject, only the content in case the information is outdated, but that's 
not up to me. Kind regards. 
Not that I do not want to say anything, but I just do not think I can improve in any subject, because (in 
my point of view everything was perfect).  
The established times to study the agenda and make the test was more than enough. The clarity of 
the texts attached was perfect, albeit with a typo, but forgettable, anyone can get confused!! It also 
offered the opportunity to repeat test, we perform them corrected nothing ... I do not know, honestly I 
cannot ask for more. In short, I finished very happy with the course, and as I said before 
recommending it to all my friends, for being an interesting subject, in which we learn new things and 
most importantly, useful things. (In my life had stepped a herbalist and the other day I went for the first 
time). 
Personally I liked the teaching of this subject. Methodology I really like, and I thank my doing work 
constant throughout the course before you make a final review of all content. The tests were made in 
a manner that was not very difficult and the work helps a lot to learn concepts on your own. Therefore, 
I liked the subject and I have raised some interest, and all that at first I thought this course would not 
be so... 
From my point of view has been a subject easy to follow, and that all that was needed so that it can 
conduct was in our hands and we doubt that the answer came quickly, so by the delighted attention 
and resources . As for the issues, although there were some more boring, everyone has been helpful 
to learn more about PAM. 
I really liked the subject because the aromatic and medicinal plants interest me a lot. I consider it an 
easier course than the degree, which is already well because elective credits have (or should) be 
easier. Even so, I think the final exam questions could be made from slightly different from the 
questionnaires throughout the course. I learned a lot and it motivated me and I recommend the course 
to all students interested in the subject. 
REFERENCES 
[1] Jiménez, F., Leo, T. J., Perez, F., Fernandez, C., Barrera, P., Navarro, E., Arraiza, P., Lozano, 
C. (2008). Rediseño de asignaturas para su impartición en formato semipresencial o a 
distancia. XVI Congreso Universitario de innovación educativa en las enseñanzas técnicas 
(CUIEET), 23/09/2008-26/09/2008, Cádiz, España. ISSBN 978-84-608-0805-3 
[2] Jiménez, F., Leo, T. J., Perez, F., Fernandez, C., Barrera, P., Navarro, E., Arraiza, P., Lozano, 
C. (2008). Desarrollo y aplicación de un procedimiento uniforme para evaluar programas de 
intervención educativa en asignaturas heterogéneas. VI Congreso Internacional de Docencia 
Universitaria e Innovación.  
[3] Arraiza, M. P. (2008). Experiences of Videoconference between the Universities of Madrid and 
Patagonia. II National Conference on Social Science Research - Universidad Nacional de la 
Patagonia. November 2008.  
[4] Mendiola, M. A., villa, A. Y arraiza, P. (2009). Aporte constructivista de los estudiantes a través 
de la plataforma Moodle en la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. I Congreso de docencia 
Universitaria, 2-4 julio 2009, Universidad de Vigo, pag. 78. 
[5] Arraiza M. P. (2009). UPM Open Course Ware. Industrial Use of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.  
[6] Arraiza M. P. (2009). UPM Open Course Ware. Uso Industrial de Plantas Aromáticas y 
Medicinales 
[7] Arraiza, M. P., Mendiola, M. A., Villa, A. y Aguado P. (2010). Presentación de una página web 
docente de apoyo a diferentes asignaturas en la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. VI 
Congreso CIDUI (Congreso Internacional de Docencia Universitaria e Innovación). 30 junio-2 
julio, Barcelona, España. http://cidui.up.edu  ISBN: 9788484583240 
[8] Arraiza, M. P., Mendiola, M. A., Villa, A. y Aguado P. (2011).  ICT applications to an educational 
web page in the Polytechnic University of Madrid. EDULEARN11 - International Conference on 
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Education and New Learning Technologies. 864 p. 4-6 Julio 2011. Barcelona, España. 
www.edulearn11.org 
[9] Arraiza M. P. (2011) EDULEARN11. Development of Self-Study Guides for Three Subjects of 
the Current Forest Engineering Curricula to Be Extinguished after the Implementation of the 
Bologna Plan. Modality: VIRTUAL. 
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Results of students surveys in similar courses given in different centers of the Technical University of Madrid

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