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Home > Vol 12, No 3 (2022) > Cano García

EDITORIAL: TRAINING IN TEACHING INNOVATION. ENGINEERING 2030

1Universitat de Barcelona (Spain)

2Projectes d’Enginyeria, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain)

3Enginyeria Química, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain)

April 2022

May 2022

Since the Sorbonne declaration in 1998, much has been published about the implementation of the European Higher Education Area, which, among other things, proposes the creation of a system of European credits that measure the student's workload. This places the core of the process in the student's learning rather than in the teacher's teaching. Numerous changes have been taking place, but the culture of teaching innovation does not seem to have penetrated sufficiently (Paricio et al., 2019). On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of the university (Martín-Barbero, 2020). However, the use of technologies does not necessarily entail a pedagogical change (Bhagat & Spector, 2017), for which it seems necessary to deepen teaching innovation processes supported by technology.

On the other hand, teaching innovation and research on teaching innovation constitute axes that outline the characteristics of the best valued higher education institutions. Contributing to the training of citizens and professionals through different teaching-learning methods is one of the basic functions of universities, so the commitment to teaching innovation allows strengthening this function (Iqbal et al., 2018).

For all these reasons, this issue includes the best works, the result of the teaching innovation conferences that were held for the closing of the training program “Training in Teaching Innovation. Engineering 2030” taught by the University of Barcelona for professors of engineering degrees from the Catholic University of Northern Chile and the University of Antofagasta (sponsored by HEUMA CORFO and the team of trainers included professors from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, professors at the Open University of Catalonia, and faculty of the University of Barcelona, which is the program's coordinating institution) and which were held at the end of March 2021. The results presented at the conference were mostly innovations, which had to be adapted to the confinement situation derived from the COVID-19 pandemic generated by COVID-19 (García-Peñalvo et al., 2020).

In the first place, there is an article by Professor Valero, who is an international reference in the matter, which indicates the benefits of active methodologies and their need in the current context. Under the title "Challenges, difficulties and barriers for Engineering Higher Education" the possibilities and limitations of active methodological strategies in hybrid teaching contexts are outlined. Gamification (Lluch et al., 2022) or the creation of communities of practice that learn by developing cooperative learning strategies (Turnbull et al., 2021) are some of his proposals.

Next, there is a work that describes and analyzes the evaluation practices carried out during the pandemic in engineering and mathematics studies at the University of Barcelona. The reality that Professor Puertas shows can possibly be extrapolated to other institutions or realities, as he draws a panorama of the use of tools both linked to the LMS (Moodle, in this case) and external ones. The link between the evaluation proposals and the development of certain transversal skills is stated, which represents a relevant contribution to the literature on this topic (Ibarra et al., 2020a).

Finally, there are 5 articles related to the experiences developed.

Cano and Rojas, under the title "Increase in academic performance due to the application of cooperative learning strategies: a case in civil engineering", show the effects that the implementation of active methodologies has on performance, learning pace and motivation. Although the proposal is made on a module of a subject, combining the lecture session with the online cooperative learning workshop session implies improvements in participation, motivation, the pass rate, previous performance, and the pace of learning,  which  suggests its extension to other modules or subjects.

 The authors Peceño, Lluch, Bonilla, Cortes and Bakit, with their contribution "Students' perception of the digital tools used in methodological strategies associated with online teaching in the context of pandemics: a case of analysis in the North of Chile", help a greater understanding of students' perception of the access, use and usefulness of digital tools used in online teaching during the pandemic. This analysis is very useful for adjusting online teaching according to the needs of students.

The following contribution, which is a choral work by Lluch, Balbotín and Sullivan about the increase in cooperative learning and student motivation with gamification strategies, explains a case in Industrial Civil Engineering in which gamification is implemented to solve its own problems. of science-based engineering, from the integration of two key subjects of the Industrial Civil Engineering career. As a result, motivation, teamwork, good performance in learning and evaluation activities, and student satisfaction are achieved.

Professors Willans and Galván emphasize the importance of designing activities in which interactivity with the teacher, with the resources and among the students favors greater academic retention and an improvement in learning achievement. Their contribution offers clues for future designs online or in hybrid mode.

Finally, Fernández and Espinoza address cooperative work in their contribution “An inverted classroom experience in the context of a pandemic: cooperative work as a strategy for meaningful student learning.” The article demonstrates the need to implement significant learning experiences that mix virtuality and presence based on practice and with the provision of feedback as a key element for the continuous improvement of student learning. Specifically, within the framework of these active methodologies, the importance of collaborative work or cooperative teaching is reflected for the acquisition of new learning, the increase of new positive attitudes during the teaching and learning process, the improvement of academic performance, the development of teamwork competence and increased student satisfaction and motivation.

All these experiences illustrate contributions that have been designed following several characteristics related to good teaching practices: (a) seek constructive alignment between all  elements of the curricular design (Biggs, 2003); (b) design quality learning tasks (Ibarra et al., 2020b); (c) place the student at the center of the learning and evaluation process (Carless & Boud, 2018); (d) use technology to favor learning processes (Pinto & Leite, 2020), and (e) guide the teaching-learning process, in a competency-based approach, towards the graduate profile to train professionals and citizens who society demands (European Commission, 2019; Villa, 2020). On the other hand, not only are the designs and curricular developments narrated, but the contexts of action for each case are located, facilitating the analysis of the readers to consider their possible transfer and the results that these implementations have yielded are collected. taking another step towards evidence-based education.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

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Biggs, J. (2003). Using assessment strategically to change the way students learn. En Brown, S. & Glasner, A. (Eds.) (2003). Assessment Matters in Higher Education. Choosing and using diverse approaches (pp. 41-54). Society for Research into Higher Education.

Carless, D., & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: enabling uptake of feedback. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), 1315–1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354

European Commission (2019). Key competences for lifelong learning. Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/297a33c8-a1f3-11e9-9d01-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

García-Peñalvo, F. J., Corell, A., Abella-García, V., & Grande, M. (2020). Online assessment in higher education in the time of COVID-19. Education in the Knowledge Society, 21, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.14201/eks.23013

Ibarra-Sáiz, M.S., Rodríguez-Gómez, G. & Boud, D. (2020a). Developing student competence through peer assessment: the role of feedback, self-regulation and evaluative judgement. Higher Education, 80, 137–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00469-2

Ibarra-Sáiz, M. S., Rodríguez-Gómez, G., & Boud, D. (2020b). The quality of assessment tasks as a determinant of learning. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1828268

Iqbal, A., Latif, F., Marimon, F., Sahibzada, U.F. and Hussain, S. (2018). From knowledge management to organizational performance: modelling the mediating role of innovation and intellectual capital in higher education. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 32(1), 36-59. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-04-2018-0083

Lluch, K.; Cano, E., Valero, M. y Meseguer, R. (2022) ¿Otro tipo de gamificación es posible?: Experiencia de Retos Gamificados y de Evaluación entre Iguales desde el Aprendizaje Cooperativo y la Atención a la Diversidad. En Ema Elena Aveleyra y Melisa Alejandra Proyetti Martino (coords.). Escenarios y recursos para la enseñanza con tecnología: desafíos y retos (337-352). Octaedro.

Martín-Barbero,  S.  (2020). COVID-19  has  accelerated  the  digital  transformation  of  higher education. World  Economic  Forum(WEFAgenda-blog), Retrieved from: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/covid-19-digital-transformation-higher-education/

Paricio, J., Fernández, A., & Fernández, I. (2019). Cartografía de la buena docencia. Un Marco para el desarrollo del profesorado basado en la investigación. Narcea.

Pinto, M., & Leite, C. (2020). Digital technologies in support of students learning in Higher Education: literature review. Digital Education Review, 37, 343-360. https://doi.org/10.1344/der.2020.37.343-360

Turnbull, D.; Chugh, R.; & Luck, J. (2021). Transitioning to E‑Learning during the COVID‑19 pandemic: How have Higher Education Institutions responded to the challenge? Education and Information Technologies, 26, 6401–6419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10633-w

Villa, A. (2020). Competence-based learning: development and implementation in the university field. REDU. Revista de Docencia Universitaria, 18(1), 19-46. https://doi.org/10.4995/redu.2020.13015

To cite this article:

Cano García, E., Amante García, B., & Martínez Martínez, M (2022). Editorial: Training in teaching innovation. Engineering 2030. Journal of Technology and Science Education, 12(3), 547-550.  https://doi.org/10.3926/jotse.1695

 

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