Abstract:

During the last decade, more than a thousand universities from all around the world have converged in the Higher Education Space, thus causing a revolution in the methodological orientation in tertiary education. Teachers, who used to play the role of the main character in the teaching-learning process, have become promoters and mere guides for students and those, in turn, have been changed into the principal actors instead of recipients of knowledge. These modifications in the methodology used in the university studies can still be a complex framework for teachers, who need to use their classes to transmit not only the contents of their courses and disciplines, but also skills and competencies applicable to personal and professional contexts.

Also, students have been required to adapt themselves to innovative and different methodologies while learning contents and to put them into practice inside the class, either individually or working in teams. This process of role exchange between teachers and students has become the basis of a new standard of communication among them. In this sense, Bradford (1973) suggested that education is built upon the interpersonal relation between teachers and students, and defined the teaching-learning process as a human transaction linking teachers, students and the whole community through dynamic interactions that act as a framework for learning, which is understood as a change introduced to the life project of every individual. That is why education needs to focus on the growth and enrichment of individuals, not only in a personal but also in an intellectual and academic way.

To sum up, the change has been relevant for teachers as well as for students. According to Knight (2005), learning comes not only from training, but also from experience. Bearing this in mind, it might be interesting to point out the fact that, even though the knowledge teachers need is higher than the one students need, both their roles require learning processes that include practice. Robinson (2015) states that the training required for teachers should involve a huge period of internship in several schools, under the surveillance of expert teachers. Given the fact that the main goal is to promote learning, every teacher should be acquainted to the theories and researches carried out in the field of Psychology, as well as to the way educational systems work in different countries and the results obtained. This kind of training is essential for teachers in order to develop and improve their competencies and skills, but it can also be applied to any other discipline outside the academic world.

The aim of this paper is to present the opinions of university students and teachers regarding the above mentioned changes in the teaching-learning process and their implications. To do so, a set of different focus groups were carried out. Participants were university students and teachers from the author’s institution and topics included skills development and differences between the traditional and new teaching methods. The results were analyzed by using Discourse Analysis tools.

References:
[1] Knight, P.T. (2005). El profesorado de Educación Superior. Formación para la excelencia. Ed. Narcea
[2] Robinson, K. (2015). Escuelas creativas. Barcelona. Ed. Grijalbo.
[3] Bradford, L.P. (1973). La transacción enseñar-aprender. La educación hoy, 1 (1), 21-27.

Keywords:

Experiential Learning, Higher Education, Skills Development, Teaching Innovation.