Abstract:

The current educational framework, characterized by the convergence towards the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) requires a reformulation of teaching methodologies, which should be based on learning, not only in teaching. The goal is to improve the quality of teaching-learning process, creating a more interactive and motivating environment for students. To these ends, the new information and communications technology have become extremely important to support the learning process as it enhances communication and information sharing. In this sense, a new technological innovation incorporated recently to the field of education is the one known as Knowledge Pills. Knowledge Pills are small units of training content that synthesize specific and fundamental procedures of the subject that the teacher provides to all students (Maceiras et al., 2010). In fact, Knowledge Pills provide an immediate response to the need of accessing a specific knowledge (Allende, 2008). For the preparation of a pill it is possible to use different resources as graphic animations, images, audio, etc. that favor capturing students' attention and energize learning. All these advantages are important because in the new educational framework, the student becomes the primary responsible of his/her learning process and for that it is necessary to develop a proactive attitude. Thereby, this teaching innovation project is successfully adapted to the requirements of the new educational framework of the EHEA.

However, Knowledge Pills have not been fully developed yet and students’ perception and design preferences remain open questions. Despite the fact that students from the millennial generation seem to be quite interested in multimedia ways to access to information and knowledge, and that they are fluent in using the Internet, little is known about their willingness to use Knowledge Pills as a learning technique. Then, research is needed in order to assess the potential success of the implementation of Knowledge Pills as a learning method for undergraduate students.

This study aims to contribute to this endeavor by exploring through an empirical study students’ perceptions and preferences to use Knowledge Pills as a tool to learn concepts and develop skills related to specific subjects. Specifically, in this study we address the perceived usefulness, attitudes and willingness to use Knowledge pills held by students from the different degrees offered by the Economy and Management Department of the University of Almería. In addition, the study delves into student preferences for Knowledge Pills design and development in terms of content (i.e., ways of presenting the information and tone), length and number of Pills desired by course.

Taken all together, the results support the notion that Knowledge Pills are considered by students as a useful tool for learning and that they are very interested in using them (in fact, most of them already use Knowledge Pills for acquiring academic and no academic knowledge). Besides that, this work also provides evidence for the development of Knowledge Pills which are able to meet the preferences of Economy and Management students in terms of length, content, tone and quantity.

References:
[1] Allende, J. S. (2008). Tómate una píldora... de conocimiento. Bit, (169), 37-39.
[2] Maceiras, R., Cancela, A., & Goyanes, V. (2010). Aplicación de nuevas tecnologías en la docencia universitaria. Formación Universitaria, 3(1), 21-26.

Keywords:

Knowledge Pills, student attitudes, student willingness to use.