Abstract:

This work presents a method to evaluate the practical learning of master’s students in the framework of water resources engineering. The methodology was applied to the subject Water Resources Systems of the Master in Hydraulic Engineering and Environment of the Technical University of Valencia between the academic years 2020/2021 and 2022/2023. This subject covers basic and cutting-edge knowledge related to hydrological planning and management, including water resources assessment, water resources allocation and management, optimization of water resources management, ecological flows, drought management, etc. The subject is taught to a group of about fifty students during the first semester of each academic year.

The practical learning of this subject is structured as a continuous project in which each student work with real data and issues of different Spanish river basins and reservoirs, following the known as Project-Based Learning methodology. The practical project includes several partial exercises related to hydrological modelling, simulation of water allocation, optimization of operating rules, assessment and analysis of ecological flow regimes, and water management during drought periods, among others.

The evaluation of these practical exercises is based on short (maximum 3 minutes) video-presentations elaborated by the students and uploaded to the web platform of the subject (poliformaT). On this way, students not only need to learn how to address the issues of the exercises, but also how to summarize them in brief presentations. In addition, they get familiarized with the self-elaboration of video-presentations, so that they acquire a wide range of competences by means of this leaning and assessment methodology.

After three academic years of application of the methodology, it has been demonstrated that students feel motivated to learn the practical tools and models taught in the subject through its application to address real water management issues in Spanish river basins. They are also satisfied to improve their oral presentation skills and to learn how to use computer tools to elaborate video-presentations. The experiences and results of the application of the methodology will be further detailed during the conference.

Keywords:

Water resources, practical projects, learning assessment, student videos.