Abstract:

Competition-based teaching methodologies have shown great effectiveness in recent years. This project was carried out through an Olympic Game consisting in 7 tests in which the students had to solve questions dealing with subjects of the university years during a competition with their peers. To reach the final Challenge (test in which everyone was competing with everyone), the students had to pass 6 previous tests in which a visible ranking was composed by all their classmates. Student competitions about the knowledge of certain areas have become very common in elementary schools but, in this project, it is intended to assess how this process works in Higher education. The purpose of the teaching innovation project called "Physiotherapy Olympics" was to motivate the students who are about to finish their university physiotherapy degrees in deepening in the subjects they have developed throughout their university years with the aim of encouraging them to get better results.

We present the competition model that was used, the results obtained and a comparative analysis among the different partners taking part in the project.

The analysis carried out showed highly effective results among students and teachers. The used tool generates motivation among students and is capable of integrating the acquired knowledge and improving academic skills. The degree of student´s satisfaction with the "Physiotherapy Olympics" was very high. The average satisfaction score of all participants is 4.4 out of 5, i.e., 88% (on a scale from 0 to 100%).

The performance of an Olympiad as a motivating project of learning in university students is a valid option, in terms of the dynamism that it generates among students and teachers while it is based on how students value this activity positively. In addition, it contributes to consolidate the knowledge acquired in the different subjects during undergraduate university studies.

Keywords:

Motivation, Competition, Physiotherapy, Evaluation, Higher Education.