Abstract:

By means of regular meetings and several workshops, a multidisciplinary group of lecturers has managed to coordinate and integrate the content, activities and evaluation of the subjects in the first year Degree in Medicine at Universitat Jaume I. We have also designed some methods to store and measure the workload of students and faculty in each subject.
Regarding the elaboration of teaching guides, these were designed according to the instructions and requirements of the VERIFICA for this degree. We have reached optimal values of coordination and timing among subjects (78%), although the coordination and evaluation of activities and the horizontal integration got a 44% out of the total and a 22% in relation to subjects, being able to improve these values in the future.
Despite no previous activity planning in most subjects, a low participation of students (29%) updating the workload and a constant complaint of students, the results (first semester subjects) show that the weekly autonomous working hours are placed in the proper range, except exam weeks, and that the total does not exceed 90 hours per subject and semester. Taking into consideration the workload of lecturers, this one increases due to the design of activities, their implementation and later assessment, calculating an average of 5h every POD hour.
Both, students and lecturers’ participation, as well as compliance with existing obligations (delivery of educational guides, attending meetings and workshops, planning assignments, etc.) have been low, possibly due to the lack of awareness of the real positive impact that these duties can have on improving the teaching-learning process and/or academic performance. Low participation in the case of lecturers is not affected to variables such as teaching experience; therefore, it could be affected by lack of motivation and/or lack of time. The new European model of teaching and learning and the current economic crisis have led lecturers to undergo some administrative tasks far beyond their teaching duties.

Keywords:

Coordination, Integration, Medicine.