Abstract:

In this paper we analyse the effect that different teaching and learning methods have on the development of some measures of educational output.

As educational output we consider:
(i) the impact of studies in five key professional and personal dimensions of the graduates (start working, keep learning, personal development, professional development and capacity to undertake).
(ii) the contribution of the grade on the development of 18 skills, which are grouped in communication, knowledge, management, and innovation competences.

To obtain estimates of the effects of different teaching and learning methods, the hypothesized relationships are modelled by using multi-level production functions, where the dependent variables are measures of educational output and the explanatory variables are the prevalence of various methods of teaching, student behaviour during the studies, and their individual characteristics.

The main question we ask and try to answer is to identify which methods and teaching practices have the greatest influence on the development of the different measures of educational output. The results show that the attendance is the teaching practice with a greater influence on the final mark. However, the most proactive teaching and learning methods as problem-based learning, business practices, and practical knowledge are those methods with more influence on the development of both the competence level of the graduates and the influence of their studies on different aspects of their professional and personal lives. These results have a clear practical application: the results of this paper show the methods and teaching practices more appropriate depending on the aspects of the personal and professional career of graduates or the specific skills to be strengthened.

Keywords:

Multi-level production function, competences, skills, teaching methods.