NEW DIDACTIC METHODOLOGIES APPLIED TO THE SUBJECT MACROECONOMICS IN THE DEGREES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EXTREMADURA

University teaching is being object of many changes related to the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The Bologna Process has required teachers to modify their teaching-learning methods adapting them to its characteristics. In this paper we analyze these changes in our specific teaching experience in the subject of Macroeconomics.

This subject is taught by the teachers that present this proposal in two different campuses of the University of Extremadura: Badajoz and Cáceres. We have coordinated the contents and the activities of the subject of Macroeconomics and we have shared a space in the virtual campus. The students have been able to download the slides used in the lectures as well as some readings, links, data and exercises. They have been able to do self-assessments by solving questions on line through the virtual class. We have also used some forums in where students have been able to critically discuss news related to the subject. Another innovative activity, in this case applied in classes, has consisted of the implementation of an innovative financed project entitled “UEX-Pictures Factory” whose aim has been the use of entertainment culture in our classes through the viewing of videos or the realization of some fun activities as “mental breakout”. These types of activities have been realized with the objective of developing the necessary competencies that students have to get with this subject.

This semester, as a novelty, we have introduced a classroom-based activity by applying the cooperative learning methodology (CL). This methodology is based on the participative built knowledge, and it gathers different methodologies: from specific classroom techniques to the teaching frameworks or conceptual approaches. It is a process which emphasizes on group’s learning and cooperative efforts in order to do specific tasks. CL is characterised by the group’s size, its composition, goals, roles, way of working, rules and social skills which create, keep and improve the group. CL can be a very effective way of handling the class in order to develop social skills, to get a better command of concepts, to improve the ability of solving problems, and to get better communicational and linguistic skills. Several CL techniques can be used in the classroom. We have chosen the “jigsaw technique” (or “mosaic”) designed by Aronson and his team at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Students were divided in groups of four to six members trying to maximize the heterogeneity. Class work was divided by the number of members and every student received a part of it. Next, students with the same piece of work were gathered in “expertise groups” where the problems were solved and debated. Finally every student returned to their original group (“based group”) and showed to the remainder what he or she had learned. To asses the results of the experience we prepared and analysed a questionnaire fulfilled by the students. In general, the students valued positively the experience and had said that is a good methodology to improve their learning process. We have decided to use this technique in other subjects the next academic year in order to compare their effectiveness in different students and subjects.