Abstract:

This proposal is integrated within the framework of EAE teaching strategy in the Bachelor of Business Administration of EAE - UPC. Our teaching strategy aims to provide the student with a competency profile that allows a smooth job placement. For this purpose, is emphasized the ability of learning how to learn that we associate with the concept of meta-competencies, and we conceive it as the ability to know how to relate, combine and conjugate competencies in the appropriate situations. The student owns this meta-competency if he is able and aware when he applies knowledge and skills acquired throughout the degree program. Under this perspective seems necessary for the student to be aware of the acquisition of each generic competency and his ability to combine them. This self-cognition is associated with the student engagement throughout the learning process, which the empirical research consistently relates to high standard learning results.

The project consists of estimating the impact on the student's engagement and his perception of learning outcomes derived from a set of training activities associated with the generic competencies of Information Management (IM) and Teamwork (TW), which are common to all the degree programs of the Unversitat Politecnica de Catalunya.

We built the research based on the following hypothesis: making first year students aware of the importance and the need to acquire the generic competencies of IM and TW as a way to improve their engagement and the perception of their learning outcomes. In the process of self-cognition of their evolution, we set intermediate and final objectives that can be evaluated and co-evaluated through rubrics that reinforce their participation and their metacognition.

The final objective is not only to improve the degree of acquisition of IM and TW competencies, but also to encourage students engagement in the learning process through their perception of improving their ability to work as a team and to manage information.

The hypothesis contrast is made by comparing two groups of students: the control group develops the training activities as a team or individually, in a voluntary and discretionary manner. The experimental group is presented every week with a set of eight training activities that requires the managing of information through the work of eight different teams which composition is mandatory After that, four additional training activities are proposed to perform in one team which composition is voluntary Finally, both generic competencies are co-evaluated by rubrics within groups and among groups and we poll students about the results: both student’s experience in different teams, as well as the self-perception of his learning related to the information management competency.

The project studies the results in terms of awareness and students perception about the level of achievement of the objectives in both groups: experimental and control group. The experimental group recognizes the best results in learning as a team, but also the difficulties: the relevance of co-responsibility, the complexity derived from the roles and their management, and their consequences on the co-evaluation. As a consequence of this learning, students show greater engagement in the work, and greater awareness in their evolution regarding the acquisition of both competencies of teamwork and information management.

Keywords:

Generic skills, assessment, learning evaluation, meta-competency.