M-LEARNING: A NOVEL METHODOLOGY FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING AT THE UNIVERSITY

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is an organization for matching educational systems of the European Union in order to promote the exchange of students, but also it is an unprecedented change in educational structures implemented at European Universities.

The EHEA has been developed taking into account the diversity of the European culture, as well as the rapid progress of new information and communication technologies. This has been possible after working and consensus of the main European operators involved: governments, national rectors' conferences, higher education institutions and students. The overall objective is to invest in the Europe of Knowledge, characterized by institutional autonomy, academic freedom, equal opportunities and democratic principles, facilitating mobility and employment.

Taking this into account, how to develop, acquire and transmit knowledge would be modified by new technologies, leading to renew contents and teaching methods. Higher Education must incorporate the advantages and potential of new information and communication technologies, but safeguarding the quality and outcomes of education. Many new concepts have appeared as technology, e.g. web-based education, electronic learning (e-learning), or mobile devices-based learning (m-learning). M-learning is a teaching and learning new methodology based on the use of small mobile devices such as mobile phones, Tablets, iPods, and all handheld devices with wireless connectivity.

Regarding to this, we propose the use of application for mobile phones related with a financied project for practice teaching in Developmental Embryology subjetc from Biology Grade.. This application provides a 3D model of different developmental stages in three species (frogg, chicken and human). The students could be able to visualize the different histologic sections of a given state of development in a simple and easily accessible way. In this sense, this application is proposed as a complementary study tool that would facilitate understanding of three-dimensional structures, which often involve hard work on the printed paper.

Mobile technologies are daily present in our lives. Many applications only need to be connected to a WIFI network and can be a powerful tool for share files or call, e.g. WhatsApp. In this study we propose the use of mobile devices to enhance learning tools for Higher Education.