Abstract:

European Convergence is an innovation in the style and tools used in the university learning process. Up to now we have tested various aspects of virtual platforms and their effect on learning. Our results show an erratic performance in the methodology based on virtual media. The observed dispersion is partially due to the fact students have negative attitudes towards mathematical subjects, because in some cases they do not understand and generally do not justify its presence within the pharmacy curriculum. Moreover the teachers still have only a partial knowledge of teaching resources based on the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), so these are not ideal conditions to optimize their chances. However, the biggest handicap is the lack of interdisciplinary teaching groups and especially interdisciplinary teaching-learning groups.
The aim of this work was verified by a survey designed for this purpose, to find out if the student has an integrated understanding of the teachings that they are receiving. We also want to know the opinion of students on the difficulty of linking the knowledge gained in the learning process. This information will be very helpful in the process of European Convergence marking guidelines to discover which skills could be achieved more effectively with this information.
Therefore we proceeded to conduct a survey, which was implemented voluntarily and anonymously to the students of first and second cycle. A questionnaire with 10 questions asked students to evaluate the applicability of Mathematics and Statistics in other subjects of the Pharmacy degree.
Students are asked about their prior preparation in mathematics (Question 1). There was a block of questions to find out their opinion on the subject in general, duration, program performance, and evaluation system (Questions 3, 4, 5). Another block is oriented to determine the voluntary use of resources available to them (Questions 2, 7, 8). It made a risky question (6) that allows us to assess the importance that students give to this matter. The last two questions (9 and 10) are related to the application of their acquired knowledge in mathematics.
The selection of the sample was by means of a stratified random sampling. The census were obtained by 2009/2010 University Complutense of Madrid Code of study: 302 Plan: 00, pages 123-127, and ii) Offer of free elective subjects Generic, 2008-2009, UCM, pages 53-58.
The strata chosen were the second and fourth year students courses, within these years students were chosen randomly. A balanced sample of size n = 402 was used. Statistical analysis descriptive and comparison between the two cycles of degree using the Chi-square test, were performed using the software Statgraphics.
Among the survey findings highlighted due to its importance in future planning of the teaching methodology, the following conclusion has been made: The survey results show little interest by the students, regarding the voluntary use of resources available to them, especially the tutorials (the 64% have never gone to the tutor with no significant difference between groups statistically significant (p = 0.125). Likewise, the use of multimedia resources is very low, 45% have never used. The low valuation of resources is a warning sign regarding the successful development of a new curriculum, in which the use of these resources is a priority. Teachers need to work to find ways to motivate students to use multimedia resources.

Keywords:

Transversal Competence, interdisciplinary, survey.