Abstract:

This paper describes the bichannel teaching initiative undertaken by an interdisciplinary network of professors from different Universities and Research Institutions of Spain. The challenge was to screen and highlight technological resources and communication technologies (ICTs) currently available to be applied in classroom and virtual teaching environments in a systematic and practical way.

To this end, "air quality" was selected as studying topic. This is a potentially transversal theme that may be of interest to a broad range of subject areas due to its relationship with economic activity, human health and its effect on the ecosystem. From a practical perspective, moreover, "air quality" is collected in databases that have both spatial and temporal components (daily frequency) that are free access.

The chosen subject (air quality) was moreover selected with the objective to educate and aware undergraduate students in the related issues. They incorporate climate-impact and health-impact variables in their future interests, both academic and professional.

In this paper we present the first team work result: AirQStat online repository. Climatic, economic and air quality data have been collected from various sources, conforming data tables in different format, and processed for easy integration in teaching exercises. There are exercises to work specific and common issues (description data, regression, generalized linear models and multilevel models).
Discussion, at the end of the paper, presents the feedback received from the teaching community and a planning made for systematic application in classroom during 2016-2017’s courses.

Keywords:

Innovation, teaching, repository, education, quantitative, statistics, mathematics, economics, network.