TEACHING COMPUTER PROGRAMMING IN THE DEGREES OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING WITH COLLABORATIVE AND PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING

Computer Programming is a core subject of almost all careers of Engineering that is perceived as a very complex matter for the students, because is very different from the other core subjects (Physics, Calculus, Algebra, Chemistry, Graphics Expression) that are more familiar to students. Programming combines equally the two fundamental steps in the developing of an Engineering product, design and implementation (coding), but with the important difference in the lower costs of the implementation phase, which permits students building and testing the proposed designs. On the other hand, the new European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is based in the acquisition of competencies and skills by the student (versus the accumulation of knowledge) and also in the use of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), which is an important change in the teaching model. In this paper we show our eight years experience in developing an hybrid methodology for teaching Computer Programming in the degrees of Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic and Chemistry Engineering in the University of Almería (Spain), which integrates teaching methods (participative magisterial class for transmission of information) with modern methods (solving problem-based learning, collaborative-team working, autonomous working, tutoring). The different methods of teaching are supported by a hardware-software infrastructure of virtual teaching (Blackboard platform) and a very detailed planning with activities highly focused and weekly organized, which includes periodical tests for the evaluation of the progress of the student. We think that the adoption and tuning of these new learning methods will enhance the skills of the future engineers in the computer programming area.