Abstract:

This article reflects the experience gained in teaching the course Structural Analysis Aided by Computer in Technical Civil Engineering and Technical Architecture degrees, taught at the Polytechnic University School in Donostia-San Sebastian (University of the Basque Country)

During the academic years 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11 this course have been developed and implemented some aspects related to the following subjects: Mechanics of Materials, Theory of Structures and Structural Analysis. Futhermore, practical exercises for being solved for each student and the calculation of the structure of an actual building carried out in groups have been proposed.

The learning process of each student is supervised weekly by Moodle platform. The aspects developed and the time spent on them, both in class and outside class are controlled.

In the teaching process theoretical basis are explained. Then, calculation of several structures is carried out and results obtained from analytical approaches are compared with those obtained by different software of structural analysis.

It is worth noting that the platform used is a very useful tool to track the learning process of each student. Otherwise, the innovative teaching process used to develop the theoretical and practical aspects presents advantages with respect to traditional methodology.

Keywords:

Mechanical Engineering, Structural Analysis, teaching process.