COMPETENCIES: A DIFFICULT ADAPTATION PROCESS OF INNOVATION FOR TEACHERS IN UJAT IN TABASCO, MEXICO

This work aims to make professors realise the importance that nowadays teaching and programming through competencies has. Most university teachers in Mexico, especially in Tabasco, are used to teaching with traditional methods such as memorizing, repeating lessons, etc. However, the era of technology, internationalization and globalization are pushing them to change as a unique option. But, what does working using competencies mean? It is definitely a difficult adaptation process and at the same time relevant to students and practitioners who practice their subjects giving effective solutions to actual problems based on their knowledge acquired in the classroom and their real life and experiences. Teachers must be integrated to new trends of education. So, the objective of this research is to explore how much teachers know and practise using competencies in their academic work. The research was exploratory and data was obtained through observation, informal discussion about competencies, open interview and a questionnaire. The results showed that the majority of teachers (60%) mentioned that even when they know what competencies are, almost half of them (47%) do not like them since they consider it is too much work for the teacher, especially when evaluating. An important number of them (42%) mentioned that they have worked with competencies, but half of them (50%) have never done it. The explorative research had its scope in the División Académica de Ingeniería y Arquitectura of Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (DAIA UJAT) in Mexico, with a sample of 150 teachers out of 170 who taught general and specific subjects of the different degrees. The educational events, annotations and procedures were taken in the academic period of August 2011 to January 2012, resulting in academic situations existing in the professors. Some innovative proposals were given and a course of teaching mathematics through competences was offered to teachers in order to motivate and update especially those teachers who reject to innovate their traditional way of teaching. Using a variety of media and placing emphasis on praxis can help make teaching, learning and understanding of any subject more people-centered and relevant, resulting in better outcomes for students. It can be mentioned that most results were positive, however some were shocking.