Abstract:

Students who enrol in the first academic year of the Degree in Public Administration and Management at the University of Cádiz, are characterized by displaying two very different profiles. There is a student body who are high school graduates and another group formed by government employees who aim to obtain a degree in order to be professionally promoted. The first group shows a low degree of motivation and little involvement with the studies, whereas the second group is highly motivated. This disparity between both groups can be a problem for the teacher and was clearly reflected in the percentage of student failure (almost 40%) and of students not attending the exams in the academic year 2010/11. In the light of these data, a teaching innovation project specifically focused on this issue was implemented at the University of Cadiz (UCA) during the 2011/12. Given the successful results of the project, it will be carried out again in the academic year 2012/13 following the same concepts but introducing improvements which will overcome shortcomings and small errors identified in the first draft and introducing as well some innovative elements.

Its main focus is the use of ICT in the teaching methodology (through the Learning Management System Moodle, which includes collaborative tools such as: Webquest, HotPotatoes, LAMS, glossaries, etc.., and also including other resources such as Prezi presentations).

With the objective to overcome the preconceived notion students may have of the subject, improve group cohesion and self-learning of students and direct them to study this type of subjects. We aim to offer a more dynamic course with interesting contents for the students, to overcome group differences and to minimize the rate of student failure, which is caused by the fact that students do not know how to approach the study of this subject.

The final result will be assessed by means of a questionnaire and comparing the results from the previous year which yielded very positive results both in the process of self-learning the student, as in other competences and skills such as teamwork, improved communication within and between groups, etc. No final results for the academic year 2012/13 will be available on the date of the congress, given that in March the school year is not yet complete. However, some initial exploratory results indicative of the views on students will be presented.

Keywords:

Virtual Campus, collaborative learning, profile, self-learning skills.