Abstract:

The Spanish educational system requires some changes to achieve both Bologna objectives and the European Higher Education Area. It needs to develop a professional profile, with new activities and roles for students and teachers. Both of them must assume new skills that affect concepts and attitudes about teaching and learning processes, in the framework of training projects. But the student must also assume their leading role in the educational process, developing an independent, meaningful and cooperative learning.
So, this process leads a noteworthy change of mindset in the Spanish students’ traditional culture. It implicates a collaborative work between student and teacher. In this sense, teachers should choose the suitable methodologies for achieving those objectives, in the framework of academic profile and characteristics of professional training in skills. In addition they must realise the structural and organizational conditions to do these activities (class size, space, educational organization, etc.).
This paper describes the authors' experience in designing learning methodologies to teach a social science, accounting, at Business Administration Degree in a technical University (Polytechnic University of Valencia). The paper is divided in three parts.
In the first one, we describe the methodology designed for teaching accounting, based on PBL (Problem Based Learning), and developed with Internet based technologies. We analyze its use and evolution in two subjects, in the first and the fourth year of degree.
In the second part we show the results for each of the academic years and every subject. We also differentiate students who have chosen the learning methodology described from those who have used a traditional one.
The final part of the paper shows the conclusions obtained from the statistical treatment of the results, and the analysis of different options for connecting the information obtained. These results show a direct correlation between the use of an active learning model -through the teaching methodology-, and a positive evaluation of subject.
Finally, we analyze these results and how they should be used for evaluating the suitability of the methodology. Then we can conclude if it is necessary redesign the methodology to fit in with characteristics, conditions and limitations of the teaching and learning process.

Keywords:

accounting, higher education, tic, problem based learning (pbl), competences.