Abstract:

The adaptation of the University to the European Higher Education Area has brought as a result the modernization of the teaching system. The aim is not to eliminate the classical education but to give a new turn to the way of learning trying to optimize all human and material resources.
Besides the fact of the current economic situation in Spanish universities there are many obstacles that make difficult to put into practice this European Convergence Plan completely. The high number of students per academic course, the implementation of new degree programs and the increase of new masters in postgraduate education are uneasy circumstances we have to deal with.

To carry out this gradual process it is essential the role of professors, they must be absolutely involved in the plan and be confident on developing these new actions. Moreover, these new teaching and learning strategies will engage students in their learning process; they must participate and take responsibility for their learning process in a dynamic and active attitude.

Specifically, Toxicology is an obligatory subject that it is include in different degrees of Health Science Area such as Veterinary Medicine, Pharmacy, Human Nutrition and Dietetics and Food Sciences and Technology. According to this, at present the adaptation of new teaching methods and evaluation systems are needs of each degree.

Our methodology consists on to offer students a combined teaching system keeping the traditional lectures in addition to a teaching techniques based on individual and group tutorials, seminars, laboratory and informatic practices to strengthen teamwork and the application of theoretical knowledge to solve problems. During the lectures the teacher, as transmitter of knowledge, presents the contents, methods and techniques to develop knowledge and skills of matter. Students learn actively developing information searching skills in different bibliographic sources integrated and interpreted properly, thanks to the knowledge and skills previously acquired in the field, will allow them to generate synthetic and affordable information.

The key of success is to have a multidisciplinary group of professors and to count on the participation of all of them that must be involved in the subject of different degrees and participate actively in the development of it, being necessary a good coordination between them. It is clear that with these new methods the time invested by the teacher is higher but it is also an incentive to the knowledge, abilities and skills common to the various subjects. This is the way to achieved with minimal human and materials to share some of these teaching methods between various degrees.
It is also important the evaluation of this teaching methods to study possible errors. This evaluation must be made by professors as well as students by means of surveys where they can expose the level of satisfaction according to the methodology used.