Abstract:

After some academic courses imparting Computer Technology with master classes, we decided to implement a new methodology based on new technologies, both in the learning process and assessment tests. The aim was to compare the results with those of previous years and to verify the hypothesis that "the new model should decrease the level of anxiety and increase both motivation and interest in the subject.”

The pilot is based on a process of immersion of the student into a problem-based methodology dealing with a real industrial environment. The project is aimed at students of 1st year computer engineering (his first year of contact with the university).

Relevant aspects of the experience are:
1) Students advance according to their learning ability, finding their way into various levels of difficulty. This prevents the lack of motivation that causes overcrowded theoretical classes.
2) Curriculum subjects as diverse as, for instance, multiplexing or sensors integration, are gradually acquired in parallel.
3) Every student has access to different levels of help and can step back when it deems appropriate.
4) Evaluation process is also carried on using computers with biweekly checks.

Along each test the student is aware of the score obtained at any moment. It is a process of competition with oneself.

It is widely known and accepted that factors such as motivation and anxiety affect learning, promoting or limiting it depending on the level of individual involvement. Anxiety decreases the ability to concentrate and limit student skills under stress and / or pressure situations. This directly affects their academic performance. The reduction of anxiety increases gradually motivation and academic performance, so learning is substantially improved.

Given the crucial role of those factors in the learning process, our experience has shown how the use of the developed methodology minimizes anxiety and promotes motivation and learning accordingly. The positive evolution of these parameters is quadratic over time, although it has reached saturation after the sixth or seventh week. Such conclusions grown from comparing the results of previous academic years (using classic teaching methods), versus these new methodologies.

In conclusion, the experience provides results that reinforce the hypothesis that in the individual immersion in an industrial problem, and taking advantage of the possibility of learning at different individual speed, the emotional response of tension is reduced, even eliminated, and increases inversely with the motivation and interest in the study. These effects lead to improved grades and learning.

Keywords:

Didactic experience, TIC, e-learning.