PSYCHOSOCIAL KNOWLEDGE APPLICATION. USING MAFALDA COMICS

One of the essential vertices of the European Space for Higher Education (ESHE) is the educational systems quality. In order to reach satisfactorily this point it turns out essential to count on didactic materials that guarantee a suitable education and result in students’ academic success and integral formation. We considered that the students’ opinions are indispensable to assess the material quality and its usefulness, as far as the adjustment of the didactic materials offered by the teaching staff for the attainment of the competitions and demanded academic requirements. The main goal of this study is to analyze the degree in which the students assess the didactic materials regarding to the obtained qualification and the objectives for the subject Applied Psychosocial Sciences in Nursing Studies of the University of Jaén. The students’ assessment seems crucial to make the necessary adaptations of the materials offered in the context of the ESHE. The particularities of this subject make necessary the creation of some supporting materials that increase students’ implication. Specifically, it should stand out that this matter is not related to the contents acquired in the rest of disciplines of Nursing Studies. However, the competences and contents that this subject includes are central for the future nurses’ integral formation, as far as the understanding of the social bases of the human behavior.

Bearing in mind these specific characteristics, during the last academic courses different didactic strategies have been applied to involve actively the students in their learning process. Some of these strategies were: a) the use of Mafalda comics and famous statement, with the intention of synthesizing some aspects of the contents; b) the use of new Technologies of Information and Communication, through a virtual platform from which the students could download and send different activities. In these actities, students should apply the theoretical contents to daily scopes by giving their own examples.; c) the elaboration of a CD Multimedia containing the slides used in class and a conceptual map of each unit; d) the availability of a Web page for the subject; e) practical exercises using dynamic of group, techniques of relaxation, role-play, etc., and the elaboration of a specific bibliographical material for the same contents; and d) a continuous assessment procedure.
In order to study our goal, a scale was elaborated to assess the degree in which the student considered that each one of the mentioned strategies had helped him/her to obtain his/her qualification or to learn the subject objectives. We considered that this assessment is an excellent information in order to adapt the didactic materials, establishing a starting point for the teaching work.