Abstract:

Introduction: Education models are always changing, never more so than at the present. There is an increasing tendency towards a virtual education model, based on 'new information and communication technologies', its advantages being that it is more flexible and dynamic in terms of information, not restricted by the location of students and teaching staff, and need not to be bound by timetables. Furthermore, the evaluation stage is a key step in the learning process, as it gives the teaching staff the necessary tools to determine whether students have gained the expected and necessary competencies, and for students, the knowledge of a forthcoming evaluation which is a major factor influencing their learning process.

Objective: To design an innovative evaluation model using 'new information and communication technologies' based on the use of wikis as a main tool of evaluation.

Material and methods: In the context of postgraduate programmes, the University of Granada offers a Master's in Functional Food in which the introduction of a 'virtualized' module entitled “Functional Food in Diet Therapy” is planned. A website has been developed to make the contents of the module available to students; a wiki has also been created in order to promote collaborative learning. The purpose of this project is to introduce an alternative evaluation system in this 'virtualized' module. That evaluation will take place in both and individual and a collective format by means of synchronic and asynchronic resources. These will take the form of self-assessment questionnaires, individual questions to be sent by e-mail, participation in the construction of the contents of the wiki, and a final test will also be mandatory. Special attention will be given to the wiki, which will be a functional food encyclopaedia collaboratively developed, of which students will play the leading role. Each student will be assigned a different writing colour to allow the teaching staff to evaluate the extant and quality of each student's involvement. A preliminary survey was implemented to know students opinion about this evaluation approach. Moreover, at the end of the module, modifications suggested by the results of satisfaction surveys will be implemented to improve the quality of future courses.

Results: 95,24% of those polled think that new information and communication technologies are necessary in education, 61,9% are determined to carry out virtual courses and 76,19% think that the use of wikis is useful in the evaluation process. Likewise, the same percentage of students thinks that self-assessment and individual activities could be a good system of evaluation.

Conclusion: According to the preliminary survey results, it is believed that the implementation of this evaluation method will be further able to motivate students, due to its highly dynamic nature, its innovative focus on collaborative work, among other features indicative of the course's drive towards a 'virtualized' education model.

Keywords:

Evaluation, wiki, virtualization, functional food.