Abstract:

Information technologies are the essence of up to date organizations in general, and higher education institutions (HEI) in particular, and changes in this field are occurring at an uncontrollable pace, interrupting traditional models and forcing organizations to implement new models. The integration of technological innovations with the new practices can enable significant advantage. On the other hand, the present students, coined as generation Z, who reach HEI, force a disruption in teaching process. In this context, it is justified the need to introduce new paradigms in the teaching-learning process (TLP).

At the beginning of this century, changes are occurring at breakneck speed and TLP continues to be based on so-called traditional lectures and, therefore, the need to reinvent education in general and TLP in particular. This change is necessary since as Chickering and Gamson state "Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in class listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves".

In order to meet this need in the last decade, the classes that use active learning have attracted a great attention, since they stimulate students' motivation to achieve higher competences. Active learning is one of the student-centered approaches in which responsibility for learning is placed on the student, often working in collaboration with classmates. In active learning, teachers play the role of facilitators rather than information providers, and can use approaches that include role-playing, case studies, group projects, think-peer-teaching, peer-teaching, Just-in-Time Teaching, and small demonstrations, followed by class discussion.

In this paper, a validated approach will be presented through a case study, in which an innovative learning methodology developed to a curricular unit of a 1st cycle course was introduced. The proposed approach took into consideration, in addition to the motivational aspects, the fusion of several learning strategies for the development of new competences, framed in the current and future moment, in which the transformation predominates. The developed and validated approach (empirically) encompasses several learning techniques: group projects, peer review and peer teaching.

The operation process consists of four blocks:
(i) a mini-lecture in which the teacher gives a ten-to-twenty-minute presentation on a particular topic;
(ii) group projects – research on the theme for the construction of a small project;
(iii) peer review – evaluation of projects, with this evaluation being part of the final evaluation of each of the group members; and
(iv) peer teaching - the presentation of the projects and the teaching of this theme to the remaining students.

At the end of the semester the projects produced are shared by all students and are used as study basis for the final exam. The results obtained, with this new approach, allowed to promote student's engagement inside and outside of the classroom and achieve an approval rate of over 80%.

Keywords:

Disruption, Learning ecosystems, Active learning techniques, Higher education.