Abstract:

In the current context, the importance given to the acquisition of competences within higher education leads university teachers to a constant search for strategies that increase student motivation and promote its autonomy in learning processes. Interested in the improvement of the quality of education, the Department of Legal and Forensic Medicine of the University of Cadiz has long been engaged in the incorporation of teaching and evaluation innovations. We intend to foster the students’ interest in our courses so that they do not find a strongly descriptive, traditional character in them.

The assignment described in the present work is part of a series of new teaching activities put into practice within our Department in the last years. Their objective is to provide students with useful competences for their professional future, and to renew the educational methodologies in order to make the lessons more attractive. In a pilot experience, the teaching staff designed an assignment of creation of posters within the course of Legal Medicine in the Medicine Degree. This teaching-learning tool was aimed at fostering the development of cross-curricular and specific competences, as well as increasing the students’ interest in the course. We had detected that our medical undergraduates are not very trained in skills like visual communication or creativity; nevertheless, in the future a number of them will probably need these competences to present the results and findings of their works by means of posters in conferences, for instance. In this work we describe the implementation and results of the assignment, along with perceptions and attitudes expressed by students.

The task was proposed as a complement to oral presentations by students working individually or in pairs. Posters were intended to gather main information about each subject in a graphic way and to be used later as a guide to the study of those subjects. To this aim, they were shared by the group through their forum so that all the classmates could afterwards access those visual summaries. After the completion of the activity, students participating voluntarily in it were provided with an opinion survey questionnaire. The active participation of the whole group and a certain recreational aspect of the activity were enhanced by means of a popular vote to choose the best poster.

Results showed that a very good performance in the activity was achieved. The final survey was completed by all the participants in the experience. Their answers pointed out that the activity had been motivating and innovative for them. The assignment with posters allowed the students to discover a new way of learning. It accomplished the objectives of promoting the acquisition of competences and increasing the motivation of our undergraduates in the context of the Legal Medicine course. Thus, we consider that the activity can be included in the course usually, or when necessary.

Keywords:

Educational innovation, competences, motivation, posters.