Abstract:

Compulsory defense of end-of-studies projects is a challenge in higher education, and particularly in blended and online universities, given the high number of students. Furthermore, some transversal competences frequently linked to these activities (such as oral competences), considered of great importance by educational authorities and employers, are not always well-developed. The project proposes how to work them by promoting a short audio-visual dissertation compatible with the high number of students: the use of a presentation / video, with a pre-established format and times, as a formula to address the dissertation.

Methodologically, the project presented the dissertation through a video of scheduled duration (6-7 minutes) or Pecha Kucha (6 min 40 seconds). The team was made up of 19 professors of Economics and Business, Law and Informatics at one of the largest blended universities in Europe, which provided great interdisciplinarity and interdepartmentality. In addition to examples, an ‘ad hoc’ questionnaire was prepared for the evaluation of innovation, an evaluation rubric and a verification table for the students, whose participation was voluntary, with informed consent.

The experience was considered very positive. The recorded videos helped the teaching teams to assess the work during its development and contributed to the students acquiring useful soft skills. The evaluation of the students in the survey has also been very positive (average response is 4.87 out of 5). The feedback received was magnificent as shown in the survey itself. Although the students were mostly unaware of these tools, 97.8% of the students would recommend this model as a way of evaluating the end-of-study work. In addition, to the question "Participation in this activity has allowed me to develop skills that other more traditional methodological alternatives do not allow me to work", the average response is 4.57 out of 5.

The video format is presented as a very useful vehicle for end-of-study dissertations, and contributes to the development of soft and digital skills to students, thus proving to be a tool of great interest.

Keywords:

End-of-studies dissertation, blended learning, videos, soft-skills.