Abstract:

Most of the higher education frameworks work and evaluate transversal competences, to achieve the excellence of graduates, not only academically but also integrating social aspects, ethics, communication, teamwork, etc. To this end, the present work studies a common methodology both in the activities, to improve the acquisition of the “Specific Instrumental” transversal competence, as well as in its evaluation.

In the practical sessions, the student uses a detailed tutorial with the procedure to obtain the numerical result. The evaluation of the “Specific Instrumental” transversal competence is deficient following this structure, since it does not show whether the student acquires autonomy to solve similar problems. Therefore, an unguided alternative activity was proposed at the end of each session, which allows to see the evolution of the student in the face of a different problem without guidelines.

Experience shows that it is rash to expect the student to handle the program autonomously in the first session. For this reason, the delivery deadline for tasks will be extended by a few weeks. Obviously, guarantee of authenticity is lost, but responsibility for learning is transferred to the student. Allowing the student to spend the time necessary for deep learning, without the pressure of ending the session.

Keywords:

Competence, methodology, evaluation, specific instrumental, learning, finite element software.