Abstract:

After the first years of the "Bologna process" in higher education in Spain, and while still in a process of adaptation to the new educational paradigm, one can already observe a change in the objectives of the traditional learning process, where the balance between the transmission of technical knowledge and skills development of students, has now become a major learning objective, affecting the student's work, the role of teacher training activities and evaluation systems themselves (González and Wagenaar, 2003).

Within this context, our experience focuses on two concepts that will enhance the student's skills development: co-evaluation and role assignment. The set of changes and adjustments that come with the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) have set foundations that focuses training through the student's work and collaborative work, where the teacher's role is one of guidance (Noguero Lopez, 2005). For this reason, it is necessary to review the assessment process, which creates a dynamic framework for teaching-learning process as a whole (Martinez and Crespo, 2007), the evaluation in this type of training should not be unidirectional, but together, teacher-student, hence the use of the term co-evaluation.

Moreover, we propose the use of role assignment as a support tool in this activity. Role-play should be considered as an example of "learning by doing" (Barkley, et al, 2007), because when data is organized to address the fabric of the game, looking for information, taking notes, preparing schedules of action and putting them into practice, it favours many of the essential processes when learning (Almenar LLongo, et al, 2009). The experiment was implemented on the course "Management of technology and innovation" given to a mixed group of final year degree courses in Business Administration, Economics, Computer Science and Telecommunications. To complete the work, we have compared the educational outcomes of the experience that is being described, with the results obtained in the same course for the same mixed group, during the preceding year under the traditional teaching method.

The considerations made in this document are based on alternative assessment methods proposed in several studies (Taras, 2002). Self-assessment and peer assessment takes into account the assessment of students; however, with co-evaluation the teacher shares the responsibility for evaluation with the student.

In conducting this study a quantitative descriptive methodology was used and descriptive statistics techniques have been used such as frequencies and means. The sample used was students who have completed the courses were analyse using the different methods that were being compared (Traditional versus Bologna).

In summary, this study shows that although the data on academic performance is better in the traditional method, Bologna reduces absenteeism in the classroom and adds value to education through the development of skills competence. This makes students value the method very positively and even more highly than the traditional method, despite accepting that there is a relative deterioration in their academic achievements. Specifically, the proposed methodology of collaborative learning and teaching experience within the scope of Bologna meant that students have felt very satisfied overall with the activity and the development of skills such as teamwork, creativity and communication skills.

Keywords:

Cooperative learning, assignment of roles, co-assessment, skills development, Bologna methodology and traditional learning methodology.