DIGITAL LIBRARY
BLOGGING INTERVIEWS FROM SPANISH SCIENTIFIC WOMEN MADE BY STUDENTS FROM SCIENCE SUBJECTS
Complutense University from Madrid (SPAIN)
About this paper:
Appears in: ICERI2019 Proceedings
Publication year: 2019
Pages: 4826-4831
ISBN: 978-84-09-14755-7
ISSN: 2340-1095
doi: 10.21125/iceri.2019.1184
Conference name: 12th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Dates: 11-13 November, 2019
Location: Seville, Spain
Abstract:
Introduction:
The European Union suggests that University education should be complemented by the emerging progress in scientific research. Furthermore, it places a special emphasis on the digitisation of content and its dissemination via internet.

Aims:
The main goal was to conduct an activity in which students would interview a female Spanish scientist who worked on one of the subjects studied in classes and to create a blog, with those interviews, linked to Facebook. As secondary aims we pursued:
1) To give visibility to the female scientists of our country, since in many cases women are undervalued by society in the scientific field;
2) To achieve the active participation of students and promote their active learning;
3) To develop the student's ability to delve into a topic of research and;
4) To raise the name and to become aware of the relevant scientific level that exists in our country and of the importance that women have.

Methodology:
The activity was proposed to students of 4 different Degrees from the Complutense University of Madrid (Pharmacy, Food Science and Technology (FST), Occupational Therapy and Optical and Optometry) and a Double Degree (Pharmacy and Human Nutrition and Dietetics). Those students interested in participating formed working groups and chose a topic to work among a list of proposed topics by the teachers. They searched for a Spanish female scientist of recognized prestige who worked on the chosen subject and, after communicating it to the teacher, asked her to conduct the interview. Students prepared a list of questions for the scientist, based on her background and published work. After the interview, the students transformed the interviews into blog posts and had the possibility to include interactive images to make them more attractive. The blog was linked to Facebook . Students valued the overall activity through a Likert-type opinion survey.

Results:
The activity was offered to 581 students and 195 participated (33.6%), and 34 interviews were done. With the proposed activity, a considerable percentage of students have been actively involved, highlighting in the Degree of FST (78.4%) and Pharmacy (24.1%) and the Double Degree of Pharmacy and Human Nutrition and Dietetics (72.3%). Among those who participated in the activity, the percentage of students who passed the subject was higher than the percentage of suspense (78% vs. 22%; p<0.05, respectively). On the other hand, the evaluation given to the activity was quite good (3.8 over 5 points), although many students stated that it took them a lot of time to carry it out. Finally, according to the students, the activity made them aware of the high scientific level of many Spanish scientists (4.5 points out of 5).

Conclusions:
The proposed activity was well accepted by the students, who were actively involved in their active learning. In addition, the high scientific level of Spanish women scientists was highlighted with the activity.

Acknowledgements:
Grants for Educational Innovation Projects and Improvement of the Teaching Quality for the academic year 2018/19 (project nº 104) (Complutense University of Madrid).
Keywords:
Blog, interview, women, Science students.