Abstract:

Introduction:
Within the European Higher Education Area, there is a need to promote more efficient teaching methods that reinforces students’ capacity for autonomous work and encourages their active participation.

Objective:
During the 2023/24 academic year, an educational innovation project was implemented (PID-WE-PARE). Its main objective was to promote active and collaborative teaching and learning approaches, and enhancing student participation in the classroom through various strategies, including the use of Wooclap.

Methodology:
A total of 825 students enrolled in three different Degrees (Pharmacy, Food Science and Technology-FST, and Chemistry) at the Complutense University of Madrid were included in the study. 7 different subjects have been included: 3 in Pharmacy, 2 in FST, and 2 in Chemistry. Various activities were carried out, with the use of Wooclap being a common element across all subjects. This tool is a free online platform integrated into Moodle that enables interactive presentations and questions, which students can answer using electronic devices, either synchronously or asynchronously. The results obtained from Wooclap and other activities (such as numerical exercise assignments or practical cases through the virtual campus, Socrative, virtual escape rooms) were used to award points, called “eurekas,” to the students. At the end of the course, these eurekas were exchanged for different rewards including stationery, visits to laboratories and research centers.. The students were divided into quartiles, based on the total number of "eurekas" achieved in each subject. To gather students' opinions on the project, a survey was conducted using Google Forms.

Results:
A total of 84.5% (674) of the students participated in the activity. The pass rate was 55.3% in the group that participated in the activity compared to 32.5% in the group that did not participate. In addition, among those who participated, 36.8% failed and 7.9% did not show up. When considering only the students who obtained the most "eurekas" in each subject during the course (quartile 4), 78.0% passed the theory exam of the ordinary examination call, 19.9% failed and 2.1% did not show up. On the other hand, among the students who obtained fewer eurekas (quartile 1), 41.2% passed, 42.5% failed and 16.2% did not show up.
A total of 202 students (18 from FST, 107 from Pharmacy, and 77 from Chemistry) responded to the opinion survey. On a scale of 1 to 5, students rated “I enjoyed participating in the project” at 4.62 points, “Using the Wooclap tool during classes was enjoyable” at 4.11 points, and “The rewards seemed interesting” at 4.15 points.

Conclusions:
The use of the Wooclap tool in the classroom, combinedwith the rewards system, was well-received by students and appears to be effective in promoting interest, learning, and active participation.

Keywords:

University education, active participation, wooclap, rewards.