Abstract:

“Animal Physiology” is a mandatory subject currently taught in the third year of Biology graduate studies of the Faculty of Biological Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid. During these recent post-pandemic years, we have observed a decrease in the active participation of the students in several academic activities (lectures, seminars and practices) of this subject. Furthermore, the results of annual surveys conducted among students indicated difficulties with the matter, considering it too complex and dense. For these reasons, a group of university teachers and students from the previous and present academic year, decided to carry out a Teaching Improvement Project using online software (Software as a Service, SaaS) and social media, to promote student participation and active learning.

With this aim, we have designed different kind of activities using Mentimeter (an interactive presentation software), Miro (a collaborative real time whiteboard software) and Twitter (a social media service) in lectures and practices as well as seminars. Specifically, we applied Mentimeter to evaluate weak points and the degree of integration of key concepts and, at the same time, to encourage the participation of students through a series of 'on the fly' questions during the sessions. Particularly, Miro has been used in reinforcement seminars to create concept maps on specific topics. This tool is very useful in promoting cooperative and collaborative work among students. Finally, Twitter implementation aimed to increase student motivation and curiosity through the publication of Wordles (guess a hidden word related to the practices), open questions and latest news related to Physiology to generate a debate.

At the end of the academic course, we analyzed the opinion of the 11 teachers and 120 students involved, about the different implemented activities. In the case of Mentimeter, the survey results indicated that most students preferred using this tool for discussions because it encouraged a more active and anonymous participation. Furthermore, students highlighted that Mentimeter helped them to stay focused and understand better the concepts. Additionally, students indicated several advantages of using Mentimeter, such as its dynamism, interactivity, and entertainment value, while teachers stood out that this tool was easy to use and required little time. Miro was employed in two groups of 60 students each during reinforcement seminars. Most of students believed that they learned with this activity and some of them used the obtained schemes to prepare the exams. Both, students and teachers enjoyed using this tool that increased motivation for the subject. A minor proportion of students participated in Twitter activities, but they found them interactive and fun. A majority of students did not participate because either they were not aware of this activity, or they did not have a Twitter account. Students that took part in the activities from the three different tools, indicated Mentimeter as the most useful resource followed closely by Miro and Twitter in the last place.

In summary, the use of these new methodologies, particularly Mentimeter and Miro, has been very well received by the students and helped to increase their interest, attention and participation, contributing to active learning. We also consider that working in nets of teachers increased their motivation and optimized all developed tools.

Keywords:

Physiology, Active learning, Collaborative work, Mentimeter, Miro, Twitter.