Abstract:

This study analyzes the perception of first-year university students (in engineering degrees) who have taken a physics course of a propaedeutic nature. One of the characteristics of university systems is that, in universities where there is no pre-selection of highly educated students (most universities in the European Union university system), first-year students have diverse backgrounds, especially in fields such as Physics [1]. One of the solutions is to offer courses of a formative nature that enable students to achieve the necessary objectives and competencies that will provide them with a better chance of passing the compulsory Physics subjects. A previous study found that students positively value that mentor students (in their second year or above) are in charge of this training course [2]. It has also been found that after realizing this propaedeutic course, the advantage of students who succeed in passing the compulsory Physics subject is similar to that of first-year students with correct or high previous training in Physics.

We have carried out a statistical study with multiple questions on the adequacy and accessibility of the teaching material provided to them, on the interaction with professors and mentors, on learning satisfaction, about their interaction with other students during online activities or their preference for online or face-to-face learning. The results show that the perception is generally positive, the best results (Likert scale from 0 to 5) are obtained on the adequacy and accessibility of materials, professors and mentors, and interaction with other students in person (always with >3.1 out of 5 ratings). Being a subject proposed as blended learning, it is found that students prefer face-to-face interaction to virtual one. In fact, the worst answers (<2.0 out of 5) correspond to those questions related to online interaction with their peers and claim that online work does not serve them to learn more or improve their learning.

A complementary analysis has been carried out using a correlation matrix between the different questions and answers. The greatest correlation (>0.8) has been found for the answers on the suitability of the learning material to the objectives of the course, the easy accessibility of the professors, and an adequate structure of the course. On the other hand, it is found that the most negative correlations (<-0.65) are given for a) questions that consider positively the material provided, the organization of the course and the interaction with teachers and mentors with the question about the level of learning in the online format and, b) the positive question about online learning and the negative question about whether the online format makes learning difficult.

In general, there is interest in:
a) maintaining this basic course for students with low pre-university education in Physics and,
b) that this training will be largely face-to-face.

References:
[1] C.A. Smith, S. Beltman, J. Dinham, T.J Dobinson, J. Jay, “Supporting undergraduate university students through instrumental mentoring,” Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 45, 1, 2020.
[2] J. Daza, M.L. Escoda, M. Soler, J. Planella, J.J. Suñol, “Mentoring and tutoring: propaedeutic Physics,” INTED 2023 Proceedings, 7342-7346, 2023.

Keywords:

Propaedeutic, Physics, blended, high education, perception.