USE OF I-PAD APPLICATIONS IN THE DESIGN AND PRODUCTION OF A COLLECTION OF PILLS FOR SOLVING HEAT TRANSFER PROBLEMS

During the last year the Defense University Center at the Naval Academy, attached to the University of Vigo, has incorporated the infrastructure and technology for recording, editing and publishing multimedia content, particularly those known as Knowledge Pills. According to the definition of the RLO-CETL (Reusable Learning Objects – Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning) of a Knowledge Pill, it is a "reusable learning object" that can be used, reused or referenced in a learning process and is supported by technology.
This work is focused on the use and application of knowledge pills in grade education of officers of the Spanish Armada (Navy). It describes how to use this technology to solve exercises in the subject “Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer." This subject is taught in the second year of the degree of Mechanical Engineering at the Defense University Center at the Naval Academy and there are 70 students enrolled.
We present the design and implementation of a collection of pills to solve heat transfer at steady state problems. An i-Pad is used for recording these pills. First, a presentation is designed with the key steps of the problem and it is used as a background when recording the pill. In the production stage a knowledge pill is recorded showing the presentation in the i-Pad, allowing the teacher to complete it with key contributions through the interaction with the touch screen of the i-Pad using a capacitive pen.
This tool is focused to self-study and this is motivated by the content of the teaching guide of the subject which follows the European Higher Education Space principles.