Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 932 de 957
regardless if they are taken before or after the project reached the academic year in which
the subject is taught.
Hence, according to the results obtained from the questionnaires (which confirm other
positive feedbacks) we can conclude that in the non-compulsory courses, students show a
steadily positive behavior during the period of time covered by this research: they have a
high degree of motivation and a very positive attitude towards these subjects. Therefore,
they follow the course without difficulties, they enjoy attending lectures and lab sessions,
they work regularly at home and, consequently, they expect to pass successfully the tests
and exams in the upcoming weeks (Table 5).
Nevertheless, as far as the compulsory courses are concerned, a trend in the pattern
behavior of the students has been observed. With the advent of the student-oriented
educational paradigm, a carefully planned time schedule and daily work at home turn out
to be a must in order to obtain a successful evaluation. A certain percentage of students
used to put special emphasis on their work during the month previous to the final exams.
This “last-minute” strategy can (sometimes) be effective if the evaluation process consists
uniquely in a written exam but, when the number of midterm tests, oral presentations and
other activities increases and spreads throughout the semester, these students cannot deal
with the new scenario. According to the answers to question 19 shown in Tables 2, 3 and
4, with the new methodological system they fail to attend lectures more often than in the
traditional scenario. This fact is due, partly, to the lack of time. Since students realize that
they are going to be unable to meet every deadline, they show a sense of pessimism, as it is
reflected in their answers to the questionnaires, where an increasing number of students
recognize a deficient organization and a lack of engagement with the daily work.
Unfortunately, these students, aware of their slim chances to pass the tests and to meet the
deadlines (see answers to question 25 in Tables 2 and 3), are prone to give up.
In order to improve the academic results obtained by students enrolled in the compulsory
subjects we encourage lecturers responsible for these courses to create in class the
positive work atmosphere that one may found typically in a non-compulsory course.
Besides, universities could transitorily propose two alternative evaluation systems for a
course. Students could choose the system that better suits their particular situation: then,
students engaged with the progressive system of learning would be evaluated on the basis
of tests and reports spread during the semester whereas students that can no deal with
this exigent schedule could opt for a final exam.
To sum up, we would like to emphasize the importance of the correct measurement of the
workload associated to every task proposed in the context of a course. A subject makes
sense in the context of an academic course and not as an isolated item. We consider that
the role played by the degree’s coordinator is of capital importance. She/he should
distribute correctly the different activities and deadlines throughout the semester with a
panoramic perspective that a particular lecturer frequently underrates. Otherwise, the
promising change in the learning paradigm that aims at improving the teaching-learning
process can affect negatively to the students performance, particularly to those parttime
students who have a more limited time to attend lectures and work at home. Here, we
would like to enhance the importance of the ANECA requirement of including the
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011