In the past few years, Facebook has been increasingly studied for academic purposes due to its potential benefits to undergraduate education. Problems commonly found in university education include the lack of course engagement and the gap between theory and practice. This research contributes to the literature by investigating the impact of incorporating a non-mandatory Facebook group on learning outcomes. The analysis was done using a Taguchi method design, conducted with three two-level controlled factors (term, Facebook, and teacher). Results indicated that the students who participated in Facebook groups were more engaged with the course and applied theoretical knowledge to real-life problems better than students who learned under traditional instructional designs. Moreover, the use of Facebook groups led to better evaluation of teachers by the students. Furthermore, the student academic impact (knowledge and competence) was higher even though this complementary activity was not included in the course grade. We concluded that Facebook groups are excellent support tools that boost student engagement and their understanding of theoretical concepts and applying them in practice.

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The objective of this work is to design a rehabilitation mechanism for the index finger that can replicate the finger´s natural movements in the sagittal plane; this mechanism must also be able to adapt to an individual’s anthropometric dimensions. The personalization of the mechanism is made through a parametric model assisted by computer-aided design software. An infrared motion capture system is used to validate the natural finger movements, comparing them to the ones generated by the parametric designed mechanism. The replication of natural finger movements with this mechanism is possible due to the use of virtual centers and the employment of two degrees of freedom. One degree of freedom is proximal phalanx flexion-extension, and the other one is the middle-distal phalanges conjoined movement. The replication of natural motions and the use of personalization techniques offer three main advantages: a diverse set of rehabilitation exercises, an increase in the range of motion of the finger compared to other designs in the literature and the short construction time required for the rehabilitation device.

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