Design and Application of Project-Based Learning Methodologies for Small Groups Within Computer Fundamentals Subjects

Abstract

In higher education, it is usual to separate the theoretical contents from the practical ones and use teacher-centered methodologies. This fact makes students lose motivation due to the lack of connection with real professional tasks. Conversely, student-centered learning methods, such as projectbased learning (PBL) or flipped classroom, aim to integrate both theoretical and practical contents and to apply them on real-world problems, thus increasing the students' motivation and involvement. These methodologies are usually applied in the last years of a degree, but it is difficult to find them in basic first-year subjects. The aim of this paper consists in assessing the application of a PBL methodology in the first-year subjects of computer engineering. This methodological change aims to achieve a significant improvement in the students' learning achievement of the core subject computer fundamentals. The project involved in the PBL proposal consists of developing a portable calculator. The performance of the PBL group is compared with that of other groups with a traditional, teacher-centered learning system. The evolution of the knowledge acquisition is determined by means of an initial evaluation and a final assessment after developing the project. An exhaustive statistical analysis is performed so as to evaluate the PBL application. Quantitative results show a significant improvement in the experimental group marks, which increased by up to 20% compared to the control groups. As a conclusion, applying PBL and flipped classroom engaged students within the subject, thus achieving a deeper understanding of its theoretical concepts.

Impact of Educational Stage in the Application of Flipped Learning: A Contrasting Analysis with Traditional Teaching

“…In this way, a general analysis of the study variables shows positive results in the application of flipped learning in primary education and secondary education compared to traditional teaching methods. This is a trend seen in other similar studies [43,[48][49][50].…”

“…The formative climate generated by flipped learning encourages students' attitudes toward learning to be more positive [47], which enhances their performance compared to traditional teaching methods [43,[48][49][50].…”

Projection of the Flipped Learning Methodology in the Teaching Staff of Cross-Border Contexts

“…Continuing with the potentialities and benefits of flipped learning, indicators that make reference to the academic performance and resulting motivation of this techno-pedagogical approach have been found in specialised literature to be above other innovative methods, such as e-learning (Thai, Wever, & Valcke, 2017). Consequently, as a result of a recent study by Sánchez, Jimeno, Pertegal, and Mora (2019) it can be stated that flipped learning not only achieves a greater success when compared to conservative learning methods, but also in comparison with other innovative approaches.…”

Diseño, validación y aplicación de un cuestionario para medir la influencia de factores exógenos sobre la eficacia del aprendizaje invertido

“…Como se muestra de manera constatada a través de la revisión de la literatura sobre los estudios realizados de mayor impacto en torno al aprendizaje invertido -como metodología innovadora en un mundo en el que está de moda el aprendizaje a través de entornos digitales-se ha comprobado a través de un análisis de contenido que esta forma de enseñar y aprender aumenta la efectividad del aprendizaje (He et al, 2016;Sánchez et al, 2019), ayuda a promover la motivación de los discentes (Shih y Tsai, 2017;Thai et al, 2017;Tse et al, 2019), aumenta de forma significativa la participación de estos en las situaciones de aprendizaje formal (Long et al, 2016) e incluso la capacidad para resolver problemas o situaciones planteadas en clase (Bognar et al, 2019;Long et al, 2016). Los estudiantes trabajarán así colaborando entre todos para construir su aprendizaje, de manera cooperativa para poder alcanzar las metas planteadas (Pegalajar, 2018), tanto de manera física o presencial como a través de entornos virtuales (Báez y Clunie, 2019;Kwon y Woo, 2017;MacLeod et al, 2017).…”

“…Expertos como Thai, De Wever y Valcke (2017) han realizado estudios con resultados concordantes con estas líneas, constatando que tanto la motivación como el rendimiento de los discentes que utilizan este enfoque metodológico son mejores que los alcanzados por otros estudiantes que han seguido otras técnicas pedagógicas. Por ello, el aprendizaje invertido se sitúa como un enfoque con un altísimo nivel de eficacia en comparación no solo con otros modelos más clásicos, sino además con otros enfoques de naturaleza innovadora (Sánchez, Jimeno, Pertegal y Mora, 2019).…”