The Long-Term Impacts and the Effective Teaching. A Case Study in Civil Engineering at the Technical University of Madrid (Spain)

Abstract

The current teaching methods are focused on results in the short term. However, learning must be focused on the acquisition of skills and abilities to be developed in the future. This case study has assessed the long-term impacts and the effective teaching at the subject of Topography and Cartography in the School of Civil Engineering (Polytechnic University of Madrid). To this end, a questionnaire with 10 questions was disseminated on two different populations. On the one hand, a total of 45 students who have just completed the course. On the other hand, the same questionnaire was conducted on a total of 166 students who took the subject for more than 2 years ago. The results from two years' experience (2016 and 2017) were compared. The students who just finished the course reached 12.7% higher results than those of the students who previously attended the course (from 75.7 to 85.3% of total correct answers). The study allows us to obtain information about which concepts and teaching activities have lasted over time and which have been easily forgotten.