Diseño de didácticas digitales para la asignatura de sistemas operativos

In this paper the first stage of implementation of digital content is presented through a website, that includes OS issues. Currently students at the Technological University of the Valle of Toluca (UTVT) represents a high degree of learning difficulty in this area. Then academic staff develops this project, in collaboration with the Technological University of the Suroeste of Guanajuato (UTSOE), which aims to improve the teaching-learning and make teaching practices incorporating TIC provide students with a tool to promote their interest. Through the interactivity offered by the web, the student to achieve strengthening further their knowledge and actively participate, which has easy access to information, where distance and time is not a constraint, in addition to have an effective view of the concepts needed to acquire the skills and the ability to self-regulate their learning. For the development of project is used methodologies of the software engineering and technologies web for design.

Strengthening communication skills in an innovative context of engineering project management learning

This document presents an innovative, formal educational initiative that is aimed at enhancing the development of engineering students’ specific competences when studying Project Management (PM) subject. The framework of the experience combines (1) theoretical concepts, (2) the development of a real-case project carried out by multidisciplinary groups of three different universities, (3) the use of software web 2.0 tools and (4) group and individual assignments of students that play different roles (project managers and team members). Under this scenario, the study focuses on monitoring the communication competence in the ever growing PM virtual environment. Factors such as corporal language, technical means, stage, and PM specific vocabulary among others have been considered in order to assess the students’ performance on this issue. As a main contribution, the paper introduces an ad-hoc rubric that, based on previous investigations, has been adapted and tested for the first time to this new and specific context. Additionally, the research conducted has provided some interesting findings that suggest further actions to improve and better define future rubrics, oriented to communication or even other competences. As specific PM subject concerns, it has been detected that students playing the role of Project Managers strengthen their competences more than those ones that play the role of Team Members. It has also been detected that students have more difficulty assimilating concepts related to risk and quality management. However those concepts related with scope, time or cost areas of knowledge have been better assimilated by the students.

Supporting the design and development of Project Based Learning courses.

The use of Project Based Learning has spread widely over the last decades, not only throughout countries but also among disciplines. One of the most significant characteristics of this methodology is the use of ill-structured problems as central activity during the course, which represents an important difficulty for both teachers and students. This work presents a model, supported by a tool, focused on helping teachers and students in Project Based Learning, overcoming these difficulties. Firstly, teachers are guided in designing the project following the main principles of this methodology. Once the project has been specified at the desired level of depth, the same tool helps students to finish the project specification and organize the implementation. Collaborative work among different users is allowed in both phases. This tool has been satisfactorily tested designing two real projects used in Computer Engineering and Software Engineering degrees.

A pedagogically-supported TEL solution for learning nontechnical minimally invasive surgical skills across Europe

Residents learning nontechnical skills in Europe face two problems: (1) the difficulty to fit learning time in their overloaded schedules; and (2) the lack of standard pedagogical models for all countries. Online video-based repositories such as WeBSurg or WebOP provide ubiquitous access to surgical contents. However, their pedagogical facets have not been fully exploited and they are often seen as quick-reference repositories rather than full e-learning alternatives. We present a new pedagogically-supported Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) solution, MISTELA, designed by surgeons, pedagogical experts and engineers. MISTELA aims at building a common European pedagogical model supported by ICT technologies and elearning. The solution proposes a pedagogical model based on a framework for pedagogically-informed design of e-learning platforms. It is composed of (1) an authoring tool for editing and augmenting videos; (2) a media asset management system; and (3) a virtual learning environment. Support of the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) and validation of the solution, will help to determine its full potential.

Improving engineering students' communication competence: designing innovative learning strategies

This research presents an innovative and formal educational initiative that is aimed at enhancing the development of engineering students’ specific competencies when studying Engineering Project Management subject. The framework of the experience combines theoretical concepts, the development of a real-case project carried out by multidisciplinary groups of three different universities, the use of software web 2.0 tools, and group and individual assignments of students that play different roles (project managers and team members). Under this scenario, this paper focuses on monitoring the communication competence in the ever growing Project Management virtual environment. Factors such as corporal language, technical means, stage, and management specific vocabulary among others have been considered in order to assess the students’ performance on this issue. As a main contribution, the paper introduces an ad-hoc rubric that, based on previous investigations, has been adapted and tested to this specific context. Additionally, the research conducted has provided some interesting findings that suggest further actions to improve and better define future rubrics, oriented to communication or even other competencies. As specific Project Management subject concerns, it has been detected that students playing the role of Project Managers strengthen their competencies more than those ones that play the role of Team Members. It has also been detected that students have more difficulty assimilating concepts related to risk and quality management. However those concepts related with areas of knowledge like scope, time or cost have been better assimilated by the students.

An interactive web-based learning assistant for structural analysis of continuous beams

There are significant levels of concern about the relevance and the difficulty of learning some issues on Strength of Materials and Structural Analysis. Most students of Continuum Mechanics and Structural Analysis in Civil Engineering usually point out some key learning aspects as especially difficult for acquiring specific skills. These key concepts entail comprehension difficulties but ease access and applicability to structural analysis in more advanced subjects. Likewise, some elusive but basic structural concepts, such as flexibility, stiffness or influence lines, are paramount for developing further skills required for advanced structural design: tall buildings, arch-type structures as well as bridges. As new curricular itineraries are currently being implemented, it appears appropriate to devise a repository of interactive web-based applications for training in those basic concepts. That will hopefully train the student to understand the complexity of such concepts, to develop intuitive knowledge on actual structural response and to improve their preparation for exams. In this work, a web-based learning assistant system for influence lines on continuous beams is presented. It consists of a collection of interactive user-friendly applications accessible via Web. It is performed in both Spanish and English languages. Rather than a “black box” system, the procedure involves open interaction with the student, who can simulate and virtually envisage the structural response. Thus, the student is enabled to set the geometric, topologic and mechanic layout of a continuous beam and to change or shift the loading and the support conditions. Simultaneously, the changes in the beam response prompt on the screen, so that the effects of the several issues involved in structural analysis become apparent. The system is performed through a set of web pages which encompasses interactive exercises and problems, written in JavaScript under JQuery and DyGraphs frameworks, given that their efficiency and graphic capabilities are renowned. Students can freely boost their self-study on this subject in order to face their exams more confidently. Besides, this collection is expected to be added to the "Virtual Lab of Continuum Mechanics" of the UPM, launched in 2013 (http://serviciosgate.upm.es/laboratoriosvirtuales/laboratorios/medios-continuos-en-construcci%C3%B3n)