An experience on mechatronics teaching on undergraduate students by means of the Skybot platform: from classroom to robot competition

This paper analyzes the learning experiences and opinions from a group of undergraduate students in a course about Robotics. The contents of this course were taught as a set of seminars. In each seminar, the student learned interdisciplinary knowledge of computer science, control engineering, electronics and other fields related to Robotics. The aim of this course is that the students are able to design and implement their own and custom robotic solution for a series of tests planned by the teachers. These tests measure the behavior and mechatronic features of the students' robots. Finally, the students' robots are confronted with some competitions. In this paper, the low-cost robotic architecture used by the students, the contents of the course, the tests to compare the solutions of students and the opinion of them are amply discussed.

Elaboración de material para la realización de experiencias de clase inversa (flipped classroom)

Las experiencias docentes que fomentan la participación activa de los estudiantes son bien aceptadas por los alumnos y se consideran un estímulo añadido que les ayuda en el proceso de aprendizaje. La clase inversa o “Flipped classroom” es un recurso docente adaptado a los objetivos de la materia de estudio y al alumnado para el cual va dirigido, que permite una interacción más personalizada entre el docente y el estudiante y estimula el trabajo autónomo de los alumnos. Con esta red docente nos planteamos la elaboración de material audiovisual propio que permita al alumno estudiar de forma preliminar y autónoma cada concepto catalogado, con el objetivo de poder utilizar la metodología de clase inversa en diversas asignaturas de farmacología. Nuestro objetivo fue elaborar un material adaptado a las necesidades específicas de nuestras titulaciones y mejorar así los resultados alcanzados en una clase tradicional. Completamos la elaboración de vídeos correspondientes a cuatro temas seleccionados de la materia y realizamos una experiencia piloto en un seminario de farmacología con buena aceptación tanto por el profesorado como por los estudiantes. El material obtenido en esta red se utilizará el próximo curso académico.

The importance of promoting multimodal teaching in the foreign language classroom for the acquisition of social competences: practical examples

This article analyses the way in which the subject English Language V of the degree English Studies (English Language and Literature) combines the development of the five skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing and interacting) with the use of multimodal activities and resources in the teaching-learning process so that students increase their motivation and acquire different social competences that will be useful for the labour market such as communication, cooperation, leadership or conflict management. This study highlights the use of multimodal materials (texts, videos, etc.) on social topics to introduce cultural aspects in a language subject and to deepen into the different social competences university students can acquire when they work with them. The study was guided by the following research questions: how can multimodal texts and resources contribute to the development of the five skills in a foreign language classroom? What are the main social competences that students acquire when the teaching-learning process is multimodal? The results of a survey prepared at the end of the academic year 2015-2016 point out the main competences that university students develop thanks to multimodal teaching. For its framework of analysis, the study draws on the main principles of visual grammar (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) where students learn how to analyse the main aspects in multimodal texts. The analysis of the different multimodal activities described in the article and the survey reveal that multimodality is useful for developing critical thinking, for bringing cultural aspects into the classroom and for working on social competences. This article will explain the successes and challenges of using multimodal texts with social content so that students can acquire social competences while learning content. Moreover, the implications of using multimodal resources in a language classroom to develop multiliteracies will be observed.