Qualitative assessment of a challenge-based learning and teamwork applied in electronics program.

Every student of industrial technology engineering must develop and acquire specific electronic competencies and skills, such as those pertaining to the design, analysis, and assembly of basic circuits in the context of both analogue and digital electronics, including the corresponding instrumentation. Additionally, as is the case for practically all university degrees but has not always been addressed adequately in the field of engineering, generic competencies such as oral communication and teamwork must be acquired. The experience discussed in the article focuses on the design, implementation, and assessment of a hybrid (face-to-face and virtual) educational activity that facilitates the acquisition of specific engineering skills through a teamwork-based approach and enhances communication among students in the context of experimentation. The students, who are divided into teams, must develop a series of embedded systems with the aim of providing a solution to a problem derived from Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. This approach entails the challenge of working with a heterogeneous sample of students studying for a dual degree in design and mechanics, whose motivations are also highly varied. The innovative objective of the educational proposal focuses on adapting the practice to the roles and profiles of the students and tailoring project phases to the competency needs of each student. The results highlight the need to design real practices that foster the motivation of engineering students; they also emphasize the fact that in the context of teamwork, roles pertaining to the specific competencies required by dual-degree students should be defined. The evaluation of such an experiment using the Bipolar Laddering Assessment has exhibited utility and reliability regarding small samples of users and has been shown to be valid regarding identifying the strengths and weaknesses of educational experiments.

Identification and comparison of the main variables affecting early university dropout rates according to knowledge area and institution.

The dropout rate in universities is a widely studied issue that concerns both universities and public organizations. Most studies focus on quantifying the phenomenon and identifying the variables involved. This paper uses a multidisciplinary approach to parameterize the factors that define the entry profile of undergraduates at the national level in Spain in collaboration with three universities in different regions and with different disciplines. The aim is to reduce the dropout rate in the first year of study towards a degree. The research questions focus on the weighting of personal variables about students by tutors and whether there are differences in the weighting systems for the main variables as differentiated by discipline, university and/or region. The document is organized to describe the method and context of the study, present the main results, show the application of the survey instrument in a case study, and provide conclusions. The method is based on the two fundamental factors, including the influence of certain student characteristics at matriculation and the importance of a positive experience in the first year of the degree. The study is focused on two elements that inspire the current proposal: the need to identify and rapidly detect students who, due to their entry characteristics, are at a greater risk of dropout and the importance of guaranteeing a good start in the first year of the degree. The study uses a multidisciplinary approach and combines qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data. The study also uses a survey instrument that measures the risk of student dropout based on the weighting of personal variables by tutors. The results of the study have allowed us to categorize the main variables of the student profile that affect the risk of dropout and establish them as aspects to be monitored by the tutors in the first weeks. Furthermore, it has been shown that although there are no significant differences in the averages of dropout risk calculated with either global or specific weighting systems (by centre or studies), there is a tendency observed by the tutors that the weighted averages generated by disciplinary focus are closer to identifying the student's real risk of dropping out.

A Qualitative Approach to Help Adjust the Design of Management Subjects in ICT Engineering Undergraduate Programs through User Experience in a Smart Classroom Context.

Qualitative research activities, including first-day of class surveys and user experience interviews on completion of a subject were carried out to obtain students' feedback in order to improve the design of the subject 'Information Systems' as a part of a general initiative to enhance ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) engineering programs. Due to the COVID-19 (corona virus disease 2019) pandemic, La Salle URL adopted an Emergency Remote Teaching tactical solution in the second semester of the 2019-2020 academic year, just before implementing a strategic learning approach based on a new Smart Classroom (SC) system deployed in the campus facilities. The latter solution was developed to ensure that both on-campus and off-campus students could effectively follow the course syllabus through the use of new technological devices introduced in classrooms and laboratories, reducing the inherent difficulties of online learning. The results of our findings show: (1) No major concerns about the subject were identified by students; (2) Interaction and class dynamics were the main issues identified by students, while saving time on commuting when learning from home and access to recorded class sessions were the aspects that students considered the most advantageous about the SC.