E-learning in Buildig Materials Practices

Adapting university programs to the European Higher Education Area requires the use of methods to promote the active participation of students. New teaching criteria must be considered. The ultimate goal has to be the acquisition of skills related to the autonomous student work. The experience presented is based on those concepts. It deals with the use of e-learnig methods in the field of the Building Materials practices trying to promote the active involvement of the students in their training process. At the same time, the optimization of the resources available in laboratory with reference to space and time is taking into account. We have also analyzed how the use of ICT helps improve those problems. The paper discusses types of e-learning laboratories and proposes a methodology to be applied in the case of complex practice lessons that require several measurements and the use of different equipment and instrumentation. The experience has been applied to a practice lesson in 2012-13 and in 2013-14 in the subject of Construction Materials in the Bachelor's degree program in Aerospace Engineering of Polytechnic University of Madrid with satisfactory results in terms of notes obtained and degree of satisfaction of the students.