COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT SATISFACTION

In compliance with the approaches put forth in the process of European convergence, the move from a teaching-centred model to a learning-centred one has called for a major attitude change from all the agents involved in the education system. The aim is to discontinue the old teaching-based educational system and implement one centred on learning. One of the keys to making this process successful is the use of the so called "active methodologies" in which it is the student who faces up to the challenge of learning and takes on an active role in knowledge acquisition. Cooperative learning is a methodology that combines all the features of a student-centred teaching approach while also guaranteeing student participation at the cognitive, physical, emotional and psychological levels to build his/her own knowledge. In the last three decades, it has perhaps been one of the most widely used and studied procedures, mainly because the advantages and effectiveness it provides for competitive and individual task work. As educators and researchers, we often assume that if students are working together, they are cooperating. However, the conditions required for effective cooperative learning are not actually being met and therefore, the benefits pointed out by research on this methodology are not being achieved. We intend to see how levels of student satisfaction increase and development of certain skills, competences and attitudes is promoted when teachers fulfil the basic conditions required for cooperative learning. These aspects are issues directly related to students' personal and academic development.