IMPACT OF DIFFERENT ACTIVE METHODOLOGIES ON THE LEARNING OF STUDENTS IN ENGINEERING

Active-collaborative experience shown herein was performed in the Industrial Electronics subject; being a subject matter that has no class attendance to be within the curriculum extinction of ancient engineering. Although the considerations and conclusions are perfectly extrapolated to other matters, subjects and knowledge disciplines. The implemented model has as background, tests and experiments performed in previous academic years. The purpose of these methodologies is that the student plays an active role, promoting the compressive learning and the knowledge application. Now the effort of the students, during the development of the different experiences, is more oriented towards the acquisition of skills and abilities than towards the simple memorization of contents and concepts. This reality that the teachers perceive every day has transformed the way in which students interact with their environment; thus a change has occurred in the nature of higher education. The model focuses on student learning encouraging their activity and involvement. Thus the teacher's role changes from the simple knowledge transmission to students on the blackboard, to suggest multiple activities to be the mediator in the knowledge construction. Numerous authors indicate that the incorporation of active and collaborative methodologies in the classroom such as: Problem-based Learning, e-Portfolio, Challenge Problem, Learning by-doing, Case Method, m-Learning, Blended-Learning, Simulation-based Learning., (the list can be endless), allow the student to achieve a more significant learning; while at the same time it assumes responsibility for their own learning. Applications focused in learning by-doing allow to speed-up the learning process; this facilitates the design and implementation of active strategies in the classroom. Learning by-doing is a very effective idea for students to acquire knowledge, if they are well motivated. This paper shows the results of the impact that has on the teaching, the implementation of different learning strategies used in the subject along the academic course. The incorporation of this set of active tools, has allowed to establish a culture and behaviour towards the continuous improvement of students, increasing their abilities, competencies and skills. Undoubtedly its use improves the motivation and increase interest and involvement of students in the matter. As educational objectives were considered: use new applications and mechanisms for the continuous supervision of the students; revitalize the follow-up of the subject; structure the different tasks (attendance/on-line/virtual) of the students; motivate and encourage the student to work continuously in the subject throughout the academic year. Educational innovation strategies shown in this paper are economically efficient, sustainable and transferable to other subjects and knowledge disciplines, because the resources and tools necessary for its implementation are free and widely used within the educational community. The purpose is simply to reflect and draw conclusions about which of these techniques have higher acceptance by the students; at the same time it is possible to compare the benefits of the methods used and the effectiveness of each of the educational strategies. In addition the results of the various questionnaires performed on students are presented in order to know their views and impressions concerning the development and implementation of several educational activities.