Search

The implementation of the European Higher Education Area in Spain has involved a substantial change in the traditional practices of university education, introducing important modifications both in the teaching methodology and in the assessment criteria. This work presents the experience carried out by the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Albacete in the subject of Cost Accounting. The paper aims to determine whether the new methodologies used in recent years and the introduction of new criteria for assessment have had a positive impact on the improvement of the students' performance and motivation in the aforementioned subject, which is taught in the third year of the degree in Business and Management Administration (ADE). In order to achieve this, we compared the grades obtained by students during the academic years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 (in which the ECTS methodology was applied) with those obtained in the two immediately preceding academic years: 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 (where the teaching methodology involved lectures and a final exam worth 100% of the final grade). The findings evince an overall increase in the rate of students who take the exam and participate in the process of continuous assessment as a result of the new teaching methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we show the most relevant results of the first year of implementation of the Educational Evaluation National Network and University Teaching. The basic methodology used was action-research on formative assessment practices in higher education, in subjects taught by teachers members of the net, with a total of 41 cases. The results present the advantages that this assessment system meant both for students and for teachers involved, including the greater involvement and motivation of students, as well as further development of students' autonomy. Some difficulties were also detected, such as excess work for the teachers or the lack of habit of students in formative assessment processes. The project we have developed has a direct effect on the university teaching practice and lead us to consider the formative evaluation as an essential element to renew our teaching practice and as a good alternative for dealing with the changes arising from the European Higher Education Area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present the results arising from a project to the preparation and testing of a multimedia material to promoting autonomous learning in the acquisition of specific competences of the Ecology practices course, in Biology studies at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB). The main objective lies in the gradual adaptation to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) from greater coordination among teachers and the acquisition of new resources for teaching. The results obtained in the materials experimentation can be considered significantly positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) laid the foundations for a model of competency-based training. In this sense, there are several proposals suggest working on the ability for teamworking in activities developing the content of one or several subjects. However, they aren't so common in assessment tasks. This paper contains an application of Teams-Games-Tournament (DeVries and Edwards, 1973) to carry out the assessment of a subject. Teams-Games-Tournament is an alternative to traditional assessment tests based not on individual assessment, but on the development and group collaboration to achieve common goals. The implications, advantages and disadvantages of the application of this technique are discussed in the framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents some findings of an evaluation study conducted in five spanish universities on the design of a 'FORCOM Guides for Self-Assessment Teaching Competencies'. This device has been developed to help university teachers to cope with the teaching demands of EHEA. Data collected in a previous teaching needs? assessment were the grounds of the very first design of the guide. Sixteen senior university teachers - of any scientific area- had been demanded, firstly, implementing the Guide, and next, they had been required in order to look for their perceptions about: a) the ease and other aspects of practical management of the Guides ('format evaluation'), and b) the utility and suitability of its content to teachers? teaching needs ('content evaluation'). Data analysis points to: 1) the validity and utility of the created device, especially for helping well experienced teachers in EHEA; 2) its capability the increase the teaching technical knowledge of the teacher, and 3) some change demands related with the present format and with the content of the Guides, as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]