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Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences

MUSE

Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences EISSN: 2341-2593

Table of contents

An overview of the management consulting firms of the Spanish 1-25 company in China: company profile and success and failure factors A. Niñerola, F. Campa-Planas, A.B. Hernández-Lara, M.V. Sánchez-Rebull

Modeling of impact dynamics and application in public security 26-46 education Marcos Rodríguez-Millán, Miguel Marco, José Antonio Loya, Fernando Moure, María Henar Miguélez

Gender violence news in British and American press 47-59 Sara Bustinduy

Tutoring Social Sciences learning 60-70 Sara Prades Plaza

Using active learning methodologies in physical chemistry in CLIL 71-83 contexts David Recatalá

Inquiry learning for gender equity using History of Science in Life and 84-99 Earth Sciences’ learning environments C. Sousa

Take care of well-being: how facilitators and engagement predict 100-117 performance of university students Isabel M. Martínez, Jonathan Peñalver, Isabella Meneghel

Problem-based learning on cell biology and ecophysiology using 118-132 integrated laboratory and computational activities C. Sousa

Accreditation of Spanish engineering programs, first experiences. The 133-151 case of the Terrassa School of Engineering Mª Dolores Álvarez, Mireia Mata, Javeir Cañavate, Joaquim Marqués, Carme Espot, Santiago Forcada, Jordi Voltas, Núria Garrido, Jordi Sellarés, Alfred Gil

Development of generic and strategic skills through a wiki platform in 152-168 industrial engineering programs L. Celorrio-Barragué, A. Lopes-Ramalho, M.R. Calvete Gaspar

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Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2016.3711 Social and Technological Sciences EISSN: 2341-2593

An Overview of the Management Consulting Firms of the Spanish Company in China: Company Profile and Success and Failure Factors

A. Niñerola*, F. Campa-Planas, A.B. Hernández-Lara, M.V. Sánchez-Rebull

Business Management Department. Universidad Rovira y Virgili Av.Universidad 1, 43204 Reus, Spain.

* Corresponding author: Email: [email protected]; Phone: + 34 977759865

Abstract This article explores the vision of Management Consulting Firms (MCF) specialized in internationalization processes of Spanish companies in China. The main objective is to shed light on a process full of uncertainty as is international expansion into emerging markets on the point of view of the advisors of that process. First, it is analyzed whether there is a Spanish company profile that is internationalized toward China in terms of sector of activity, size and experience in international business. And second, with their client’s experiences, success and failure factors in the internationalization process are studied. To achieve those objectives in depth interviews were held with partners and managers of six Management Consulting Firms with Spanish clients in their portfolio. As a result it is concluded that the sectors where the Spanish company has invested are several, the size of the company is important to undertake an implementation process in China and its international experience as well. Eight key factors were found relevant to invest in China successfully. Five factors are related with their resources (humans and financials) and the other three are related with their strategy. The main reasons of failure are also discussed. The article provides an outside perspective on the reasons why an internationalization process is successful and other fails.

Keywords Management Consulting Firms; internationalization; foreign direct investment; company profile; Chinese market; key success factors

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1. Introduction

In a global economy, many companies seek to extend their domestic market by finding new customers and profitability. The removal of trade barriers, greater geographic mobility, both of products and of people, and the reduction of transport costs, means that many companies consider expansion as a way of benefiting from higher production and sales volumes. On the one hand, internationalization allows them to remain competitive and becomes a strategic option for the company (Kyläheiko et al., 2011; Sapienza et al., 2006), but on the other, it generates high uncertainty and risk, this is why it is a widely studied area.

This eagerness to compete leads many companies to choose to invest in emerging markets because they offer greater business opportunities (Enderwick, 2009; Sakarya et al., 2007). Usually these countries are characterized by having many natural resources, a developing infrastructure and an expanding economy, making them attractive for foreign investment (Chen, 1996; Wang and Guo, 2011). Within the emerging market category, China is the largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide (The WorldBank, 2013), initially because its production costs were low and, latterly, due its domestic market potential, especially in the East and South (Cui and Liu, 2000).

Although the trend in Spanish business has been to move to places like South America or Europe (Galán and González-Benito, 2001) because they are closer culturally (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977; Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul, 1975) and physically, for the above reasons, more and more companies are choosing China as an investment destination (Moyano Vázquez, 2009). Our study focuses on this Asian country for two reasons, its current international importance, and because, as a non-traditional destination for Spanish business investment, it is under-researched.

The literature has studied the internationalization process, from a qualitative, quantitative and theoretical methodological perspective, for the industrial and service sectors and in

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many countries and regions, but always from the point of view of the company that is going international.

In this study, we analyze Spanish companies that are investing in China. Due to the country's complexity, many companies require the services of a management consulting firm (MCF) during deployment. Since international consultants have an objective and experienced view of the internationalization process of Spanish companies in China, the present article focuses on their opinions.

Some previous studies make a connection between the internationalization process and the MCFs, taking the latter as the analysis unit, rather than the companies they advise. Some authors have identified the entry barriers that MCFs face in their own internationalization process (Freeman and Sandwell, 2008), other have looked into their motives in internationalizing (Glückler, 2006; Poulfelt et al., 2014), but none have investigated their opinions on this means of business growth for their clients. MCFs have multiple views of this process, many of their customers have succeeded but many also have failed, so the opinions of MCFs may be of value, but have not previously been studied.

Thus, the aim of this paper is to explore the realities facing Spanish companies in China, from the point of view of their internationalization advisers. The first research question is whether there is a type or profile, as defined by terms of sector of activity, size or international experience, for a company that goes international in the Asian market. The second question is whether consultants experienced in advising companies in China have found factors that influence the success or failure of the process. The data for answering these questions are drawn from in-depth interviews with partners or directors of these specialized consulting firms.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: in Section Two we will review, firstly, the literature on profiles of companies that have gone international, their size, sector and international experience and secondly, internationalization success and failure factors. Then, in Section Three, we explain the methodology followed during the study, continuing

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in Section Four by analyzing the case studies that arise. Finally, we discuss the results and present the main business implications.

2. Theoretical background

Traditional theories on internationalization suggest that companies go abroad not only because they have competitive advantages, whether in production, technology or other areas (Hymer, 1976; Kindleberger, 1969), but also because going abroad implies lowers costs (Buckley and Casson, 1976; Caves, 1996; Dunning, 1988).

Although it is true that in the early stages of the opening of the market in China, when they first began to receive substantial direct investment from foreign companies, these were motivated by competitive cost advantages (Boisot and Meyer, 2008), nevertheless this paradigm has now changed remarkably and other factors, such as the potential of the Chinese domestic market, make investment attractive (Chen and Yeh, 2012).

So, current internationalization theories, for example, network theory (Hosseini and Dadfar, 2012), better explain the motivations of companies in internationalizing than do traditional theories. This is because the decision is based, not only on the productive competitive advantage of the company, but also depends greatly on the strategic alliances developed by the company. In China, these alliances give added value for competing and succeeding in the market (Gao et al., 2012; Tung and Worm, 2001).

It is evident that companies internationalize because there is some advantage in so doing, whether this be in production or in relationship terms; but what are the characteristics of a company that undertakes this internationalization process?

Much of the literature has focused on the size of companies and the international experience of their executives for analyzing their propensity to undertake business beyond their borders.

Whether the company size is a relevant characteristic of the firm that decides to invest abroad is a controversial issue. In regard to direct investment, because of the resource

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needs, the bigger the company, the greater its propensity to internationalize (Lin, 2010; Todo, 2011). Although there are authors such as Reynolds (1997) who claim that small-to- medium enterprises (SMEs) are growing in the international market mainly in sectors where economies of scale are not necessary, others like Reuber and Fischer (1997) assert that SMEs can cope with the internationalization process and overcome their lack of resources using other entry mechanisms such as networking (Chetty and Blankenburg Holm, 2000). In the export field, though, there are more authors who have shown that an SME can be successful (Dean et al., 2000) and some of these even being major exporters, according to Wagner (1995).

In contrast, the literature on Top Management's international experience is in agreement that, the greater the management experience and training, the greater the propensity to internationalize ((Moreira et al., 2013; Nielsen and Nielsen, 2011; Reuber and Fischer, 1997; Tihanyi et al., 2000). It is this management team experience that allows companies with less resources to internationalize, by using this intangible resource for finding less capital-intensive methods, such as strategic alliances with partners (Reuber and Fischer, 1997).

Using the views of the MCFs interviewed in the study, we aim to compare, on the one hand, whether a company needs to be big to successfully invest in China or whether there are also successful Spanish SMEs and, on the other hand, if the international experience of these companies has been crucial during the deployment process.

The literature on success and failure factors for internationalization is sparse. Only a few authors, such as Brenes et al. (2008), Yang and Lee (2002) and Zeng et al. (2009) have explicitly studied this topic. Of these three works, the first focuses on Latin America and the other two on China. All three papers suggest that the management team's involvement and commitment are key success factors. Yang and Lee (2002) add technological capability, good definition of objectives and the relationship with the authorities as three key factors

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and Zeng et al. (2009) believe that that it is marketing that has the greatest effect on the company's performance in China.

Few studies attempt to identify success factors for a company's deployment in a foreign market, most authors focus on a specific factor and its effect on the internationalization process. For example, Cremer and Ramasamy (2009) focus on the role of the management team as a determinant of success, Kyläheiko et al. (2011) and Liu and Wu (2011) on the firm's technological capability, and authors like Luo (1997) or Tsang (1998) analyze whether it is institutional influence networks (Guanxi) that determine company success in China. Consequently, additional empirical evidence on the factors that influence the success of the internationalization process in general and in emerging markets like China in particular, is needed.

3. Methodology

We use a case study-based methodology to answer the questions in the previous sections. An exploratory and descriptive study (Yin, 1981, 1984), based on six interviews with partners and executive managers of consulting firms, was conducted to give a broad perspective of the internationalization of their clients in China. Although the qualitative nature of our work makes it difficult to generalize the results, the fact that six cases are studied, taking into account that each of these implicitly includes many customer experiences, leads us to believe it to be representative of the number of Spanish companies that are currently developing direct investment activities in China. Eisenhardt (1989) supports the number of cases studied in this article because, although he notes that there is no ideal number of cases to be studied in order to understand a phenomenon, he observes that analyzing less than four is not optimal for generalizing the results, while more than ten involves an amount of information that is difficult to handle.

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Our research was conducted during the period 2012–2014. In-depth interviews of more than one hour with partners or managers of six consultancy firms with Spanish clients and with a presence in China were conducted – three by telephone and three in person.

Before the interviews, the study objectives were explained to the respondents and the confidentiality of their personal data guaranteed, hence we have encoded the names of the consultancies and the respondents names do not appear. Each interview was taped for later transcription and analysis in order to ensure verbatim and accurate information gathering. Responses were encoded using a computer program to establish patterns or similarities.

It should be noted that, in this sample, five consultancies had a long-standing international presence, totaling more than thirty years advising companies, and the other one was recently established exclusively to advise Spanish companies in China (see Table 1).

Table 1. Characteristics of the Management Consulting Firms.

MCF’s Year of Interviewee’s Interviewee foundation Number of location headquarters interviewees Former managing partner and MCF1 1941 Spain 2 actual managing partner of China Shanghai Office MCF2 1979 Hong Kong 1 Business Development Manager Germany MCF3 2013 Spain 1 Managing Director Spain Partner of Shanghai Office and MCF4 1845 United States 1 Head of Commercial due China diligence for Mainland China United Partners of Barcelona Office. Tax MCF5 1963 2 Spain Kingdom Manager and Legal Manager MCF6 1964 Spain 1 Managing Director Spain

All the MCF participants in the study provide legal and tax advice for the deployment and further development of overseas activities. MCF2 offers additional recruitment services and MCF3 offers translation services and Chinese search engine / social network ranking optimization (SEO).

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The MCFs have different types of client. Regarding size of companies they advise, MCF1 and MCF4 have a portfolio of medium and large enterprises, the first basically of Spanish origin, and the second more international. MCF2 and MCF5 also have customers from different countries, but these are usually smaller. Finally, MCF3 is dedicated to advising local small businesses. Spanish companies of all types are represented in the sample.

4. Analysis of cases

This section is divided into two subsections which address the questions posed in the Introduction. Firstly, the MCF views are analyzed to determine whether, based on their experiences with clients, they detect a categorization for Spanish companies investing in China. Then, in the second subsection, a list of factors, that the MCFs perceive as necessary for these investments to be successful, is set out.

4.1. Spanish company profile in China

Following Claver et al. (2005) and Moyano Vázquez, (2009), we consider company profiles on the basis of three factors: sector of activity, size and experience in international business.

In regard to the sectorial activity of Spanish enterprises located in China, according to Spanish Government Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness sources (http.://dataInvex.comercio.es), these investments were concentrated in twenty sectors (2012 data). The most important of these (72% weighting) was the Financial Services sector (Sector 64), through the investments made by major Spanish banks over the years concerned. Eliminating this sector because it distorts the view of the rest, we found that Manufacture of vehicles and Trade (Retail and Wholesale), represent 20%, 17% and 10% respectively. These are followed by Other Manufacturing (Sectors 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27 and 28) and the Food and Chemicals (see Table 2).

Table 2. Characteristics of the Management Consulting Firms.

Incl.6 Excl. Sector 2012 2011 Var. 4 64

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10 Manufacture of food products 89.360 56.000 59,6% 1,7% 6,3% 13 Manufacture of textiles 12.110 11.950 1,3% 0,2% 0,9% Manufacture of chemicals and chemical 20 products 88.110 20.140 337,5% 1,7% 6,2% Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products 21 and pharmaceutical preparations 44.770 45.220 -1,0% 0,9% 3,2% 22 Manufacture of rubber and plastic products 14.340 14.180 1,1% 0,3% 1,0% Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral 23 products 88.410 109.590 -19,3% 1,7% 6,3% 24 Manufacture of basic metals 60.970 55.560 9,7% 1,2% 4,3% Manufacture of fabricated metal products, 25 except machinery and equipment 122.870 110.480 11,2% 2,4% 8,7% 27 Manufacture of electrical equipment 56.080 52.420 7,0% 1,1% 4,0% 28 Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c 32.730 22.560 45,1% 0,6% 2,3% Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and 29 semi-trailers 290.430 271.370 7,0% 5,7% 20,6% 32 Other manufacturing 7.200 6.970 3,3% 0,1% 0,5% Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning 35 supply 20.030 18.530 8,1% 0,4% 1,4% 41 Construction of buildings 20.920 22.400 -6,6% 0,4% 1,5% 42 Civil engineering 2.750 2.700 1,9% 0,1% 0,2% 43 Specialized construction activities 48.410 38.680 25,2% 0,9% 3,4% Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and 46 motorcycles 149.670 115.650 29,4% 2,9% 10,6% Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and 47 motorcycles 243.490 173.990 39,9% 4,8% 17,2% Warehousing and support activities for 52 transportation 14.190 16.340 -13,2% 0,3% 1,0% Computer programming, consultancy and 62 related activities 4.680 4.360 7,3% 0,1% 0,3% Financial service activities, except insurance 64 and pension funding 3.699.820 3.271.080 13,1% 72,4% Activities auxiliary to financial services and 66 insurance activities 850 700 21,4% 0,0% 0,1% 69 Legal and accounting activities -3.980 -3.060 30,1% -0,1% -0,3% Activities of head offices; management 70 consultancy activities 50 0 0,0% 0,0% Architectural and engineering activities; 71 technical testing and analysis 1.760 0 0,0% 0,1% Source: Datainvex

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Thus, Spanish companies are investing in many sectors (Moyano Vázquez, 2009), and the consultants also note this. According to MCF1, "being China the type of market it is, businesses of all kinds go there".

Concentrating on growth sectors, Chemicals and Food are two of the main ones. The MCF2 respondent says: "The kind of Spanish company that now goes to China is a company that sells products, mainly food (wines, oils, etc.) but also fashion. Then Medical- Pharmaceutical-Chemical companies are also deployed there. And the industrial sector remains important."

In relation to size, as being one of the aspects that define the profile of a company investing in China, we found disagreements, both in the literature and in the views of the MCFs.

The actual managing partner of MCF1s Shanghai office explained that, in his opinion, the typical pattern of internationalization of Spanish companies in Latin America had been different to that in China. “In the Americas, the big companies came first and then the medium-sized ones followed. In China, however, medium-sized companies were the pioneers, the first to move but, in recent years, it is clear that increasingly it is large companies that are setting up shop".

Today, when the Chinese market continues to be very competitive, the consultancies believe that the size of the company that is internationalizing is important because deployment takes a long time, is complicated and requires a level of monitoring and control, which is difficult to achieve without the requisite resources. This does not mean that small and medium companies cannot sell in China. They can export (Dean et al., 2000), but direct investment is more complicated, according to MCF1. Nevertheless, it is not only size that is important; in this regard the respondents' views are nuanced. Based on their experience, MCF4 and MCF5 believe that, depending on the sector and the activity undertaken, size need not be exclusionary. From MCF2, comes the claim that a company's level of expertise is as important as its size: "Investment in China, is linked a little to company size but, if you offer a truly specialized product with high added-value or

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differentiated from the competitors, there's no need be a large company at all, as long as you have the financial resources for the investment."

The MCFs have found that most companies investing in China are companies that have previously invested, mainly in Europe, South America or North Africa, so their managers have some experience in international business. China is not usually the first internationalization destination for these companies, they initially invested in markets with more cultural affinity or geographically closer (Galán and González-Benito, 2001).

Despite having experience in international markets, because of this Asian country's complexity there are many companies that use consultants to carry out the process and, for those that do not use them, it is because they are very large and have a specialized department in their company to carry out these market studies (MCF5).

Although it is difficult to define a profile of the company that invests in China, we can conclude that its size is important, although there are exceptions, and that this is not usually its first business internationalization destination, it will already have some foreign experience. In relation to the sector of activity, Spanish business has invested in several sectors, notably Financial. But if we look at which are currently growing with a significant percentage of the total, then Chemicals, Food and Manufacturing, as well as Trade, are the dominant investments.

4.2. Key success factors in internationalizing to China

Any internationalization strategy carries many risks for the company (Figueira-de-Lemos et al., 2011; Forlani et al., 2008), even more so if the destination country is as different from Spain as is China. For a Spanish company, a market like China is not only geographically distant, but poses a major cultural challenge. The psychological distance defined by Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul (1975), culture, politics, language etc. causes many companies to fail in China. For this reason, some authors (Yang and Lee, 2002; Zeng et al., 2009) have wondered whether there are factors to consider when investing in this country with certain minimum safeguards for success.

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This specific question was asked to the MCFs during the interviews and a total of eight items were to be taken into account for survival in China, "survival " understood as achieving results enabling the company to continue this international project (Van Praag, 2003). Not all the MCFs reported the same success factors, but there was broad agreement (see Table 3).

Table 3. Key success factors according to Management Consulting Firms

MCF1 MCF2 MCF3 MCF4 MCF5 MCF6 commitment and resources X X X X X X top management involvement X X X X X human resources X X X X X a good partner X X X X X X network relationships X X X X differentiation X X X adapt the strategy X X X X X protect technology X X X

These factors fall into two groups. The first group consists of the five factors, relating to company resources and relationships, the second, the remaining three factors related to its strategy and products or services.

4.2.1 Key success factors related to resources and networks

To get good results, all the MCFs consider that the company's level of commitment to the international project is essential. This commitment is reflected in the investment of adequate resources, as much financial as in time and people, since this is a long-term investment and hence not immediately profitable (Cui and Liu, 2000; Lu and Beamish, 2001).

MCF1: "Currently, for China, the level of commitment required is equal to or greater than for Spain, [...] so... you have to go to China with a firm commitment, if you go halfway, it almost certainly will go wrong"

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MCF5: "You have to commit the necessary resources and create a structure... sending a couple of expats to look for business does not work."

MCF6: "It is a long process and therefore needs resources"

This commitment requires the close involvement of top company management as it is an investment that will not pay off immediately, so the consultancies believe that the project is unsustainable without full management support. "Going to China is a strategic decision; therefore, senior management must support the project" (MCF5), "and motivate other staff" (MCF6). The Business Development Manager of MCF2 adds that "this does not mean that senior management be in charge of the project, because the decision may come from the CFO, or the Export Manager. But if this person has not been able to convince the top company management, it makes no sense. And if the company goes ahead without having convinced senior management, it will probably fail. "

The third factor to consider is the company's human resources in the country of investment. The MCFs remarked on the importance, on the one hand, of sending top professionals from Spain (as did Zeng et al. (2009) in his study of business success factors in China) and, on the other, of finding qualified staff in the country. The literature also stresses the importance of this factor for project success (Yang and Lee, 2002). Throughout the interviews, the MCFs explained this as follows:

MCF1: "The company did not send a second or third level professional, it sent a first class professional, gave them authority, gave them skills, were there during those five or six years and so we can see that before they had nothing, and now they have an office with 25 professionals. Why? Because of the people, i.e. the resources, and the wherewithal the company gave him. We have other firms that have not succeeded in China. Why? Because they sent a lawyer, like he was renting there, then he came, was part-time, hired two Chinese and then turned to go, so the continuity, the intensity of the project..."

MCF4: "Having a capable leadership, with talent, who can bring the project to a successful conclusion. Do not send grade C management, rather those of higher quality.

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MCF6: "Have qualified local staff who speak English"

In a country like China, having such a big cultural difference with Spain, many companies use a partner, whether an equity partner or a business associate, to develop their activities. This is one of the most studied areas in terms of internationalization processes in China. Some authors point out the advantages of using a partner to enter the Chinese market. Lu and Beamish (2001) justify the need to take advantage of a partner's knowledge, if they themselves do not know the market. The right partner can provide strategic, organizational and financial advantages (Luo, 1998) since they speed up market entry (Glaister and Wang, 1993). However, there are potential drawbacks to consider when investing with a partner. According to Hu and Chen (1996), the partner's level of commitment can be a problem for proper company functioning and Zutshi and Tan (2009) point to trust as the main drawback of joint ventures in China.

All the MCF respondents stress the importance of choosing a good partner. A partner can help companies at the time of their entry into the country, because they know the workings of the market. However, from past experience, some MCFs recommend caution.

MCF1: "I would not say that you should avoid a partner because there's always something... but I think before going into China with a Chinese partner, do a very careful analysis of what the Chinese partner gives you, and what risks there are in having a Chinese partner. And if what they bring is really greater than the risk, then it makes sense"

MCF2: "The only advice I can give because we do it, is to carry out a due diligence on your partner; even if you have a good relationship."

MCF3: "Have a Chinese partner or a couple of Chinese workers who can advise you at all levels, since the person here does not have to know Chinese or how everything works"

MCF4: "Many companies change their partner and not just for cultural reasons. The right partner means that, it's the right match from a business point of view as well as from a relationship point of view.

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MCF5: "The partner is essential in helping you understand how business culture works in China, because they have different ways of working to Western ones and it costs to close deals."

MCF6: "It is important to work with a partner because when you open a branch the aim is that this cultural approach leads to a commercial approach."

It could be argued that it is important to have a good relationship with the partner in China, but also in any other country. However, having good relations with the institutions or authorities, in China known as Guanxi, is vital in this Asian country and can cause project success or failure (Gao et al., 2012; Luo, 1997; Tsang, 1998). Having good contacts (social networks), means it is possible to overcome the language and bureaucracy barriers that companies encounter in China (Freeman and Sandwell, 2008; Nair and Stafford, 1998).

MCF4, 5 and 6 indicate that the government role in China is more than a regulatory issue; hence it is important to have good relations, especially locally. Consequently, the person in the company who deals with the Administration must be able to relate well to the authorities. The CEO of MCF3 notes that it is very difficult to have Guanxi if you are not Chinese, so it is desirable that this person be a local. Tung and Worm (2001) also regard that using an expatriate it is difficult to establish a strong relationship with the authorities.

4.2.2 Key success factors related to business strategy

Moving on to factors related to the company's strategy in China, in three of the six interviews, differentiation is designated a success strategy. Wigley et al. (2005), also consider that this factor is critical for success at the international level. The consultants remark that, for a business to succeed in China, it "must be able to offer a product with differentiated know-how" (MCF2), "if you're not a little different, you can't do anything" (MCF3).

Internationalization requires that each company make country-specific strategy changes, because each deployment project has specific characteristics. Legislation may be different, also customer taste, market entry mechanisms: distribution channels, advertising, etc.

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(Pedersen and Pedersen, 2004). So, a company's internationalization strategy is affected by the investment destination. Especially in China, whose differences with the Spanish market are so pronounced, five of the six consultants say that adapting the strategy is imperative. It is essential for a successful business to adapt procedures to Chinese culture at all levels (Yang and Lee, 2002).

MCF2: "For example, sometimes the Spanish company has a product with high added- value in Spain and sells products in Spain, but to have something to offer in China, it must become a service provider. It must offer a service, not a product. So it must restructure its business strategy, this step is complicated for companies to do. "

MCF4: "Know the market and adapt your strategy. Take into account that China is very big and that trying to encompass it all and treat it all the same is a mistake. You should see it like a Europe."

MCF6: "We must adapt the strategy because there are cultural differences to be taken into account (...)"

The last factor mentioned by three of the respondents, is the protection of company technology or know-how (Pagnattaro, 2012). The consultants stress that this is an issue of great concern to companies investing in the country and although, according to MCF5, the protection of intellectual property in China has improved, it still remains an unresolved issue.

The above eight factors are those that the MCFs considered relevant to success in China. Not taking them into account may lead to business failure there. The managers who responded to the interview noted that many businesses fail because they do not devote sufficient resources, financial and human, to the project. That is to say, they do not meet the first three requirements. "One mistake Spanish companies, unlike German or British ones, make is to think in the short term, about short-term costs rather than long-term profits" (MCF4).

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The second reason for failure relates to the Chinese partner (Hu and Chen, 1996). Many joint ventures have not been successful in China for two reasons. The first lies in socio- cultural differences with your partner, resulting in you having distinct ways of working and understanding business. So, as far as possible, the MCFs recommend always holding majority ownership to take the decisions. The second problem with a partner, linked to the last success factor, is that of having to share information, leaving the company's intellectual property unprotected and making it easier for the partner to set himself up to take advantage of this know-how.

5. Conclusions

The internationalization of businesses is a much-investigated area in business literature, but not from the point of view taken in this article. The MCFs vision in regard to the internationalization process of their clients is one of the main contributions of this study.

Through interviews with the partners and managers of international consulting firms, we gathered the opinion of the consultants for Spanish companies in China. The profile of companies that go international, and the key factors for their success, are the two questions that this study has answered.

Company size is considered relevant to the company internationalization process, both in the literature and also in the opinion of MCFs. In this regard, the level of resources needed by a company deciding to make direct investment abroad makes it difficult for an SME to achieve, although there may be exceptions: the product or service it offers can have the requisite degree of specialization, and it may have adequate financial resources.

There is consensus in the literature and among the respondents in terms to their management international experience. The Spanish companies that are going to China are experienced in international business, and it is usually not their first cross-border venture. Normally, because of their geographical and cultural proximity, they have previously invested in Europe, South America or North Africa.

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As for business sector, there are twenty where Spanish business has invested, notably Financial Services, Manufacture of vehicles and both Wholesale and Retail business. Should also be stressed the strong growth of Chemicals and, to a lesser extent, Food.

Our conclusion, therefore, is that Spanish companies do not invest in a given sector in China, they is represented in many areas. On the other hand, they are experienced companies, since they have already invested in other markets, and are of large to medium size – rarely small businesses.

The differences between Spanish and Chinese market have resulted in some deployments failing. Through the MCFs experience, we identified eight factors to consider for internationalization success. Five of them concern company resources and contacts or networks, the other three relate to business strategy. In the first group of factors, the MCFs considered that adequate resource investment (time, money and people), management involvement, human resource quality in China, choice of a good partner and having good contacts are key factors for a successful deployment. In the second group, differentiation of product or service, knowing how to adapt the company strategy to the Chinese market and devoting efforts to technology protection seem, in the consultants' opinion, essential.

Faced with the many uncertainties inherent in company internationalization, this advice from MCFs experienced in international markets can provide guidance to companies who are considering deploying in China and help them seize the opportunities offered by one of the largest markets in the world.

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Modeling of impact dynamics and application in public security education

Rodríguez-Millán, Marcos1*, Marco, Miguel1, Loya, José Antonio 2, Moure, Fernando3, Miguélez, María Henar 1

1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University Carlos III of Madrid, Avda. de la Universidad 30, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain

2Department of Continuum Mechanics and Structural Analysis, University Carlos III of Madrid, Avda. de la Universidad 30, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain

3Centro Universitario de la Guardia Civil, Avda. de la princesa s/n, Aranjuez, Madrid

* Corresponding author: Email: : [email protected]; Phone number: +34916245860

Received: 2015-03-24; Accepted: 2015-08-21

Abstract This work presents a methodology for interfacing with the students in order to study impact problems. The results are derived from the Bachelor Thesis developed at the end of the fourth course in the Security Engineering Degree. The knowledge regarding security topic and the use of new analysis tools (commercial finite element solver) have proved to be extremely useful for future Guardia Civil officers.

Keywords Security Engineering Degree; impact; teaching methodologies; Bachelor Thesis

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1. Introduction

The threats to the public security and premises security are on rise because of increasing terrorism and violence. In this sense, the protection of civil infrastructures and critical industrial facilities are topics of increasing relevance to defence agencies and governments. Three key applications of armor systems may be considered in the security industry: (1) personal protection, including body armor and helmets, (2) vehicle armor, and (3) transparent armor. For each of these applications, specific requirements play an important role in the armor design and thus the ultimate choice of protection materials ensure that these systems are as lightweight as possible (Report, 2011a).

Impact dynamics is strongly related with physical security of persons and infrastructure. The analysis of impact processes is required for evaluation of threats, performance of protections and other important issues for law enforcement members.

The governing variables of the impact problem: target and projectile characteristics (geometrical and mechanical) and actual impact conditions (initial impact velocity).

The election of protective material is a key factor in armor design. For instance, the largest part of protection materials in the automotive sector is metallic, principally steel and aluminum alloys (Report, 2011a; Wilson et al., 1988). However, many hybrid systems are currently using in this field, which combine metals, polymers and plastics, with or without reinforcements (Mosse et al., 2006). On the other hand, the impact resistance of high-strength fabrics makes them desirable in applications such as protective clothing for military and law enforcement personnel. In this regard, aramid fibers as Kevlar (DuPont) and Twaron (Teijin) or ultra-heavy molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), such as Spectra or Dyneema has been until now the most often used (Tabiei and Nilakantan, 2008).

The phenomenon of the process of perforation is often analyzed on terms of ballistic limit. The minimum velocity for a complete perforation of the target is called the ballistic

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limit Vb. At higher impact velocity (V0>Vb), the velocity after perforation is called residual velocity Vr. The ballistic curve is described by initial impact velocity and residual impact which provides the essential information to enable the design of an efficient passive safety structure to resist an high velocity projectile of low mass penetrating a target.

Generally, the information of impact process is obtained by experimental tests; however; there are numerous parameters to analyze and consequently, an in-depth experimental study of the effect of each of these parameters would be extremely time consuming and expensive. The most common way to solve these inconveniences is to use numerical simulations because they provide a rapid and less expensive way to evaluate new design ideas. In the particular case of impact, it is easily possible to define a set of initial and boundary conditions.

The mechanical behavior of materials must be defined in order to simulate impact problems. In addition to defining an adequate finite element mesh, an important aspect of conducting successful penetration simulations is the use of adequate material failure models.

The knowledge about impact process, described previously, is key importance in the development of future Guardia Civil officers Learning. They could be drawn into such departments. For instance: Forensic science has needed to be adapted to new challenges in different areas in order to cover all aspects detected in crime scene such as understanding of projectile direction. Other example is traumatic injuries resulting from vehicular accidents or assaults; has been recently reported in the literature (Ni et al., 2013; Marco et al, 2015).

This work focuses on the Bachelor Thesis of students developed at the end of the fourth course in the Security Engineering Degree, trying to go further in the understanding related to security, different industries and scientific field using a finite element code.

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The next section shows a brief description about the relation between University Carlos III of Madrid and Guardia Civil University Centre.

The next sections show different Bachelor Thesis which were developed for students: the influence of shape projectile in the design of personal protection or the influence of layout of polycarbonate-aluminum in the design of crashworthiness structures, among others. These studies serve to link public, industrial and security interests and awake the interest and curiosity for research in the future Guardia Civil officers.

2. The institutions: Guardia Civil and University Carlos III.

The Guardia Civil is a Spanish national military law enforcement institution under the Home Affairs Ministry, focused on the protection of the free exercise of rights and freedoms and to ensure public safety. Since its foundation in 1844, it has been participating in the resolution of the main security issues affecting Spain as a State both nationally and internationally. Currently it is one of the most respected law enforcement agencies in the world owing strong international projection. The Institution is the final user of advanced technology for security.

The University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) was established by an Act of the Spanish Parliament on 5 May 1989, within the framework of the University Reform Act of 1983 (BOE nº108, 1989). From the outset it was intended to be a relatively small, innovative, public university, providing teaching of the highest quality and focused primarily on research. Both Engineering and Social Science studies are offered at this University.

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3. Methodology for interfacing with the students.

The students used knowledge learned in different subjects of the Security Engineering Degree. Lightweight protection for mobile systems and Strength of Materials are two subjects focus on impact mechanics. Students learn the principles of Strength of Materials such as stress, strain, inertial moment, yield stress, among others. In Lightweight protection for mobile systems, students acquire the basic knowledge for understanding the keys to design and analyse impact processes. Simple analytical and numerical models are explained. These approaches are developed for different materials and ranges of velocities according to needs of future Guardia Civil officers.

Once they have passed these subjects, students have a main idea in order to choose between different Bachelor Theses offered by experts in impact phenomenal of University Carlos III of Madrid.

The main drawback of development these Bachelor Theses is the interaction between students of Guardia Civil University Centre (GCUC) and experts of University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M). The students, as future officers, have certain obligations subject to Guardia Civil institution. A methodology developed in order to solve these details as is shown in Figure 1.

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GCUC UC3M

Questions, doubts,… Answers, suggestions,…

Initial indications Initial indications FEM training course FEM training course ( 12h aprox.) ( 12h aprox.)

Specific problems, Solve problems, Rehearsals before Help their presentations their presentations

Figure 1. Schedule of interactions between Guardia Civil University Centre (GCUC) and experts of University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M).

Three different ways have been thought to get a good interaction between students of GCUC and experts of UC3M: (1) emails and video conferences, (2) the experts visit Guardia Civil University Centre and (3) the students visit University Carlos III of Madrid.

Use of email and video-conference tools is most common method of communication due to its ease-of-use and quickly response. They usually use this method during the development of their Bachelor Theses. However, to hold a meeting of supervisor and students in the first steps of their Bachelor Theses development are needed. Students must understand the different parts of their study: aims, the significance of their work/research to GCUC, original contributions… Their supervisors help students to find these goals. In addition, an advanced knowledge to using commercial software of Finite Element Method (FEM) is needed in order to Bachelor Theses about impact problems get

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successful. For this reason, a FEM training course focusing on impact problems is developed for students and carried out in GCUC installations. It is conducted in 12 hours. After this course, students must work in their researches but they are always guided by their supervisors. However, the analysis of impact process is a complex problem when difficulties arise, it is necessary to organise a meeting. These meetings are usually in the installations of University Carlos III of Madrid. Finally, some examination drills are carried out in order to students gain self-confidence.

4. -The Bachelor Thesis and results

Given the recent rise in terrorism, civil and international conflicts, the number of people afflicted with war-related traumatic injuries is set to increase. The improvement of personal protections under ballistic and explosive threats is of great interest to Guardia Civil. Ergonomics, lightweight and security are the main requirements that personal protections must comply.

Figure 2 shows a schedule for design new armour/protections. Bachelor Theses are developed using numerical models due to the high required cost need for performing experimental tests. The numerical models are validated with data from literature. The layout work is similar to shown in Figure 2. Firstly, it is important to classify the type of protection: combat helmet, body protection, energy absorption structural element. The following is to choose material/s for the protection. Then, the development of numerical model which is adjusted to actual prototypes. Once numerical model is validated with data from literature, numerous analyses may be carried out in order to go further the knowledge for different frameworks: geometry of projectiles, incidence angle, initial impact velocities…

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Figure 2. Schedule for armor development (Report, 2011b).

Different cases performed by the students of the CCUC developed during 2013/2014 are described below.

4.1: Numerical analysis of ballistic limit of Single and Layered Steel Plates.

Steels have been used widely used in armour designs for vehicles due to be less constrained in thickness. This allows using single and layered aluminium target plates with or without spacing, Figure 4. The idea of using layered plates instead of a single one in order to increase the ballistic perforation resistance is not new, and the effect of using targets made up of several thinner plates has been investigated in the literature for a long time (Corran et al., 1983; Britain, 1998; Dey et al., 2007; Deng et al., 2013).

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Figure 3. Example of perforation of separated thick target impacted by a blunt projectile. [11]

In this Bachelor Thesis, a numerical analysis of different parameters of impact problems was investigated: material behaviour, incidence’s angle, thickness and air gap separation. ARMOX T500 and AISI 4340 were selected due to its different stiffness and they are widely used in the security industry. Both materials show a high strength, however ARMOX T500 shows low strain hardening and limited ductility. This fact is not clear in order to predict the ballistic behaviour on perforation plates (Rodríguez-Millán et al, 2014). The plates was impacted by using Ballistic Impacts of a Full-Metal Jacketed (FMJ) Bullet because it is currently one the most munition used for instance in “Kalashnikov AK-47”.

ABAQUS/Explicit finite element code is used to simulate the perforation process. The thermoviscoplastic material behavior of the plates and FMJ bullet were defined using the Johnson-Cook model (Johnson and Cook, 1983).

The different studies carried out in this Bachelor Thesis are describing bellow. i) Influence of material behaviour and thickness of plate on perpendicular impact test.

This analysis was carried out in order to find the ballistic limit varying the thickness of plates for an initial impact V0≈ 750 m/s. AISI 4340 is a steel less strength than ARMOX 500T and this was reflected in Figure 4. The thickness required to prevent the perforation

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in AISI 4340 plate was more than three times than ARMOX 500T. The low strain hardening and limited ductility of ARMOX T500 may be the reason.

800 velocidadARMOX 700 residual500T 600 (ARMOX) 500 velocidadAISI 4340 residual (AISI) 400 300 200

Residual velocity, Residualvelocity, m/s 100 0 0 5 10 15 20 Thickness of plate, mm

Figure 4. Residual velocity versus thickness of plate for ARMOX 500T and AISI 4340.

ii) Influence of angle of obliquity on impact tests.

The perforation resistance of armors impacted at certain obliquity is common described by the Equivalent Protection Factor (EPF), defined as the ratio of the areal density providing protection against oblique impact to the real density providing protection against normal impact. The EPF is commonly plotted against the angle of obliquity of attack as is shown in the Figure 5. This analysis revealed the reduction in armor thickness requires an increase in the incidence’s angle of impact.

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1,2 1 0,8

0,6 EPF 0,4 0,2 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Incidence's angle (0)

Figure 5. EPF versus obliquity impact for ARMOX 500T. iii) Influence of layout in separated layered plates for a given initial impact velocity.

An analysis of layout of layered plates for ARMOX 500T and AISI 4340 was studied for normal and obliquity impact. The thicknesses were 4 mm and 3.2 mm for ARMOX 500T and AISI 4340 respectively. The air gap between both plates was 10 mm for two incidence angles (900 and 600) because this distance may be considered inside the vehicles. Figure 6 shows the final stage of the perforation process for the different cases studied. This study revealed that ARMOX-ASIS 4340 is the best layout configuration in terms energy absorption. Thus, the more ductile material (ASIS 4340) is better to place in the back of the layout in the design of absorption energy structures.

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a) b)

c) d)

Figure 6. The final stage of the perforation process for: a) Normal impact and ARMOX 500T-AISI 4340 configuration of layout, b) Normal impact and AISI 4340-ARMOX 500T configuration c) Obliquity impact and ARMOX 500T-AISI 4340 configuration and d) Obliquity impact and AISI 4340-ARMOX 500T configuration.

4.2: Impact behaviour of welded metal shields: numerical study

Armour protection structures are susceptible to failures along welds and joints, and simulations of these events are not yet reliable. Although, this is a complex problem, a numerical analysis has been developed in this Bachelor Thesis in order to study the influence of obliquity in the impact process. The impact tests were analysed using the

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explicit solver of the finite element code ABAQUS. The target (AISI 4340) and FMJ bullet were modelled using the Johnson–Cook constitutive relation and fracture criterion.

Figure 7. Example of impact process on welded plates.

Figure 7 shows a sequence of images during the impact process in the weld zone. Some of the most relevant results developed in the Bachelor Thesis are in Figure 8. The residual velocity decreases as incidence angle increased up to 60º. This fact is associated to an increase of effective thickness which is varied with incidence angle. However, Ricochet phenomenon is revealed beyond 60º, in other words, the interaction between projectile and surface is lower and therefore, the projectile does not get perforate the plate.

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, m/s

Residual velocity

Incidence angle, (º)

Figure 7. Residual velocity versus incidence angle on welded plates.

4.3: Numerical investigation on the impact behaviour of multi-layered composite plates of polycarbonate and aluminium.

In this Bachelor Thesis, a numerical model is developed in order to study the influence of layout in multi-layered composite under impact loading. Sandwich material systems – as special hybrid materials- are made by plates of polycarbonate and aluminium. They can combine the advantages of miscellaneous materials (e.g. low density, high bending resistance, energy absorption, high load-capacity at low weight) with each other (Librescu and Hause, 2000). Three-layered example of metal/polymer/metal sandwich systems is HYLITE (Carradò et al., 2011). HYLITE is an aluminium/polypropylene/aluminium SMS with thicknesses 0.2/0.8/0.2 mm which was introduced into the automotive market through the Audi A2 as is shown in the Figure 8.

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Figure 8. Location of sandwich material systems (HYLITE) in Audi A2 (Display.3acomposites, 2015)

Six different layout of Polycarbonate (PC)-Aluminum Alloy (AA) plates were analysed: (i) PC-AA-PC-AA, (ii) PC-AA-AA-PC, (iii) PC-PC-AA-AA, (iv) AA-AA-PC-PC, (v) AA-PC-AA-PC and (vi) AA-PC-PC-AA. ABAQUS/Explicit finite element code is used to simulate the perforation process. The thermoviscoplastic material behavior of the plates was defined using the Johnson-Cook model (Johnson and Cook, 1983). The projectile is defined by an analytical rigid body since experimental tests revealed no plastic deformation on the projectile-surface after impact. This definition allows reducing the computational time required for the simulations.

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Figure 9. Comparison between experimental test and numerical model in terms of residual velocity-initial impact velocity.

The numerical simulations were compared to experimental data developed by UC3M as is shown in the Figures 9-10. Figure 9 shows a comparison between numerical results and experiments in terms of ballistic curve VR –V0. A good agreement is observed between numerical simulations and experiments. In addition to the ballistic curve, local deformation was estimated, Figure 10. Petalling mechanism was revealed for all plates.

Figure 10. Comparison of final stage of the perforation process for the PC-AA-AA-PC configuration between experimental tests and numerical simulations.

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From analysis developed in this Bachelor Thesis some conclusions are revealed. AA-PC- PC-AA is the best layout configuration in terms energy absorption. Thus, the more ductile material (PC) is better to place in the middle of the layout in the design of absorption energy structures. Johnson-Cook model has proved insufficient in order to simulate the thermoviscoplastic behaviour of polycarbonate plate.

4.4: Numerical study of different aramid fibers under normal impact process.

Composites have become increasingly important in defence and security industries in the last years. The use of these materials in combat helmets, body protections and combat vehicles requires an exhaustive analysis of their behaviour in order to satisfy the safety requirements. One of the main challenges of modern personal protection is the optimization for energy absorption. In this sense, personal protections are usually based on fibre reinforced polymer composites, especially Kevlar and Twaron fibres due to its high stiffness, light weight and high energy absorption capacity.

In this Bachelor Thesis, a comparison between different aramid fibers was developed using ABAQUS/Explicit finite element code to simulate the normal perforation process. The modelling of composite material in a code of finite element is hard task. However, possible simplifications of mechanical behaviour of composites may be carried out by the development of shell models. The parameters for modelling of aramid fibers were found in the literature (Gower et al., 2008; Talebi et al, 2009).

Figure 11 shows the residual velocity versus initial impact velocity for three different aramid fibers: Kevlar 29, Kevlar 129 and Twaron. This study revealed that Twaron has more energy absorption capacity for the used boundary conditions.

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25 Kevlar K29 20 Kevlar K129

15 Twaron

10

Rsidual velocity, velocity, Rsidual m/s 5

0 200 250 300 350 Initial impact velocity, m/s

Figure 10. Residual velocity versus initial impact velocity for three different aramid fibers.

5. Conclusions

The experience of development of Bachelor Thesis structure, evaluation and topics has constituted a challenge for both institutions Guardia Civil and University Carlos III of Madrid.

The perception of students and advisors has been highly positive. Students have the opportunity to develop real applications of the knowledge and abilities acquired during their degree. The contact with operative units of Guardia Civil seems crucial to achieve this objective, proposing to impulse some specific topics to be rapidly adapted in their units.

Ackowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support for the work to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain under the Project DPI2011-25999.

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6. References

BOE nº 108, May 6 1989, Creación Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (p. 13323). http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1989/05/06/pdfs/A13323-13323.pdf

Britain, G. (1998). On the ballistic resistance of multi- layered targets with air gaps. International Journal of Solids and Structures. 35(23): 3097–3103.

Carradò A., Faerber J., Niemeyer S., Ziegmann G., Palkowski H. (2011). Metal/polymer/metal hybrid systems: Towards potential formability applications, Composite Structures, 93 (2): 715-721.

Corran, R. S. J., Shadbolt, P. J., & Ruiz, C. (1983) Impact loading of plates- An experimental investigation. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 1(l): 3–22.

Deng, Y., Zhang, W., & Cao, Z. (2013) Experimental investigation on the ballistic resistance of monolithic and multi-layered plates against ogival-nosed rigid projectiles impact. Materials and Design, 2013;44, 228–239.

Dey, S., Børvik, T., Teng, X., Wierzbicki, T., & Hopperstad, O. S. (2007). On the ballistic resistance of double-layered steel plates: An experimental and numerical investigation. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 2007; 44(20), 6701–6723.

Display.3acomposites (2015). http://www.display.3acomposites.com/es/productos/hylite /caracteristicas.html Accessed March 2015.

Gower, H. L., Cronin, D. S., Plumtree, A.(2008) Ballistic impact response of laminated composite panels. International Journal of Impact Engineering. 35(9): 1000–1008.

Johnson G.R., Cook W.H. (1983), A constitutive model and data for metals subjected to large strains, high strain rates and high temperatures, Proceedings of 7th international symposium on ballistics, 541–547.

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Librescu L, Hause T. (2000) Recent developments in the modelling and behaviour of advanced sandwich constructions: a survey. Compos Struct. 48:1–17.

Marco M, Rodríguez-Millán M., Santiuste C., Giner E., Miguélez M.H.. (2015) A review on recent advances in numerical modelling of bone cutting, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. 44: 179-201.

Mosse L, Compston P, Cantwell WJ, Cardew-Hall M, Kalyanasundaram S. (2006) Stamp forming of polypropylene based fibre-metal laminates: the effect of process variables on formability. J Mater Process Technol. 172(2):163–8.

Ní A, Cassidy M., Curtis M., Destrade M., Gilchrist M. D. (2013), A combined experimental and numerical study of stab-penetration forces, Forensic Science International 233:7–13.

Report (2011a). Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Committee on Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications National Materials Advisory Board and Board on Army Science and Technology Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences.

Report (2011b). Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications. National Academy of Sciences.

Rodríguez-Millán, M., Vaz-Romero, A., Rusinek, a., Rodríguez-Martínez, J. A., & Arias, A. (2014). Experimental Study on the Perforation Process of 5754-H111 and 6082-T6 Aluminium Plates Subjected to Normal Impact by Conical, Hemispherical and Blunt Projectiles. Experimental Mechanics, 54(5), 729–742.

Tabiei, A., Nilakantan, G. (2008) Ballistic Impact of Dry Woven Fabric Composites: A Review. Applied Mechanics Reviews. 61(1), 010801.

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Talebi H., Wong S.V., Hamouda A.M.S. (2009) Finite element evaluation of projectile nose angle effects in ballistic perforation of high strength fabric, Composite Structures. 87(4):314-320

Wilson D.V (1988). Aluminium versus steel in the family car the formability factor. Journal of MechWork Technology. 16:257–277

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Gender violence news in British and American press

Bustinduy, Sara

University of Malaga, Fac. Letras - Dpto. Filología Inglesa Campus de Teatinos s/n 29071 Málaga - España

Email: [email protected]; Phone: +34 609941324

Received: 2014-12-31; Accepted: 2015-06-15

Abstract

This study aims to prove which qualities, from the British and United States actual press, are more adequate for gender violence issues, comparing news on the same stories. It is evident the influence of mass media on public opinion and, therefore, the responsibility that written press has on gender violence messages, avoiding sensationalism. Psycholinguistic studies have established the relation language-thought, so language used in journalism is crucial. Following the belief that newspapers considered more liberal and independent will lead to a better treatment than traditional ones considered to be more reluctant to change, journals have been selected. Furthermore, different cultures can be as objective and respectful but maybe less committed with the issue, as it may arise from the samples. There have been emerging ethic codes giving guidelines to journalists, including discrimination, and more specific on gender sensitive reporting. Therefore, the objective to improve public opinion information, stepping away from stereotypes and oversimplifications, is substantial, and will undoubtedly result in a better understanding of equality.

Keywords Gender violence, equality, English language, press.

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Introduction

The term gender was first used at the UN Beijing Platform for Action, September 1995, where violence against women was mentioned as one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position by men. It was declared that it was a consequence of the historically unequal power relations between men and women, exacerbated by the absence of educational and other means to address the causes and consequences of violence. On the resolution, institutions, Governments and organizations are encouraged to instigate media to examine the impact of gender role stereotypes.

This study will contrast the way language is used in messages, from two different newspapers, about the same news. Both are considered serious, liberal and free of censorship, from two of the most important countries in the world the UK and the US. The aim is to find out which news processing would serve better for the topic.

There are ethic codes for journalists both in the UK and the US where gender violence is considered. The National Union of Journalists edited the code for GB; inclusive language is used in the text and explicitly refers to gender discrimination declaring it must be avoided. In the Code of Ethics from the Society of Professional Journalists, from America, inclusive language is not used but all sentences are imperative as a neutral choice. It specifically advises to avoid stereotyping by gender or sexual orientation and to be cautious about identifying victims of sex crimes.

One of the main problems related to women issues has been invisibility (Alberdi, 2006). There have been different stages concerning the dissemination of written news on periodicals. Not so long ago, domestic violence messages were published only in gutter press, specialized in scandals. Gender news has been related to sensationalism and stereotypes; these devices were used in order to call for attention and improve selling numbers, which was, even if unintentional, a perverse behaviour.

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Nowadays most advanced societies are concerned about equality and the structural nature of gender violence. There are many institutions and organizations focused on gender equality aiming to end this scourge. In spite of these efforts, the invisibility of women remains.

General press discourse is already divided in a number of different perspectives where it is not easy to find a right spot for gender. Education should be revised, Van Dijk (2011) gives evidence that only in the US can be found some Faculties offering ethic diversity studies at University level for Journalists, and gender issues should be equally included. Studies suggest that rather than looking for a section in gender, every piece of news should be considered under a gender perspective (Gallego, 2002). Gender education should be taught at all levels, including professionals dealing with language (Taillefer, 2011).

1. Discrimination, gender and press

In this study we will analyze gender violence news trying to discern which processing emerges as more adequate after comparing two English language newspapers, both considered liberal and independent, The Guardian from the UK and The New York Times from the US that we assume as more formal and diplomatic.

Studies have found the relevant influence of mass media on public opinion (Matas, 2006), and therefore the responsibility they bear on the references most people use in their minds. From a linguistic approach, the power of language influencing thoughts has been one of the most relevant findings, since it is now established that the language we use determines the way we think. By changing the words used in the news to refer to violent acts and people involved in them, society may realize how the situation actually is.

Mental models (Fernández, 2003) are representations anybody can infer about another person or an event. Group beliefs and knowledge are the references that need to be changed so models would be more adequate.

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Literature review includes publications concerning different aspects of this topic. The most important focuses are general education (Bengoechea, 2011) and specific journalists education (Dijk, 2011) because they are the first steps to unmask the role language plays on building gender references. Other focuses are the representation of women on media, the number of women working on news production (Gallego, 2002) and the language used (Calero, 1999).

From the media approach, there are questions on how presence and absence of women in the press affects their visibility (Gallego,2002), with the advice ‘not to hide women.’ Bach Arús (2000) stands for social changes followed by language.

The fact that press discourse is never neutral is also pointed by a number of authors (Gutierrez, 2009; Dijk, 2008; Dardis, 2006a) directly linked to the power of manipulating information, so it is imperative to point at the right direction. It is commonly admitted the pressure of androcentric power elites to impose their point of view and therefore their interests (Dijk van, 2011; Fernández, 2003).

Discourse works as Teun van Dijk’s on racism or Dardi’s on media marginalization devices, deal with press manipulative strategies. Both authors agree on how the discourse of ‘us’ vs. ‘the others’ or the denial of the problem is widely used. These words show how the topic really is (Dijk, 2011:5):

…it categorizes the out group (the Others, Them) not only as different, but also as inferior to the in-group (Us), so that discrimination can be morally legitimated, or simply taken for granted as ‘normal’ conduct towards Them. Thus, the symbolic elites of white societies developed racist ideologies that control all perceptions, understanding, beliefs, attitudes, and hence all actions and interactions, geared towards the reproduction of ethnic domination.

This shows how difficult is trying to get over discrimination. The ‘us vs. the others’ strategy has been often applied to gender issues where women would be ‘the others.’ The same strategies of discredit apply for all acts of prejudice or bigotry. The invisibility of violence against women is immersed in a more general power control device.

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Psycholinguistic studies established the relation between mind and language. So that, not only our thoughts are shaped into speech but also our mind is influenced by language. In this way society can be influenced and collective thoughts can be modified by language, proved its capacity to transform our perception of reality and became part of our thoughts following Taillefer de Haya (2011), who also refers to the fact that language should be an ally to build up a more fair society.

It would be good to establish a right frame as where to locate gender news in the newspapers, how to approach the different violent acts, avoiding stereotypes and additional unnecessary information, and how language should be used. So the influence of press should be used to set a more realistic portrayal of the stories.

2. Analysis The newspapers reviewed were selected considering their circulation numbers and their national coverage. Both journals have in common belonging to developed countries, where press is considered independent and free, as stated by Dardis (2006b.) The Guardian has been defined as a quality and technical newspaper with a low affective involvement (Gonzalez, 2007), and The New York Times as a reliable entity for international events reporting specific, real and sure knowledge (Dijk, 2008), and as a reference periodical in the US (Fondevila, 2012.)

This is a qualitative study of the language used for the same piece of news on the same date in two different newspapers. As the newspapers are from two different countries and cultures, the cross-national research must reveal interesting findings based on the socio cultural backgrounds of each country (Dardis, 2006b.) Using the same event will allow to compare whether a device used by both periodicals may be considered as generic, or cultural differences may arise.

Several items will be depicted from the most recent research studies. The notion of subject as the main topic or theme within the nominalization group technique, and the rest of the sentence

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as rheme or focus as a secondary form referred to the first one. This may be again divided into main focus and additional focus (Gutierrez, 2009). The linguistic topics on Fernández (2003) will be arranged to analyze the events where pertinent; and also some of the processing devices used by Menendez (2010).

We expect more liberal papers to have a more adequate treatment towards gender. Both newspapers are considered liberal, serious and independent in their own countries and have an international reputation. The selected examples for this work are soft news, not comments, so no evaluation or opinion is expected, just the facts. The way each editorial reaffirms the “truth” of the story for the intended reader on their discourse (Gonzalez, 2007) will show their differences.

3. Findings The fact is that there are differences in the way information is dealt in relation to gender.

In order to carry out our research, we are going to analyze a news item on Sunanda Pushkar death. The New York Times placed a 58 lines article on the 19th of January 2014, in the ASIA PACIFIC Section, Page A10, with the Headline ‘After Love Unravels in Media, Indian Politician’s Wife Is Found Dead.’ The Guardian placed a 20 lines report on the 20th January 2014, in the INTERNATIONAL Section, Page 13, with the Headline: ‘Indian Minister Testifies Over Wife’s Sudden Death.’ We consider the difference of date a consequence of the time difference between the two countries.

The social context is very similar for both periodicals; they are equally serious and address the same class readers with a high socio-cultural level. The words, groups of words and sentences used to refer the story will show the lexical relevance in a technical familiar dualism. Findings of affective involvement vs. formal relation of the communicative event and rhetorical mode will indicate the Tenor (Gonzalez, 2007.)

In the New York Times piece we find the words: love, unravels, wedding, smooth-talking, reputation, beautiful, middle age, relationship, glare, affair, unnatural, dangerous,

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overexposure, pursuing, poisoning, scandal, resigning, influence, wrongdoing, priceless, ridicule, affection, despondent, dazed, divorce, pursued, stupid, intimate, episode, happily, ill, hospitalized, unauthorized, suite, luxury, formerly, infuriated, demise, accused, pursuing, awful and tragic. As for The Guardian, we find the words: Testifies, accused, adultery, affair, unnatural, injury, death, former, diplomat, investigation, rumors, personal, minister, horrified, reckless, speculation, rampant, pledge, unstinting, indignity, subjected, testimony, magistrate, inquest, comment, scandal, erupted, resurgent, political, rivals, patronage, engulfed, corruption, scandals and account.

The references: love, beautiful, smooth-talking, middle age, glare, priceless, ridicule, affection, despondent, dazed, divorce, stupid, intimate, suite, luxury are found only in the New York times article. These words show a closer relation with the reader with some affective involvement, and are not so relevant to refer the information.

We find some of these words in the phrases: ‘After Love Unravels in Media’ on the Headline; ‘He was a smooth-talking politician’ and ‘She was a beautiful Kashmiri from the north’ on the first paragraph. They are strategically located, and set an atmosphere of novel rather than news reporting. Other phrases such as: ‘a minister in the Indian government’, ‘a high profile member of the governing Indian National Congress party’ and ‘his resigning as junior minister for foreign affairs’ point at the importance Mr. Tharoor has. The sentence ‘Ms. Pushkar, became Mr. Tharoor’s third wife’ doesn’t add any relevant information. In the sentence ‘He called her “priceless,” leading to some ridicule for his public display of affection’; the adjective ‘ridicule’ shows the journalist’s oppinion.

The words used in The Guardian to refer the event are more impersonal and technical. There are some phrases in which the importance of the victim’s husband is revealed: ‘An Indian government minister’, ‘Tharoor, a former UN diplomat’, ‘In a letter to India’s home minister’ and ‘Tharoor’s Congress party, led by Rahul Gandhi.’

Some additional stories are found in The New York Times as the way Mr. Tharoor and Ms. Pushkar met, the scandal about him misusing his official influence to help her that he denies,

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discussing their relationship in social media, and the declarations of Ms. Tarar, the journalist accused of pursuing Mr. Tharoor. In The Guardian the additional information is on Mr. Tharoor hoping to end rumours about their personal lives, declaring his horror on speculations on his private life, and on the political relevance of the scandal.

We find in The New York Times article that Sunanda Pushkar is the subject on thirteen sentences plus the object on a passive voice one, and Mr. Tharoor is a subject on fourteen sentences, eleven with the pronoun ‘he’, one with Mr. Tharoor, one with ‘Her husband, Shashi Tharoor,’ and one omitted; this is: ‘Married twice before’ which refers to Mr. Tharoor.

In The Guardian there are eight sentences with Mr. Tharoor as subject, three with ‘he’, three with ‘Tharoor’, one with ‘Shashi Tharoor’ and one with ‘her husband’. Ms. Pushkar is the subject of one sentence refered with her full name ‘Sunanda Pushkar.’

4. Final remarks The headlines share the information about the fact that the victim’s husband is a politician, and therefore it may be infered he is an important person belonging to the power elites, and the fact that his wife is dead. In both sentences the topic/theme is Mr. Tharoor, and the comment/rheme is his wife.

The fact that Sunanda Pushkar accused her husband of adultery previous to her death is revealed in both periodicals as an important aspect of her demise. The way information is placed in The New York Times ‘Now after public allegations that he was having an affair, the woman is dead’, suggests her death was a consequence of that incident.

Although both pieces of news refer to the fact that Ms.Sunanda believed her husband had had an affair, neither of them refers to the psychological mistreatment implicit on adultery, which has been indicated as relevant in her death.

The message about the autopsy ‘Pushkar’s death was sudden and unnatural, and her body bore injury marks, although doctors said this did not mean the injuries had caused her death.’

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is refered in both newspapers in a very similar way. Suicide is a reference left on reader’s minds although not explicitly declared.

References to the importance of Mr. Tharoor are found in both journals as if this fact is what makes his wife’s death appear on the news.

There are two remarks on The Guardian about Mr. Tharoor seeking a quick investigation in order to ‘put an end to rumours about their personal lives’ and another on his complaints about the ‘reckless speculation’ on media reports, which suits a serious tone.

In spite of the fact that the subject/theme shows to be more balanced on The New York Times the processing of the information is more concise on The Guardian. The different tone used by The New York Times is coherent with the less objective, unnecessary, additional information.

5. References

Alberdi, I. and Matas, N. Equipo de Investigación Género y Medios de Comunicación. (2006). Tratamiento de la violencia de género en la prensa vasca. San Sebastian: Universidad de Deusto.

Bach Arús, M. (2000). El sexo de la noticia. Barcelona: Icaria.

Bengoechea, M. (2011). El proceso de nombrar el mundo en femenino y algunos efectos secundarios no buscados. In Taillefer de Haya, L. (Ed.), La igualdad: nuevas perspectivas de género en educación, lingüística y filosofía (pp. 149-181). Málaga: CEDMA

Calero Fernández, M.A. (1999). Sexismo lingüístico. Análisis y propuestas ante la discriminación sexual en el lenguaje. Madrid: Narcea

Dardis, F.E. (2006b) “MILITARY ACCORD, MEDIA DISCORD. A Cross-National Comparison of UK vs US Press coverage of Iraq War Protest.” The International

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Communication Gazette, DOI: 10.1177/1748048506068719.

Dardis, F.E. (2006a) “Marginalization Devices in U.S. Press Coverage of Iraq War Protest: A Content Analysis.” MASS COMMUNICATION & SOCIETY, 9(2), 117–135.

Fernández Díaz, N. (2003). La violencia sexual y su representación en la prensa española 1989-1993. Barcelona: Anthropos.

Fondevila Gascón, J.F. (2012) “ El uso de recursos del periodismo digital en la prensa del Reino Unido, Francia, Estados Unidos y España”. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 18(1), 73-87.

Gallego, J. (dir.) (2002). La prensa por dentro. Producción informativa y transmisión de estereotipos de género. Barcelona: Los Libros de la Frontera.

Gonzalez Rodriguez, M.J. (2007). “On the Interpretation of Ideology Through Comment Articles: two Views in Opinion Discourse ”. RaeL-Revista Elecrónica de Lingüística Aplicada, vol. Mono. 1: 49-68

Gutierrez Zornoza, M.(et al) (2009). Violencia doméstica contra las mujeres en la prensa escrita. Cuenca: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.

Menéndez Menéndez, M. I. (2010). Representación mediática de la violencia de género. Análisis de la prensa balear (2004-2008). Palma (Illes Baleasrs): UIB

Ozieblo, B. (Ed.) (1993). Concepto y metodología en los estudios sobre la mujer. Atenea Estudios sobre la mujer. Málaga: Universidad de Málaga.

Taillefer de Haya, L.(ed.) (2011) La igualdad: nuevas perspectivas de género en educación, lingüística y filosofía. Málaga: CEDMA

Vera Balanza, M. T.; Ballesteros García, R. M. (Coords.) (2004). Mujeres y medios de comunicación. Imágenes, mensajes y discursos. Málaga: Universidad de Málaga

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6. Appendix

NEWS 1. Death of Sunanda Pushkar.

New York Times, January 19, 2014 Page A10, ASIA PACIFIC. After Love Unravels in Media, Indian Politician’s Wife Is Found Dead By BETWA SHARMA

(Photograph) Sunanda Pushkar, left, and Shashi Tharoor at their wedding reception in 2010. She was found dead in New Delhi on Friday. CreditAssociated Press

NEW DELHI — He was a smooth-talking politician from South India with an international reputation from his time at the United Nations. She was a beautiful Kashmiri from the north when they met in 2009 in middle age and began a relationship partly played out in the media, and social media, glare. Now after public allegations that he was having an affair, the woman is dead, in what a doctor called an “unnatural, sudden death.” Her husband, Shashi Tharoor, briefly checked himself into a hospital with chest pains. And Twitter is alive with virtual handwringing over whether the medium allowed a dangerous level of overexposure. The unraveling of the couple’s personal lives began last week, when the wife, Sunanda Pushkar, was quoted as saying she sent out a series of messages on Twitter that she said proved that a Pakistani journalist was pursuing her husband. Days later, on Friday, he reported finding his wife dead in a hotel bed. On Saturday, Sudhir Gupta, one of the doctors who performed an autopsy, told reporters that “there were certain injury marks on the body, but we can’t divulge details at this point.” He ruled out poisoning and said it would take several days to determine the cause of death.

(Photograph) Shashi Tharoor, right, a minister in the Indian government, sat in an ambulance with the body of his wife, Sunanda Pushkar, in New Delhi, India.CreditMoney Sharma/European Pressphoto Agency The death of Ms. Pushkar, 52, stunned many in New Delhi’s journalistic and political circles, many of whom had followed the twists in her life since she met Mr. Tharoor, a high-profile member of the governing Indian National Congress party. Married twice before, Ms. Pushkar, became Mr. Tharoor’s third wife in 2010 in the wake of a scandal that led to his resigning as junior minister for foreign affairs. The scandal centered on accusations that he had used his official influence to help her get an ownership stake in a franchise in India’s cricket league. He denied any financial wrongdoing.

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After their marriage, when he was again needled for the scandal, the two of them — both prolific users of social media — turned to Twitter and the media to discuss their relationship. He called her “priceless,” leading to some ridicule for his public display of affection. She then told a TV interviewer, “Shashi and I show our love with P.D.A.” On Wednesday, Ms. Pushkar, who seemed to have gained access to her husband’s Twitter account, began posting messages she said he had received from the Pakistani journalist. One said the sender was “in love with you, irrevocably, irreversibly.” The drama between Ms. Pushkar and Mr. Tharoor was covered heavily on India’s 24-hour news channels. In interviews, Ms. Pushkar sounded despondent and sometimes dazed. She told The Indian Express, a popular newspaper, that her husband had been in a “rip roaring affair” since April, and that she would seek a divorce. “That woman pursued and pursued him,” she was quoted as saying. “Men are stupid anyways.” She then added: “For all you know she is a Pakistani agent.” The journalist, Mehr Tarar, denied having an intimate relationship with Mr. Tharoor, and responded on her own Twitter account, “I am not an ISI agent,” referring to Pakistan’s main spy agency. “Or CIA. Or Mossad. Or even the dead KGB. May I go now?”

Ms. Pushkar and Mr. Tharoor then issued a joint statement playing down the episode. “We are happily married and intend to remain that way. Sunanda has been ill and hospitalized this week and is seeking to rest,” they said. The statement also vaguely suggested that the messages in question from their accounts had been “unauthorized.” On Friday, he returned from a major gathering of the Congress Party to a suite at a luxury hotel in New Delhi, where he found his wife dead, fully clothed and lying on the bed, said Abinav Kumar, his personal secretary. He said there were no signs of foul play. Mr. Tharoor, formerly a top United Nations official, was one of the first politicians in India to use Twitter intensively, and infuriated many Hindus in 2009 when he sent out a message describing traveling in coach on a flight as “cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows.” Hindus revere the cow, and the post almost cost him his political career. On Friday night, Sunanda Puskhar was being discussed in the media and trending on Twitter as people posted messages conveying shock and sadness over her death, with many commenting on the role the social media played in her last days. Suhel Seth, a public relations specialist and a friend of the couple, said on TV that Twitter had caused the “decline of many” and that now it had led to the “demise of a very, very fine human being.” Ms. Tarar, the woman accused of pursuing Mr. Tharoor, wrote about the announcement of Ms. Pushkar’s death on Twitter: “I just woke up and read this. I’m absolutely shocked. This is too awful for words. So tragic I don’t know what to say. Rest in peace, Sunanda.”

The Guardian, Jan 20, 2014 Page 13, INTERNATIONAL. Indian minister testifies over wife’s sudden death Reuters New Delhi

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An Indian government minister, Shashi Tharoor, appeared yesterday before a magistrate investigating his wife’s death days after she accused him of adultery. Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Shashi Tharoor and his late wife, Sunanda Pushkar, at the Indian parliament in 2012 Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a hotel room in Delhi on Friday after sending tweets that suggested her husband was having an affair with a Pakistan-based journalist, Mehr Tarar. An autopsy found that the 52-year-old Pushkar’s death was sudden and unnatural, and her body bore injury marks, although doctors said this did not mean the injuries had caused her death. Tharoor, a former UN diplomat, called for a quick investigation into his wife’s death, saying he hoped this would put an end to rumours about their personal lives. In a letter to India’s home minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, Tharoor wrote: “I have finally had a chance to catch up with media reports and am horrified to read the reckless speculation rampant there. “I pledge my full and unstinting cooperation. Nothing short of truth will end the indignity to which my wife and I are being subjected.” Later yesterday, Tharoor, 57, gave his testimony to a magistrate, Alok Sharma, who is conducting the inquest. There was no word on what he had told the magistrate and he made no comment. The scandal has erupted as Tharoor’s Congress party, led by Rahul Gandhi, is preparing to fight a tough election against a resurgent main opposition party as well as a new political group that promises clean and open politics. Rivals have painted Congress as a party of power and patronage, engulfed in corruption scandals and unable to hold its leaders to account for their actions.

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Tutoring Social Sciences learning Prades Plaza, Sara

Universitat Jaume I Email: [email protected] Av. Vicent Sos Baynat S/N 12071 Phone: +34964729948

Abstract This paper seeks to vindicate the role of mentoring in teaching, having proven to be a tremendous tool for effective communication and personal relationship with individual students. Exhibited an innovative educational experience conducted with students of degree in Early Childhood Education from the Universitat Jaume I, trying to promote the continuous character of the orientation process from the first years of training to adult life and employment, including the importance of enhancing the relation between the different educational levels. We also wanted to expose that much more than the task of transmitting information and knowledge, mentoring is essential in all educational models that are based on self-learning new trends, including the Bologna process. Therefore, we believe that mentoring is the crux of a new learning model based on personal and professional autonomy. This approach to work is based on a philosophy of autonomous learning that aims to meet the need for cognitive maturation of university students and improve their educational guidance. With this experience teaching innovation we have sought to improve our academic methodology, giving a strong weight to the tutoring, both onsite and virtual. We also have tried to encourage teamwork in groups and independent learning. Thanks to these improvements, we have continuously evaluated the students, while students self evaluate their learning process. In summary, the proposal of educational innovation that we have carried out has shown the need to promote a system of mentoring to advise, guide and support students in their learning process.

Keywords Tutoring, mentoring, self-learning, teaching task, innovation in education, students’ affairs.

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Introduction

One of the problems that face our students, especially in the early years of the degree, is disorientation, typical of those who enter a new educational level, with different teaching methods than what they have known until that time. Therefore, the main objective of the experience presented here is to improve the educational guidance of teacher students. That objective has been achieved through mentoring, a teaching strategy that we consider underused by students and lecturers.

The choice of this problem is justified mainly for two reasons. On the one hand, many professors consider mentoring as a supplement to their activity, that it isn’t valued and well paid. The current situation caused by the economic crisis and budget cuts affecting the Spanish University is causing in a major sector of lecturers a strong reluctance to carry out tutoring, considering it as an unpaid function. In addition, this perception deepens in existing models of accreditation and promotion of university professors, taking into account the teaching and research tasks, but not efforts devoted to mentoring. As for the students, one of the issues that they appreciate of their lecturers, as is clear from several surveys, is the role of motivation and guidance, both personal and professional or academic. They value that lecturers worry to promote high expectations among students and that they be able to empathize with them to treat their problems in an appropriate way.

With these premises, we started our experience to demonstrate that mentoring should be within the teaching, the most powerful tool of communication and personal relationship between individual students and lecturers. This is to promote the continuous character of the orientation process, from the first year of University until adult and working life, and enhancing the importance of traffic between the different educational levels.

We also would like to expose that mentoring serves for reporting and transmitting knowledge, but also promotes self-teaching, in which new trends of teaching innovation are based, including the Bologna process. At last, we try to contribute that lecturer understands this new professional status of their teaching role, who has become a guide that accompanies the student, who is the true protagonist of the teaching-learning process (Álvarez y González: 2005, p. 2).

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1. Mentoring: an essential tool in the teaching-learning process

In the literature on teaching methods and strategies, we can find numerous definitions of mentoring which are determined by the concept of education and guidance that each author has (Arbizu, Lobato y Castillo: 2005, p. 5 et seq.). In our case, we believe that guidance is a formative intervention and a teaching task in the student's learning process.

Some of the issues that promotes the new European Higher Education Area are self- learning and personal sufficiency, independent problem solving and team-working in University students. Through mentoring, both individually and in groups, these goals can be achieved successfully. In addition, you can set aside the transfer of knowledge from the lecturer, rote learning and the control of it with exams because the mentoring develops the basic skill of learning to learn.

We understand that mentoring is a university student right and a duty of the professor, but beyond this we consider the condition of mentoring as a space where dialogue can resolve students and lecturer’s doubts in the learning process. So, it should serve to optimize student learning and lecturer teaching. We believe it should be an opportunity for the academic and scientific dialogue on the subject that links students and lecturer, on their learning objectives, contents, assessment criteria and references, among other issues.

Tutoring may be in person or online, which enables a closer relationship between both sides, although it supposes a greater impersonality because they are not together physically. Virtual tutoring solves problems of students that, due to their shyness, would have never asked and solves specific issues that arise during the learning task. Also, this type of tutoring saves waiting time because the lecturer can attend student’s doubts at all times (García Valcárcel: 2008, p. 9).

In either of the two varieties, we believe that mentoring should be a space of recommendations not only academicals but also personals and professionals. In the same way, we believe that to carry out this advising task, lecturers should be trained in terms of orientation, because they have to supervise the student, to accompany him and guide him beyond the classroom in order to combat school failure. (García Nieto: 2008, p. 193).

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Therefore, one of the key aspects of the work of teaching that is too often neglected is communication with their students to advise and guide them through the tutorials. We understand that today the main job of the teacher is to guide students in the teaching- learning process in which students are the protagonists. Thus, the lecturer helps students to plan their academic development, professional and social, in the early years of the degree, when students are disoriented because of changes of this new educational level, and in last years of the degree, when the immediate laboral future generates uncertainties of all kinds.

That is why the lecturer must be a motivator professional, plus a good counsellor, concerned about the learning of their students. Similarly, the lecturer must be a professional reference for students, with that purpose he will need to have extensive knowledge of the degree to help the student to choose for electives, in order to assist him in career opportunities that exist in the profession for which students are being trained. The lecturer also has to be experienced in the use of management and advisory services offered by the University.

By contrast, for the lecturer this closer relationship with students is an enormous gratification, because he can learn more about the characteristics of their students. At the same time, through this close relationship that promotes mentoring, lecturers help to develop the work of the university institution, committed to the society in which it is inserted.

However, the need for advice of the student is different in every moment of the educational process, so the lecturer must make dissimilar recommendations for each level. As for the new students, our experience as high school teacher shows that lots of students are enrolled to many college degrees by chance and not by vocation. Each time fewer students, at the end of the last year before the University, have clear ideas about which university degrees choose. The marks obtained in the entrance examinations to the University, the proximity or distance of the centre where a certain degree is offered from their home and employment expectations are often decisive in their choice.

Therefore, when they reach the University, the number of students disoriented with respect to higher education is huge. This situation sometimes causes the abandonment of the

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studies program and a high degree of dissatisfaction. In addition, that causes a lack of clarity about what are they learning, that in many cases, lasts throughout the degree. In the same way, high school students are used to having a tutor assigned by the school with whom he has one hour per week for advice. In this session, students receive guidance from the tutor or from the psychologist on study skills, college tours, choices they have when they finish their educational stage, administrative procedures to claim notes or to enrol at the University and other topics. The tutor is who solves any questions that students may have since their entry into the education system.

By accessing to University, this figure disappears for the first time in student's life, they do not have this reference person that advises, accompanies and guides. By the time they start higher education, when they start a new grade where choices are greater than at any previous stage of education, students are alone and confused. Therefore, we understand the importance of the tutor's role in the transition between high school and higher education. In this case, tutoring may also be conducted by students of final year of the degree, who could introduce tutored students in the degree and in the university system.

Moreover, our experience as a tutor of internships in the last year of the degree of Master has made us understand that the needs of support in recent years aren't in a lower grade. At that time, students face, often for the first time, with the workplace and with typical difficulties and obstacles of a professional without experience. In this case, the problem is not a lack of motivation, but the shortcomings that they have related to their future employment. That is the reason because they also appreciate the advice of the lecturer, who facilitates the transition from university to working life.

As students work outside the University in recent years of career, it should be noted that in this case the advice is shared with a tutor in the workplace, a professional who helps and guides the student from the workplace in which he aspires to be inserted. That supervisor is coordinated with the academic tutor of the University, which controls the process and acts as a bridge between the supervisor and the supervised.

In the same way, the professor who supervises the Degree Final Project is an excellent figure to carry out this task to guide and help the student to decide if he continues with a

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more specialized training or if he already goes to laboral world. But to fulfil this function is not sufficient with the willingness of the lecturer, but the tutor has to be formed to select the suitable methods and strategies to advise adequately the student. Only by forming the lecturer, he will understand that tutoring is another tool to improve learning, which has contents and a planning of activities that will contribute to the development of the required skills. So, how we have tried to expose, we believe that mentoring is essential to educate university students, in order to be well trained and aware of what is their tasks at the University.

2. Development of the experience

For the reasons set out before, we decided to carry out an innovative educational project during the 2013-2014 academic year with our students in the second year of the Early Childhood Teacher degree. During the first week of classes, we introduced our students the tutorial plan, consisting of a series of meetings that had to keep students and lecturer. Then, we spent a poll our students with three objectives: knowing about them, creating a climate of confidence in the classroom and make them share the learning process of the teaching profession.

Among other things, we asked for personal data, including the birthplace, residence, associative activities or sports performed regularly in order to better understand our students. Similarly, with the same goal, they were asked what they would like to learn in the subject that at that time began. At the same questionnaire, they were asked about the opinion of the Universitat Jaume I and about the teaching they were receiving in their degree.

Regarding previous ideas about Social Sciences, in the questionnaire students were asked to draw a map of the world, noting Ecuador and Parallel 0º. Also, we asked students to quote five geographic names and five countries or cities. As historical contents, we demanded to write the name of the three most admired persons of the past in chronological

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order and some information about them. Then, we asked to do the same with three historical facts.

When we had finished to analyse the data from the surveys, we began with the tutorial calendar, understood as a personalized meeting scheduled in the syllabus. The interview allowed us to cater, facilitate and guide each student in his or her learning process. From each meeting, the lecturer filled a monitoring form where was reflected if the student arrived in the expected date and time and each topic talked about. The high percentage of attendance indicates the interest of students in tutoring. Also, the students prepared a diary where they reflected their daily process of learning and other topics of the subject matters addressed in individual tutoring. This paper was delivered by the students at the end of the year and thanks to the comments reflected in it, we could value the utility that tutoring had in their learning process.

Simultaneously, we asked the students to be grouped into sets of approximately ten students. Once clusters were done, we asked them to choose a representative, who should meet with the lecturer once a month. These students were chosen from volunteers by their peers, this is the reason because were learners committed to their function, assumed as an own decision. These representatives helped the lecturer in the transmission of the information needed to pass the subject and helped her to coordinate the different working groups of the class.

Then, we exposed the purpose of mentoring meetings with the representatives of groups and we established the calendar of meetings. In addition to the specific issues to the field of study, we were going to talk about various topics such as public speaking strategies, issues that promote college success, self-esteem and optimism when facing academic tasks or exams, etc. These mentoring meeting set out the need to develop skills to learn through observation, investigation, analysis, deduction, discovery, classification and finally reflection. At the meetings, the lecturer tried to flee from an expository teaching and to promote an open space for dialogue between students and lecturers. (Rodríguez Espinar: 2004).

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Also, thanks to these meetings, the lecturer was able to carry out a careful control over the distribution of tasks between the members of each group, of problems that each group had to confront, and of the development of activities that they had to make for learning. In the same way, we resolved doubts and directed the work of the students. From each meeting, a student wrote a page to compile the discussed proposals in order to solve unexpected or negative results that were taking place throughout the year.

After each session, the students attending the group tutorials carried out meetings with their work group. Peer tutoring has developed and implemented successfully in the English- speaking world in order to mitigate the fact that the information the lecturer wants to convey to their students doesn’t reach all students by the enormous amount of learners who attend the subject. Through these peer mentoring, we seek to achieve autonomy and independent study and to take decisions according to their personal and professional interests. Also, we attempted to foster teamwork and personal involvement of each of the students in their own teaching and learning process.

At the same time, after each tutorial group, the lecturer thought about how students were doing their tasks, looked for alternatives to activities that weren't successful and attractive to students, analysed what were the problems for students and the causes thereof. That is, took out a self-evaluation process of teaching. At the same time, the lecturer also offered tutorials through traditional or virtual personal encounter, usually after the request of students, when they had any question on the subject of study. These tutorials also allowed dialogue and mutual understanding between lecturer and student.

3. Project’s results

The impact analysis aims to determine the effects of the implementation of the action plan tutorial among our students. For this purpose, we have examined both positive and negative consequences it has had on the beneficiaries and students' opinions about the usefulness of the scheduled tutorials. To verify the results, we have compared the academic marks of the students who participated in this tutorial plan with those in the previous year who had not

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done it and who had only received private tutoring when they asked for it to the lecturer. In addition, participating students were surveyed about their satisfaction with the mentoring program, if it had aroused the interest, the relationship with the lecturer, and finally the utility of the same.

As mentioned above, to carry out our objectives, we have raised the combination of individual and group tutorials. The individual tutorials have given excellent results, as they offer the possibility of a teaching-learning process more adapted to the needs of each individual student. Regarding the group tutorials, they have also had notable results, as they have supported the commitment of the students with their learning, decision-making and awareness of themselves regarding each stage of the educational process.

Most students were satisfied with peer tutoring because they thought that this kind of tool was very complete to solve their needs. However, they recognized the work of the lecturer in terms of advice on individual tutorials. In general, according to their statements, both kind of tutoring satisfied them, because they felt more guided in the teaching and learning process than they felt in other subjects in which they received only an individual tutoring by the lecturer. Therefore, we conclude that the peer tutoring system combined with personal interviews has more benefits than traditional mentoring between lecturer and student.

Regarding the student-tutors, who participated as these voluntarily, they showed at the end of the experience the convenience of an academic gratification for the work done. It should be noted in this regard, that our students want to become teachers and, therefore, it was not difficult to find students willing to supervise others, because of the vocational component for their studies. Perhaps, if this experience would has been conducted with students from another degree, would has been more difficult to find students who will show interest in participating.

About the participant lecturer, it should be noted that this educational innovative experience has been extremely rewarding for her, to see first hand what students think of her teaching style, what their expectations are and where are the difficulties of the subject taught.

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To improve this proposal, we will consider in the future the coordination with other professors of the area of Social Sciences Teaching, so that they can work with this method. The analysis of references, reflections joint study about academic performance of our students and the training that we carry out will affect the quality of our teaching, our preparation as lecturers and, ultimately, achieve the best academic results in our students.

In this regard, it would be desirable in order to carry out a comprehensive mentoring of students regarding academic, personal and professional matters, a maximum of ten students tutored for each lecturer. If this premise would be possible, the tutor would be able to advise the student comprehensively in academic skills, identify potential learning difficulties and help the student to plan his or her studies and electives. It should be noted that among the main difficulties encountered is the excess of students we had to attend, the lack of time to do it and the mentality prevailing in the university culture that leads to consider mentoring as a voluntary activity in the process of teaching and student learning in higher education.

So, with this teaching innovation experience, we have sought to improve our academic methodology, giving a strong weight to the tutoring, both onsite and virtual. We also have tried to encourage teamwork in groups and independent learning. Thanks to these improvements, we have continuously evaluated the students, while students self evaluate their learning process. To conclude, I must say that the proposal of educational innovation that we have carried out has addressed the need to promote a system of tutorials to assist students in their learning process. This approach is based on the work of independent learning, which aims is to meet the need for cognitive maturation of the college student.

4. References

Álvarez Pérez, P., González Afonso, M. (2005). La tutoría académica en la enseñanza superior: una estrategia docente ante el nuevo reto de la Convergencia Europea. REIFOP, 8 (4), 1-4.

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Arbizu, F., Lobato, C., Castillo, L. (2005). Algunos modelos de abordaje de la tutoría universitaria. Revista de Psicodidáctica, 10 (1), 7-22.

García Nieto, N. (2008) La función tutorial de la Universidad en el actual contexto de la Educación Superior. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 22 (1), 21- 48.

García Valcárcel, A. (2008). La tutoría en la enseñanza universitaria y la contribución de las TIC para su mejora. RELIEVE, 14 (2), 1-14.

Rodríguez Espinar, S. (2004). Manual de Tutoría Universitaria. Recursos para la acción. Barcelona: Octaedro.

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Using Active Learning Methodologies in Physical Chemistry in CLIL Contexts

Recatalá, David

Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Jaume I University Avda. de Vicent Sos Baynat, s/n. 12071 Castelló (Spain) e-mail: [email protected]; Tel. (+34) 964 728094

Received: 2015-04-03; Accepted: 2015-8-8

Abstract One of the main objectives of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is to promote a change toward a student-centred education model. This fact has led to the implementation of novel methodologies based on active learning, aimed at engaging students’ interest. This implementation has been usually accompanied by significant changes in both the teaching and learning processes in European universities. Furthermore, teaching a subject through the medium of a foreign language has also been gaining attention over the past few years. More specifically, this approach commonly known as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has been employed for the simultaneous learning of content and English in a number of European countries. In this contribution we report on the active learning methods implemented in a Physical Chemistry course, as well as the efforts devoted to Content and English Language Integration in this subject. This research analyses a series of factors that can contribute to the global learning and teaching experience when both active learning and CLIL are implemented in the Physical Chemistry classroom. Some examples of them include changes in attitudes towards the subject, engagement and motivation during the course, perception of English learning, and in general, students’ satisfaction with the learning process.

Keywords Active learning methods; teaching methodologies; European Higher Education Area; Content and Language Integrated Learning

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1. Introduction

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA), also known as Bologna process, emerged in 2010 as a new educational area, conceived to promote a shift from a teacher-centred to a student-focused educational model (EHEA, 2010). The creation of the EHEA has been accompanied by the introduction of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), which takes into consideration the total time that students employ in order to reach the learning objectives (European Communities, 2009). In contrast, before the implementation of the EHEA, only the time spent in lectures was taken into account to define the duration of a higher education course.

The implementation of the Bologna process has led to dramatic changes in teaching methodologies, with the aim of promoting students’ participation in the classroom, as well as engaging their interest towards learning. In this context, the term “Active Learning” has gained a growing interest over the past few years. This concept involves the combination of teacher lectures with other student-centred activities, which engage students in the learning process during the time they spend in the classroom (Prince, 2004).

Collaborative learning is another form of active learning in which students work together in small groups to achieve a specific aim. This methodology lies emphasis on the interaction between students, in contrast to the traditional individualistic approach. In this context, Google Docs has been recently explored as a tool for promoting collaborative learning in laboratory courses (Spaeth et al., 2012). Cooperative learning is a variant of collaborative learning, in which each member of the group is assigned a particular task, although all of them pursue the same goal. This methodology was satisfactorily applied in an undergraduate laboratory course, in which each member of the group was asked to prepare a particular part of the experiment (Smith et al., 1991). Both collaborative and cooperative learning methods have been successfully employed to increase the overall marks of an Organic Chemistry course by over 20 – 30 %, as compared to the traditional course based exclusively on teacher lectures (Paulson, 1999).

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Problem-based learning (PBL) is another active learning methodology in which students are provided with interesting and challenging problems, and they are therefore actively involved in the search for the solution. The effectiveness of this approach in a Physical Chemistry laboratory course was investigated (Gürses et al., 2007), and the results indicate that the PBL approach highly promotes students’ problem-solving skills.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) represents “a dual-focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language” (Marsh et al., 2011). The implementation of CLIL throughout Europe varies greatly from one country to another. In the particular case of Spain, the interest in this approach has grown significantly over the past few years, and its implementation in bilingual communities, such as Valencia, fosters multilingualism (Frigols, 2007).

Different types of CLIL programmes can be found, ranging from full immersion to partial immersion (Eurydice, 2006). Research shows that CLIL presents a number of benefits for students, and that its success strongly depends on the context in which this approach is introduced (Cambridge ESOL, 2010). Teaching a subject through the medium of the English language has attracted a great deal of interest in Spain due to its multiple benefits, since CLIL is supposed to improve students’ fluency in English, and can hence contribute to better prepare them for their future career.

In this contribution, we report on the results obtained upon application of active learning methodologies in a Physical Chemistry course within the Degree in Chemistry at Jaume I University (Castelló, Spain). The main topic of this course is spectroscopy, and the contents are those covered by a standard textbook, such as Physical Chemistry by R. A. Alberty and R. J. Silbey. The students had already some notions of Physical Chemistry, as they were in the third course of the Degree in Chemistry. In addition, we decided to integrate the English language into this subject by following a partial integration approach in a group of bilingual speakers (Spanish / Catalan). This choice was motivated by the

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multiple benefits of CLIL. The students’ satisfaction with the changes introduced in the subject were analysed by means of a Likert-type questionnaire.

2. Methodology

Active learning methodologies and Content and Language Integrated Learning have been implemented in 29 bilingual Chemistry students (Spanish / Catalan), which were divided into two groups of 14 and 15 students, respectively. The methods employed in each case are detailed herein.

2.1. Active Learning Methodologies

A series of active learning methodologies have been implemented in a Physical Chemistry course over the past few years. As already stated in the Introduction, this course, in which Spectroscopy is the main topic, corresponds to the third year (second semester) of the Degree in Chemistry at Jaume I University (Castelló, Spain), and corresponds to 6 ECTS credits. The students taking this course are supposed to have passed three previous Physical Chemistry subjects, which cover Chemical Thermodynamics (first year), Kinetics (second year), and Quantum Chemistry (third year, first semester). Nevertheless, having passed these subjects is not a prerequisite to enrol the Spectroscopy course. In this Spectroscopy course, the lectures sessions are combined with computer-based workshops in which the students have to solve problems. These sessions involve spreadsheets calculations, graphical analysis of data, as well as the use of Web-based simulation packages to facilitate a better understanding of the theoretical concepts.

The students attend a three-hour workshop approximately on alternate weeks. Prior to the workshop, they are encouraged to do a series of activities at home, which serve as a reminder of the theoretical concepts that they are going to use. Students have to hand in these activities to the teacher just before the beginning of the workshop in order to prove

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that they have understood the concepts. In the workshop sessions, each student uses a computer provided with a spreadsheet program. Each student is provided with a set of problems that has to solve individually by using a computer. At the beginning of the workshop, teachers give a brief explanation of what has to be done during the session. This explanation is followed by the individual work of students, who are encouraged to finish all the activities during the session (approximately 3 hours). Having finished all the activities, the students have to answer a quiz through the Moodle platform that we usually employ for uploading content related to the subject. The marks obtained by the students in these workshops represent the 20 % of the total marks of the subject. Students are required to complete the quiz and to hand in a definitive version of the spreadsheet in one week.

2.2. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

With the aim of teaching Physical Chemistry through the medium of a foreign language, we decided to integrate the English language in a partial integration fashion. In this approach, the written materials were provided in English, whereas the oral language was Catalan. This choice of foreign language was motivated by the multiple benefits of being fluent in English (Frigols, 2007), and in general by the benefits of learning foreign languages (Merritt, 2013; Kruschewsky, 2014).

2.3. Analysis of Students’ Satisfaction

The factors than can contribute to a better global learning and teaching experience when both active learning and CLIL are implemented in the Physical Chemistry classroom were assessed by means of a Likert-scale questionnaire, for which an integer value from 1 to 5 was assigned to each item (1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 = neither agree nor disagree; 4 = agree; 5 = strongly agree). This questionnaire was comprised of 20 items that can be classified into four different groups according to their nature, that is:

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1) Quality and adequacy of the learning resources.

2) Satisfaction with the methodology employed.

3) Satisfaction with CLIL.

4) Overall satisfaction with the course.

The questionnaire is provided in Table 1 for illustrative purposes. The main aim of the items included in this questionnaire was to evaluate changes in students’ attitudes towards the subject as a result of the implementation of active learning methods, their perception of English learning in the CLIL context, and in general, students’ satisfaction with the learning process. In addition, students were asked to make at least one positive and one negative comment about the methodology employed in the computer-based workshops.

Table 1. Likert-scale questionnaire. Note that the items can be rated from 1 to 5 (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree)

QUALITY AND ADEQUACY OF THE LEARNING RESOURCES

1. The workshops are synchronised with the theory. 2. The workload is adequate. 3. Recalling the theoretical concepts before each session is useful for me. 4. Solving problems promotes a better understanding of the theoretical concepts. 5. The time allotted for each session is adequate.

SATISFACTION WITH THE METHODOLOGY EMPLOYED

There is no difference between solving problems by using computers and 6. solving them by traditional methods. 7. I find it attractive and motivating to solve problems by using computers. 8. The quizzes via the Moodle Platform are useful for the learning process. 9. The difficulty of the problems is appropriate. 10. In general, these computer-based workshops are interesting. 11. The proposed activities are clear and adequate.

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SATISFACTION WITH CLIL

12. By using English, I am gaining fluency in this language. 13. I would like that this subject be taught entirely in English. The fact that the written materials are in English is an added difficulty to the 14. subject. 15. My English level is adequate to follow this course. My English level would be adequate to follow and participate in the classroom 16. if this subject would be taught entirely in English.

OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH THE COURSE

My attitude toward Physical Chemistry has positively changed throughout this 17. course. 18. In general, I am satisfied with the course and with the methodology employed. 19. I feel that I am learning quickly. 20. I find multimedia resources rather scarce.

So far, we have presented the state-of-the-art methodologies that are being applied within the framework of the European Higher Education Area, as well as our approach to teaching Physical Chemistry in this context. The results obtained in the questionnaire in Table 1, and also the analysis of these data are presented in the following Section.

3. Results and Discussion

The questionnaire was anonymously answered by the 29 students (gender: 52 % males and 48 % females). Relevant data are listed in Table 2. The average values of the points given by the students to each group of items are mentioned herein:

1) Quality and adequacy of the learning resources (items 1 – 5): 3.92  0.81

2) Satisfaction with the methodology employed (items 6 – 11): 3.39  0.81

3) Satisfaction with CLIL (items 12 – 16): 2.68  1.22

4) Overall satisfaction with the course (items 17 – 20): 3.29  0.90

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Table 2. Relevant data for the satisfaction survey. Note that the items of the questionnaire are listed in Table 1. SD stands for Standard Deviation. Item Average Median Mode SD for the average 1 4.45 4.00 5.00 0.57 2 3.72 4.00 4.00 0.84 3 3.69 4.00 4.00 1.14 4 4.17 4.00 4.00 0.76 5 3.55 4.00 4.00 0.74

6 2.21 2.00 3.00 0.98 7 3.48 4.00 4.00 1.09 8 3.14 3.00 4.00 0.88 9 3.97 4.00 4.00 0.57 10 3.79 4.00 4.00 0.73 11 3.72 4.00 4.00 0.65

12 2.93 3.00 4.00 1.31 13 1.90 1.00 1.00 1.11 14 3.45 4.00 4.00 1.21 15 3.00 4.00 4.00 1.31 16 2.10 2.00 1.00 1.18

17 3.45 4.00 4.00 1.02 18 3.86 4.00 4.00 0.83 19 3.21 3.00 4.00 1.08 20 2.66 3.00 3.00 0.67

In view of the latter results, the highest satisfaction level corresponds to “Quality and adequacy of the learning resources”, whereas the lowest average satisfaction level corresponds to “Satisfaction with CLIL”. It is also noteworthy that the highest rated item is Item 1 (The workshops are synchronised with the theory), with 4.45  0.57 points, while the lowest rated item is Item 13 (I would like that this subject be taught entirely in English) with 1.90  1.11 points. The latter result is in agreement with a negative attitude toward English language amongst higher education students (Tsuda, 2003). Interestingly, the items

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with the highest standard deviation are Items 12 and 15 (SD = 1.31), which means that there are striking differences in the English level of the students.

The relative frequencies of the points obtained for each group of items are represented in Figures 1 and 2. In both charts in Figure 1, the maximum relative frequencies correspond to 4 points, which indicates that in general students are satisfied with the quality and adequacy of the learning resources and with the methodology employed. It is also noteworthy that in Figure 1a, the sum of the relative frequencies corresponding to 4 and 5 points represent 73 % of the total. This percentage is significantly lower in Figure 1b, for which this sum represents 56 %.

1 pts 2 pts 5 pts 1 pts 5 pts 1% 7% 8% 7% 2 pts 26% 3 pts 11% 19%

4 pts 3 pts 48% 26%

4 pts 47%

(a) (b)

Figure 1. Relative frequency in “Quality and adequacy of the learning resources” (Fig. 1a; items 1 – 5) and in “Satisfaction with the methodology employed” (Fig. 1b; items 6 – 11). Note that “pts” stands for points.

In Figures 2a and 2b, the sum of the relative frequencies corresponding to 4 and 5 points represent in both cases less than 50 %, being this sum lower in Fig. 2a (33 %) than in Fig. 2b (43 %). The extremely low value obtained from the data in the group “Satisfaction with CLIL” reveals the negative attitude of our group of students towards the English language.

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5 pts 5 pts 1 pts 8% 1 pts 11% 4% 2 pts 29% 18% 4 pts 25% 4 pts 32%

2 pts 3 pts 3 pts 16% 35% 22%

(a) (b)

Figure 2. Relative frequency in “Satisfaction with CLIL” (Fig. 2a; items 12 – 16) and in “Overall satisfaction with the course” (Fig. 2b; items 17 – 20). Note that “pts” stands for points.

As previously mentioned, the survey was undertaken by two groups of students (15 and 14, respectively). The standard deviation for the average values of the items in both groups of students differ by less than 0.50 points. The maximum difference in the standard deviation values is observed in Item 13 (0.44 points), while the minimum corresponds to Item 6 (0.01 points). In addition to the Likert-type items, both groups of students (N = 29) were encouraged to make both a positive and a negative comment about the workshop sessions. Approximately 62 % of the students contributed with valuable comments that may become extremely convenient to improve the course methodology in the near future. The average score for the questionnaire (3.32  0.93 points) indicates the students’ overall satisfaction with the course.

4. Conclusions

An active learning method based on workshops in which Physical Chemistry students have to solve problems by using computers has been reported. In addition, our efforts devoted to teaching Physical Chemistry through the medium of English language have been presented herein. Students’ satisfaction with both the active learning methodology and

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CLIL has been assessed by means of a 20-item Likert-scale questionnaire. The highest satisfaction level corresponds to “Quality and adequacy of the learning resources”, with 3.92  0.81 points, whereas the lowest average satisfaction level corresponds to “Satisfaction with CLIL” (2.68  1.22). The average score for the questionnaire has been 3.32  0.93. The low score obtained in “Satisfaction with CLIL” suggests that a great deal of effort has to be devoted to the efficient integration of English with Physical Chemistry, and also to raise students’ awareness toward the English language.

5. Acknowledgements

All teachers who have participated in this project are greatly acknowledged. The financial support from the Unitat de Suport Educatiu within Jaume I University is also appreciated. Finally, we are also thankful to the students who have participated in the survey.

6. References

Cambridge ESOL (2010). Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT). Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Handbook for Teachers. Retrieved March 9, 2015 from http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/tkt-clil-handbook.pdf

European Communities (2009). ECTS Users’ Guide. Retrieved March 9, 2015 from http://ec.europa.eu/education/tools/docs/ects-guide_en.pdf

European Higher Education Area (2010). Retrieved March 9, 2015 from http://www.ehea.info

Eurydice (2006). Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) at School in Europe. Retrieved March 9, 2015 from http://www.indire.it/lucabas/lkmw_file/eurydice/CLIL_EN.pdf

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Frigols, M. J. (2007). CLIL Implementation in Spain: An Approach to Different Models. Retrieved March 9, 2015 from http://arca.unive.it/bitstream/10278/1013/1/13Frigols.pdf

Gürses, A., Açıkyıldız, M., Doğar, Ç. and Sözbilir, M. (2007). An investigation into the effectiveness of problem‐based learning in a physical chemistry laboratory course. Research in Science & Technological Education, 25(1), 99 – 113. DOI:10.1080/02635140601053641

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Inquiry learning for gender equity using History of Science in Life and Earth Sciences’ learning environments

C. Sousa

Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Portugal E-mail: [email protected]

Received: 2015-03-02; Accepted: 2016-01-03

Abstract The main objective of the present work is the selection and integration of objectives and methods of education for gender equity within the Life and Earth Sciences’ learning environments in the current Portuguese frameworks of middle and high school. My proposal combines inquiry learning-teaching methods with the aim of promoting gender equity, mainly focusing in relevant 20th century women-scientists with a huge contribute to the History of Science. The hands-on and minds-on activities proposed for high school students of Life and Earth Sciences constitute a learning environment enriched in features of science by focusing on the work of two scientists: Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) and her endosymbiosis theory of the origin of life on Earth and Inge Leehman (1888-1993) responsible for a breakthrough regarding the internal structure of Earth, by characterizing a discontinuity within the nucleus, contributing to the current geophysical model. For middle school students the learning environment includes Inge Leehman and Mary Tharp (1920-2006) and her first world map of the ocean floor. My strategy includes features of science, such as: theory-laden nature of scientific knowledge, models, values and socio-scientific issues, technology contributes to science and feminism. In conclusion, I consider that this study may constitute an example to facilitate the implementation, by other teachers, of active inquiry strategies focused on features of science within a framework of social responsibility of science, as well as the basis for future research.

Keywords Features of Science, Gender equity, Inquiry.

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1. Introduction One of the fundamental goals of Science Education is the development of scientifically literate citizens (Conant, 1947) who can understand the nature of scientific knowledge, and this should be achieved by the end of high school (K-12 education). According to PISA (2015), science literacy is an understanding of the major facts, concepts and explanatory theories that form the basis of scientific knowledge, including content procedural and epistemic knowledge and also the ability to explain phenomena scientifically and interpret data and evidence scientifically. This learning proposal considers that students can understand the nature of explanations within the larger context of the construction of scientific explanations of the natural world, such as scientific models and theories, through the use of historical case studies - corresponding to the 18th and 19th centuries for Biology and 19th century for Geology (Conant, 1947) - as well as contemporary case studies (focusing in relevant 20th century female scientists) and of the enterprise itself which “assumes a human face” (NGSS, 2013). In this study I suggest the use of an inclusive inquiry learning strategy focused on the role of female scientists in the scientific enterprise, for implementation within Life and Earth Sciences classes, in middle and high school Portuguese curricula. In order to promote an inclusive learning environment it is necessary to understand students’ interests and backgrounds, as well as to include significant contributions of women and of people from diverse cultures and ethnicities to be able to engage them, for example from areas not evidenced by Nobel lauretes, such as Al Gore, Neil deGrasee, Sagan, and E. O. Wilson (Biodiversity and Science communication) and Margulis (Evolution), Leehman (Seismology), Tharp (Ocean mapping). Doing science occurs in complex settings of epistemic and social practices so our science learning environments should be designed around these features such as the embeddedness of Science. Since gender equality has been considered both as a human right and a development goal (UNESCO, 2014) this proposal is based on an inclusive science learning environment that promotes gender equity and its main focus is one of the Features of Science - Feminism (Matthews, 2012).

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Historical episodes may be read, presented in movies, may involve role-play, simulated debates or problem-solving scenarios and may focus on ideas, individuals, or controversies. This paper summarizes the guidelines to use 3 relevant case studies of Life and Earth Sciences - 3 women scientists and their corresponding outstanding ideas - from History of Science and were designed to be focused on “how we know”. Since a consistent characteristic of scientific knowledge across different disciplines is that scientific knowledge itself is open to revision in light of new evidence (tentativeness) - either due to new technology or novel interpretations - these features are referred in each case study.

2. Teaching-learning strategy proposal

This teaching-learning strategy is based in a novel Philosophy of Science that goes beyond the epistemic role and introduces the social context in which science is conducted (Kourany, 2012). In our current social context one can find social injustices experienced by women, occurring in their workplaces and homes, that may interfere with career choices to be made by middle and high school students.

Therefore, we propose an inclusive and inquiry-based learning environment, promoting the use of gender-neutral language, collaborative work (in small groups of mixed gender with up to 4 students), scientific argumentation, and focused on “how we know”.

In Life and Earth Sciences curricula one can find several male-scientists, that are always studied in Portuguese and world classrooms, such as: (a) Earth internal structure - Beno Gutenberg, Andrija Mohorovičić, (b) Evolution - Charles Darwin, Alfred R. Wallace, (c) continental drift and plate tectonics - Alfred Wegener, Arthur Holmes, John T. Wilson, William Jason Morgan, (d) Sea floor (spreading and characterization) - Robert S. Dietz, Harry Hess, Frederick Vine, Drummond H. Matthews,

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(e) Classification of life on earth - Carl Woese and Robert Whittaker.

Therefore, we propose a learning environment focused on contemporary female-scientists that contributed to the above themes and constitute relevant episodes of History of Science of the 20th century, in order to promote gender equity in the classroom. In Table 1, one can find the summary of the science topic, within the curricula, and the corresponding proposed episode of History of Science (HOS).

Table 1. Overview of science topics and the corresponding episodes of HOS.

Discipline Episode of HOS Science topic (grade) for inclusive inquiry learning

Understanding the internal - Inge Leehman and geophysical model structure of Earth (7th grade)

Natural Understanding the principles of - Mary Tharp and mapping the ocean floor Sciences Earth’s structure and dynamics - Technological advances; using Google (Middle (7th grade) Earth. School) Understanding Earth as a - Lynn Margulis and endosymbiotic theory system able to generate life (8th - Earth as a system subdivided in subsystems grade)

Earth subsystems and their - Earth as a system subdivided in subsystems interaction (10th grade) (Margulis’ s Gaia hypothesis) - Lynn Margulis and endosymbiotic theory th Biological evolution (11 grade) - Margulis’s life classification system Biology Classification systems (11th grade) & Geology (High - Mary Tharp and mapping the ocean floor Face of the Earth: continents and School) - New technological advances and correlation ocean floor (10th grade) with plate tectonics; using Google Earth.

Earth internal structure: - Inge Leehman and geophysical model geophysical model (10th grade) - New technologies: seismic tomography

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3. Case-studies: relevant episodes of the History of Science The historical case studies presented have in common the focus on a feature of science - feminism (Matthews, 2012). However, each case study highlights, not all but a certain set of Features of Science, such as: empirical basis, scientific theories and models, creativity, tentativeness, idealization, values and socio-scientific issues, technology and worldviews. Some guidelines for teachers are presented for each case study focused on a female scientist, in each of the following sections.

3.1. Inge Leehman (1888-1993) Inge Lehmann was born in 1888 and received her degree in mathematics in 1920. In 1928, she became chief of the Seismological Department of the Geodetical Institute of Denmark, a position she held until retirement in 1953. Leehman also contributed to the foundation of scientific societies that are important in both promoting studies and public understanding, so it is suggested to discuss with students the role of scientific and professional societies using this episode. Inge co- founded the Danish Geophysical Society in 1936 and served as its chair in 1941 and 1944, and in 1950, she was elected the first president of the European Seismological Federation (Hjortenberg, 2009). Inge Leehman was the seismologist responsible for a breakthrough regarding the internal structure of Earth, by characterizing a discontinuity within the nucleus, describing an inner core, in 1936, contributing to the current geophysical model. An interesting question teachers should ask high school students is: Analyze Leehman’s illustration of how seismic rays propagate inside the Earth’s inner layers (Lehmann, 1936) and hypothesize about earth internal structure.

Students should suggest something like Leehman’s own interpretations, such as that when a P-wave (the first phase to arrive) hits the core-mantle boundary, passes through the core and is detected on the far side of the Earth or is deflected and received in the P-wave shadow zone suggesting the existence of solid inner core.

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Leehman worked in the reliability of European seismological stations so they could be used in accurate geological inferences and subsequent independent investigations by Birch in 1940 and Bullen in 1946 establish the Lehmann’s hypothesis of a solid inner core (Lehmann, 1987), and in 1970 high-angle reflections of seismic P waves were observed unequivocally on seismograms upon underground nuclear explosions (Engdahl et al. 1970). In small groups, students should read selected articles about Inge Lehmann and focus on: ‣ Discussion of Lehmann’s life and work, mainly identifying aspects of her personality and attitudes towards her work that contributed to her success (Bolt, 1997): Inge Lehmann experienced her first earthquake when she was growing up in Østerbro, Denmark, at age 15 or 16, and she was educated at a progressive high school where girls and boys were treated equally. Throughout her long career in seismology, Inge maintained a keen physical intuition and in firm support for international collaboration. She had to fight social stereo-types and prejudice: “No difference between the intellect of boys and girls was recognized, a fact that brought some disappointment later in life when I had to recognize that this was not the general attitude.” At College, Inge experienced “severe restrictions inflicted on the conduct of young girls” and returned home from exhaustion, but then returned and graduated in 1920. She was described as “probably not always very diplomatic”, since she said: “You should know how many incompetent men I had to compete with – in vain.”

The award of Bowie Medal by the American Geophysical Union, in 1971, to Lehmann was her highest distinction, and at this ceremony it one said that: “The Lehmann discontinuity was discovered through exacting scrutiny of seismic records by a master of a black art for which no amount of computerization is likely to be a complete substitute...“. In 1996, the American Geophysical Union established the Inge Lehmann Medal to acknowledge “outstanding contributions toward the understanding of the structure, composition and/or dynamics of the Earth’s mantle and core.”

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Today’s advances by seismic tomography allows the creation of colourfull images of Earth’s interior using three-dimensional seismic data, improved modeling techniques and powerful supercomputers (Clabby, 2015), that are responsible for increased resolution of seismic waves speed and consequently a higher accuracy of inferences made about Earth’s internal layers. Teachers should ask students to search for information about the project Earth Scope (www.earthscope.org) - that has been installing 20 new seismometers every month, in USA, since 2013 and promote the discussion of the information available, such as: ‣ Discuss, in small group, of the tectonic significance of one seismic tomography image of their choice; then share the findings and explanations with the class.

3.2. Mary Tharp (1920-2006) Marie Tharp was born in 1920 in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and graduated from the University of Ohio in 1943 with a bachelor’s degree in English and Music After graduating. Then she enrolled in Michigan’s geology program, a rare opportunity, normally only open to males, due to the II World War; in 1944 Marie graduated with a master’s degree and started her first job at the Standlind Oil & Gas Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Tharp, 2006). However female geologists were not allowed to conduct field work, and only office work was available, coordinating maps and data from male colleagues (Tharp, 2006). So while working, she also attended the University of Tulsa and in 1948 she received her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. Then she started to work as a research assistant at Lamont Geological Laboratory in Columbia University, coordinated by Dr. Maurice Ewing, and collaborating with Bruce Heezen (1924-1977). Ewing did not allowed females to work at sea, so Mary Tharp was responsible for the analysis of thousands of depth measurements obtained by echo sounders in Navy ships, drafting and plotting ocean floor profiles. In 1952 she discovered what came to be called the Mid-Atlantic Rift Valley, but her claims were dismissed by Bruce Heezen: “It cannot

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be. It looks too much like continental drift.” and later her collaborator said in an interview that “I discounted it as girl talk and didn’t believe it for a year.” (Tharp, 2006). Due to Mary Tharp perseverance, Bruce Heezen "eventually gave up the idea of an expanding earth for a form of continental drift...” and in 1957, Bruce Heezen presented their model on the mid-ocean rift system, at a conference, at Princeton, and used a globe (made by Heezen and Tharp) that showed how the rift system extended all around the world. After the talk, the Princeton geologist Harry Hess - who later developed the theory of seafloor spreading - stood up and said: “Young man, you have shaken the foundations of geology!” (Tharp, 2006). Teachers should promote discussion, in small groups, about the social context (e. g. using the above paragraph) and also the scientific context (using text of Earth Institute, 2006) of Tharp’s discovery, using texts such as: “I had a blank canvas to fill with extraordinary possibilities, a fascinating jigsaw puzzle to piece together: mapping the world’s vast hidden seafloor. It was a once- in-a-lifetime and a once-in-the-history-of-the-world opportunity for anyone, but especially for a woman in the 1940s. The nature of the times, the state of the science, and events large and small, logical and illogical, combined to make it all happen. (...)Establishing the rift valley and the mid-ocean ridge that went all the way around the world for 40 000 miles - that was something important! You could only do that once. You can’t find anything bigger than that, at least on this planet.” Some questions that the students should focus on are: ‣ In what way the existence of a mid-atlantic rift supports the continental drift theory? ‣ At some point Tharp’s claims were dismissed by her co-workers, and she latter explained her thoughts: "I figured I'd show them a picture of where the rift valley was and where it pulled apart. There's truth to the old cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words and that seeing is believing!". Discuss about Tharp’s characteristics that allowed her to succeed as a woman in a field dominated for decades by men. (teachers should empathize her imagination and creativity, curiosity, perseverance, intelligence and intuition).

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Mary Tharp and Bruce Heezen collaborated for 30 years producing the first maps of the ocean floor, in summary they are co-authors of published in 1959 - North Atlantic physiographic diagram published, in 1961 - South Atlantic physiographic diagram, published in 1964 - Indian Ocean physiographic diagram, in 1967 - Indian Ocean Panorama in National Geographic Magazine and in 1977 - World Ocean Floor panorama published by the Office of Naval Research (Earth Institute, 2006)

Bruce Heezen, died in 1977, but Marie Tharp continued to work at the University of Columbia till 1983, and then she opened a map making business in New York. In 1998, she was honored at the 100th anniversary of the Library of Congress' Geography and Map Division and in 1999, she received the Women Pioneer in Oceanography Award, awarded by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Earth Institute, 2006). In 2001, Tharp received the Lamont-Doherty Heritage Award and in 2004, the Marie Tharp Visiting Fellowship Program - a financial aid given to promising women researchers - was created by Lamont.

Tharp worked with pens, ink and rulers, drawing underwater details described by thousands of sonar readings taken by several researchers, and her World Ocean Floor panorama has become a modern scientific and popular icon, described as: "a map produced as a supreme act of rigorous creativity”, “one of the most remarkable achievements in modern cartography”.

State of the art includes satellite altimetry, by missions CryoSat-2 and Jason-1, that allowed high resolution imaging of tectonic structures of the ocean basins (e. g. unknown areas covered by sediments) and represented in novel marine gravity anomaly maps (Sandwell et al., 2014). Teachers should guide high school students through these technological advances by suggesting them to read “Seafloor secrets revealed” in Science (Hwang & Chang, 2014). For middle school students, I recommend to introduce the theme by watching some movies, such as: “Deep Sea Challenge”, by James Cameron and National Geographic, including the Facebook and website (http://www.deepseachallenge.com/) and focusing

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on the Mariana Trench and “Cosmos: A Space-time Odyssey”, episode 9 of 2014, in which Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about Mary Tharp, and includes some animations about her work. Then, students can be motivated and connected to the real-world using a virtual globe or geobrowser - such as Google Earth, that includes satellite and aerial imagery and ocean bathymetry images - encouraging them to investigate different areas of the sea floor. It is also interesting to connect Tharp’s work with Hesse’s theory and Vine’s work on the ocean floor using paleomagnetism, by using the layer, for Google Earth, “Age-of-Earth- Crust.kmz”, that allows the overlay of the age of ocean isochrones. Some hands-on and minds-on activities have been proposed to be performed in small groups of 3 students per computer (Sousa, 2013), including questions to be used to guide students in their investigative activity using Google Earth, such as: ‣ Explore the overlay “Age-of-Earth- Crust.kmz” and correlate the maximum age of each ocean with the tectonic event responsible for their origin. ‣ Tharp, Heezen and collaborators were responsible for producing the first topographical maps of the ocean floor and of the first map of oceanic earthquake locations, both created at the same scale. Argue about the importance of their contributes to the Plate Tectonics theory. Suggestion: using the overlay “USGS Magnitude 2.5+ Earthquakes” correlate the occurence of underwater earthquakes with the ocean bathymetry. ‣ Explore the overlay “global_grav.kmz” corresponding to the suggested literature on global gravity anomaly (Hwang & Chang, 2014). Note: suggestion for high school students, only.

3.3. Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) Lynn Margulis (born Lynn Petra Alexander, former Lynn Sagan) obtained a bachelor degree at age 19 and her master's degree in genetics and zoology at age 22 from the University of Chicago. She received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, at age 27. Then, in 1966, she joined the faculty of Boston University. In 1988 she became Distinguished Professor of Botany, and in 1997, Distinguished Professor of Geosciences

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at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is Honorary doctorate from 15 universities. With middle school students, teachers can explore some of Lynn Margulis sentences and discuss the differences in the attributes of men and women and gender-based roles over time in the past and current cultural contexts, and empathizing the importance of equity between genders in the expectations and roles and sharing of responsibilities by men and women, such as: Margulis said about her marriage with Carl Sagan in 1957, and divorce in 1965 and her second marriage in 1967 with Thomas N. Margulis and posterior divorce: "I quit my job as a wife twice!". And also said that "it’s not humanly possible to be a good wife, a good mother and a first-class scientist. No one can do it - something has to go.” Margulis’s first paper on endosymbiosis was finally published in 1967 - after being rejected twenty times - in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, she suggested that mitochondria and plastids evolved from bacteria hundreds of millions of years ago, after bacterial cells started to live symbiotically with one another, then named endosymbiosis theory. Her theory is considered one of the “greatest achievements of twentieth-century evolutionary biology” (Richard Dawkins, 1995 in Brockman, 1995).

Teachers should emphasize the role of criticism and controversies in the revision of theories and acceptance of new theories, such as the endosymbiosis theory, by selecting some texts for discussion in the classroom, such as the one bellow (W. Daniel Hillis, 1995 in Brockman, 1995):

“Most of the science that gets done gets done within a rigid set of rules, where you know exactly who your peers are, and things get evaluated according to a very strict set of standards. That works, when you're not trying to change the structure. It works in what Stephen Gould calls incremental science. But when you try to change the structure, that system doesn't work very well. When you try to do something that doesn't fit into a discipline or a standard theory, you usually make some enemies. (...)

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She had a way of looking at symbiosis which didn't fit into the popular theories and structure. In the minds of many people, she went around the powers that be and took her theories directly to the public, which annoyed them all. It particularly annoyed them because she turned out to be right. If it's a sin to take your theories to the public, then it is a double sin to take your theories to the public and be right.” (

Teachers should ask high school students to discuss the role of the technological advances in the resolution of the scientific controversies about Margulis’s theory, by guiding them to answer the following question: ‣ What evidence could support the hypothesis that mitochondria really did evolve from free-living bacteria? Students should be able to refer to DNA analysis - such as in phylogenetic studies - that was not available at the time of Margulis’s proposal, since DNA sequencing only started at the end 1970s. In fact in 1982, other scientists showed that the plastid DNA was much more similar to the DNA of free-living photosynthetic bacteria than it was to the nuclear DNA of the host cell, and one year later they showed the similarities of mitochondrial DNA and free-living aerobic bacteria DNA (Gray, 1983). Students should also discuss in small groups, and then in class, the opposing views about evolution, using for guidance adequate sentences, such as: ‣ “For two centuries, male biologists had emphasized the role of struggle, competition, and war in evolution, and Lynn Margulis was offering a very different view.” (Dunn, 2013). High school students should be able to refer that Lynn Margulis showed that genetic mutations are not the only source of variation and that competition is not the only strategy that drives evolution. Her view - the novel view - is that through symbiosis organisms can cooperate to form a new entity and that with time the relationship can become definitive, named endosymbiosis, in which distinct species become one and that is responsible for the origin of the first eukaryotic organisms.

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Margulis contribution to the classification system should also be referred and high school students may be asked to compare different systems such as: Copeland’s, Whittaker’s, Woese’s and Margulis’s (that includes 2 domains and 5 kingdmons). Gaia hypothesis, according to Margulis, defines that all Earth systems are connected, and the biosphere overlaps with the atmosphere, the upper part of the geosphere, and almost all of the hydrosphere (Margulis & Sagan, 2002). While James Lovelock, a chemist, proposed “Gaia” as a kind of living organism, however according to Margulis: Gaia is "an emergent property of interaction among organisms" but “not a organism” (Margulis,1998).

4. Discussion and future perspectives An inclusive learning environment is important in order to avoid students be led away from science-related careers due to misperceptions that science is difficult, uncreative and “men’s world”. The use of historical case studies in Science Education has long been shown to be efficient in both motivating students and promoting significate learning (Conant, 1947). However, the necessity of an update of these case studies and the construction of novel ones has been described (Allchin, 2011). This paper presents a structured inquiry learning strategy that was designed to promote critical thinking, scientific argumentation, problem-solving and communication, in middle and high school classrooms. The construction of these contextualized historical case studies was made upon the study of several materials in order to create historically, philosophically and sociologically well informed case studies that include biographical and social context factors, as well as the gender equity. The aim was to create significant case studies, and not anecdotes and stories, to facilitate the development of classes focused on History and Philosophy of Science, that may be used by other teachers and constitute the focus of my current research.

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Acknowledgments Special thanks to the ones that inspired me. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author. The author would like to thank Universidade do Porto, Portugal, for financial support.

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Conant, J. (1947). On understanding science: A historical approach. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Dunn, R. (2013). Remembering Lynn Margulis. http://www.robrdunn.com/2013/04/remembering-lynn-margulis/

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Take Care of Well-Being: How Facilitators and Engagement Predict Performance of University Students Martínez, Isabel M.1*, Peñalver, Jonatan1, Meneghel, Isabella1. (Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, WoNT Research Team)

*Corresponding author: Universitat Jaume I, Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva, Educativa, Social y Metodología. Av. de Vicent Sos Baynat, s/n, 12071, Castellón de la Plana: Castellón (Spain).email: [email protected]. Phone: +34 964 729 585

Received: 2015-02-12; Accepted: 2016-01-15

Abstract The interest in developing a high quality educational system requires constant research of the variables involved in the teaching-learning process. Among these variables, social and academic facilitators are important because there is empirical evidence about their positive relationship with engagement, commitment, self- efficacy, happiness and satisfaction in the academic context. Moreover, the psychological well-being of university students (i.e., engagement) showed to positively affect future academic success. In line, the aim of this study is twofold. First, the relevance of social and university academic facilitators was analyzed depending on the faculty of belonging. Second, the effect of social (e.g., Good relationship with classmates) and academic facilitators (e.g., Updated website with new information and easily accessible) as well as academic engagement on academic performance (i.e., GPA) was tested. The sample consisted of 965 University students. The ANOVAs’ results showed the existence of statistically significant differences in social and university academic facilitators among the different faculties. Regression analyses demonstrated that social (but not university’s) facilitators and academic engagement were positively related to academic performance. Additionally, the interaction between social facilitators and academic engagement was positively related to academic performance. The effect was also significant when controlling for gender and faculty. The identification of different facilitators allows to develop different activities depending on the faculty, as well as leading to the optimization of teaching-learning process. Moreover, academic facilitators do not affect academic performance. From a practical view, it means that specific interventions can be implemented during the course so that students’ social facilitators and engagement increase.

Keywords University students, Well-being, Academic Engagement, Academic Facilitators, Social Facilitators.

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1. Introduction

Improving education systems is an important goal in all countries, due to the particular importance of education in personal and professional development of individuals. Specifically, the university systems are of unique interest because, through university, education is trying to develop the skills that will ensure future job success between current students. Therefore, it is important to optimize the teaching-learning process through the study of the variables that have an impact on this process. The nature of the university setting focuses on long periods of learning and evaluation creates an environment where students are faced with ongoing challenges and pressures to meet deadlines and maintain high performance. Research has shown high levels of stress in university students but little research has focused on the link between the academic environment of university students, their levels of well-being and academic performance.

Then, the aim of this study is twofold. First, analyze the facilitators perceived by students: social facilitators (e.g., Good relationship with classmates) and academic facilitators (e.g., Updated website with new information and easily accessible) depending on the faculty of belonging. We hope that facilitators are different in each faculty. Second, test the effect of social and academic’s facilitators, as well as academic engagement, on academic performance (i.e., GPA).

1.1 Facilitators and Academic Performance

Facilitators are defined “as the aspects of the situation that may promote performance or one’s ability to optimally perform one’s job (or study)” (Salanova et al. 2010, pp 55). Following Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model (Bakker and Demerouti 2007), facilitators are similar to resources (e.g., autonomy, supportive team climate), but they are more specific for the educational situation (Salanova et al. 2010). In the teaching-learning process, facilitators refer to factors related to the University or academic facilitators (e.g., services, availability of scholarships), to teachers and fellow students or social facilitators (e.g., solidarity, comradeship, social support), and to themselves or personal facilitators (e.g., motivation

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Hypothesis 1: Facilitators (i.e., social and academic) will show differences depending on the faculty of belonging.

Facilitators have been shown to play role in burnout, engagement, satisfaction, performance, self-efficacy and commitment (Salanova et al. 2005; Salanova et al. 2010). Specifically, in the academic context a greater perception of facilitators was found to be related to lower levels of cynicism, and greater levels of happiness, commitment with the university, efficacy in studies and satisfaction. In addition, they are related to smaller tendency to abandon studies and higher levels of vigor and dedication (Salanova et al. 2005). Although in the preview literature only personal facilitators have been found to correlate positively and significantly with academic performance (Salanova et al. 2010), recent research shows the importation of variables associated with student social support and positive relationship for increase academic performance (Meneghel et el. 2015). In this sense, we consider that facilitators act as resources: perception of high levels of social and academic facilitators help to address the academic demands and affect students’ performance. Thus, students use facilitators to solve problems and difficult situations related to their studies and get a good performance. We therefore expect that:

Hypothesis 2: Facilitators (i.e., social and academic) will be positively associated with academic performance.

1.2 Academic Engagement and Academic Performance

Academic engagement may be considered as an indicator of well-being in academic context, and it is defined as a positive psychological state characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption toward education (Schaufeli et al. 2002). Previous research showed that engagement is positively related to satisfaction (i.e., with professors, with studies, with faculty, with university), happiness, and commitment with the university (Salanova et al. 2005),

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Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2016.3751 Social and Technological Sciences EISSN: 2341-2593 organizational facilitators, personal facilitators, social facilitators (Salanova et al. 2010), academic resilience and academic self-efficacy (Martínez et al. 2014). As discussed above, engagement is identified with a positive motivational state by which performance enhancing mechanisms are activated. Specific to the university setting, in their study among university students from Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, Schaufeli and colleagues (2002) found that academic engagement was positively related to academic performance (measured as the number of passed exams relative to the total number of exams done). More recently, Bakker and colleagues (2015) showed the relevance of student engagement as a psychological process in education that facilitates performance in a diary study. In fact, engaged students are intrinsically motivated to advance in learning, attend classes, and participate in activities related with their study. They are usually curious persons, ask questions, and enjoy challenges related with their learning. Vigorous, absorbed and dedicated students are energetically immersed in their studies, which makes them successful as well (Salanova et al. 2010).We therefore expect that:

Hypothesis 3: Academic engagement will be positively associated with academic performance.

Previous literature showed that there is a linear relationship between facilitators, engagement and performance (Salanova et al. 2010), in the sense that academic engagement mediates the relationship between facilitators and future performance (i.e., GPA). Chambel and Curral (2005) showed that student’s well-being also mediated the relationship between control and performance. Then, well-being is a variable than can explain significant relationships enhancing or reducing the effect of the facilitators on performance. However, there is reason to believe that reciprocal interactions among supportive context, with high levels of academic and social facilitators, and student engagement are also relevant for academic outcomes (Furrer et al. 2006). In this study, we propose that academic engagement acts as a moderator of the relationship between the perception of facilitators and academic performance, in the sense that when academic engagement is high, facilitators have a stronger relationship with academic performance. We therefore expect that:

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Hypothesis 4: Academic engagement will moderate the relationship between perception of facilitators and academic performance such that when academic engagement is high, facilitators have a stronger relationship with academic performance.

Academic Engagement

Academic Facilitators Performance

Figure 1. The proposed model of the study.

2. Method

2.1 Sample and Procedure

A stratified sample of 965 students (59.3% female) was drawn from undergraduate students of Jaume I University in Castellón (Spain). The students belonged Faculty of Human and Social Sciences (FHSS, 37.7%), Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS, 16.8%), Faculty of Law and Economics (FLE, 22%) and School of Technology and Experimental Sciences (STES, 23.5%). Regarding the course they were doing, 31.5% were in the first year, 39.8% in the second, 21.1% in the third, 6.7% in the fourth, and 1% were in their fifth year.

To conduct the study, the research team designed a questionnaire containing the study variables. This questionnaire (which required 20 minutes to administer) was completed by students in the classroom. Participants completed the questionnaire by answering questions regarding their academic activity. Participation was voluntary, and confidentiality was guaranteed to all respondents.

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2.2 Measures

Facilitators. An inventory was composed of two sets of items: social facilitators (five items) and academic facilitators (eight items). Item examples include: Indicate how important these facilitators in your role as a student are: “Updated website with new information and easily accessible (e.g., institutional mail etc.)” and “Good relationships with professors” respectively. All items are scored on a 5-point importance rating scale ranging from 0 (Not important at all) to 4 (Very important).

Academic Engagement. Engagement was measured by short versions of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli et al. 2006), which was previously validated for students (Schaufeli et al. 2002). The vigor, dedication, and absorption dimensions were each measured by three items (item examples include “When I’m doing my work as a student, I feel bursting with energy.”, “My studies inspires me”, and “I am immersed in my studies”). All items were rated on a seven-point Likert scale that ranged from 0 (never) to 6 (every day).

Academic performance. Performance was assessed by the GPA given from the university data, which ranges from 5 to 10. The GPA obtained, comprised from the beginning of the students career to the second evaluation of the current semester. The GPA was obtained 4 or 5 months after the questionnaire was filled. The participant’s permission was obtained for receiving their GPA from the University database.

Control variables. Previous researches show the effect of socio-demographic variables (Martinez el al. 2014). Therefore we consider gender and faculty of belonging as control variables.

2.3 Data Analyses

In order to achieve our objectives, descriptive analyses and internal consistence of scales were computed. Also, correlations of all the variables were calculated. Afterwards, analysis of variance ANOVA, and post hoc tests (DMS) were performed to show differences related with gender and facilitator perceptions between faculties. Finally hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted using the method of successive steps (Cohen and Cohen 1983), using

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Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2016.3751 Social and Technological Sciences EISSN: 2341-2593 as dependent variable academic performance. The independent variables entered in the equations in three successive steps (Aiken and West 1991). In the first step, gender and faculty were introduced. In the following step, academic facilitators, social facilitators and academic engagement were introduced. Finally, in the third step, we included the two-way interactions of the independent variables (academics facilitators x engagement and social facilitators x engagement).

3. Results

3.1 Descriptive analyses

Table 1 shows means, standard deviations and correlations. The coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) of academic engagement was α = .87. For facilitators values of Cronbach’s  were not computed because instead of referring to an underlying latent factor both are sets of basically independent environmental or social factors. Correlations were significant and in the expected direction. As expected, academic facilitators are significantly positively correlated with academic engagement; however they do not correlate with the academic performance. On the contrary, social facilitators are significantly positively correlated with both academic engagement and academic performance. Also as expected, the interrelations among academic engagement and academic performance are positive.

Table 1. Means, standard deviations and correlations for the study variables (N = 965)

Variable M SD 1 2 3

1 Academic facilitators 3.48 0.51

2 Social facilitators 3.04 0.56 .55**

3 Academic engagement 3.69 0.95 .18** .26**

4 Academic performance 7.00 0.85 ns .18** .21**

**p < .01

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The results of ANOVA show significant differences in facilitators when we consider the faculty of belonging: perceptions of academic facilitators (F= 2.79; p < .05); social facilitators (F= 15.71; p < .001); and engagement (F= 10.31; p < .001). The Faculty of Human and Social Sciences show highest level of both facilitators (Figure 2). The Faculty of Law and Economics shows the lowest levels of social facilitators and The School of Technology and Experimental Sciences show lowest levels of academic facilitators. Significant differences were found also when the gender is considered. Women perceive more academic and social facilitators (F= 52.72; p < .001 and F= 26.13; p < .001 respectively). Also, women present significantly higher engagement levels (F= 17.81; p < .001). Then, we consider faculty and gender as control variables in regression analyses.

4

3,5

3

2,5 Academic facilitators

Social facilitators 2

1,5

1 FHSS FHS FLE STES

Figure 2. Academic and Social Facilitator in four faculties: FHSS, FHS, FLE and STES

3.2 Regression analyses

Overall, we found substantial support for our hypotheses. Results of regression analyses show an increase of variance explained in the successive steps, showing the importance of considering step 3 to evaluate the interaction effect. Regarding the results, considering academic performance as a dependent variable, we observe a main positive effect of faculty (β

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= .26, p < .001), social facilitators (β =.55, p < .001) and engagement (β = .70, p <.005) on academic performance (Table 2). These results support H2 and H3. Moreover, results showed a significant interaction effect of social facilitator and engagement (β = -.90, p < .001), which provides partially support H3.

The significant interaction effect of social facilitators and academic engagement is graphically represented in figure 3, following the method recommended by Aiken and West (1991) and Jaccard, Turrisi and Wan (1990). Values of the moderator were chosen 1 SD below and above the mean. Entering these values in the regression equation generated simple regression lines.

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Table 2. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis of gender, faculty, academic and social facilitators and academic engagement on academic performance (N= 965)

2 Variables β R2 R change

Step 1 .10 .10***

Gender .07*

Faculty .29***

Step 2 .14 .04***

Gender .05

Faculty .26***

Academic facilitators -.05

Social Facilitators .11**

Academic engagement .15***

Step 3 .16 .02***

Gender .04

Faculty .26***

Academic facilitators -,10

Social Facilitators .55***

Academic engagement .70**

Acad. facilitators X acad. engagement .13

Soc. facilitators X acad. engagement -.90***

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5,50

5,00

4,50

4,00

3,50

3,00 High Academic engagement

2,50 Low Academic engagement

2,00

1,50

1,00 Low Social facilitators High Social facilitators

Figure 3. Two-way interactions effect of social facilitators and academic engagement on academic performance

When social facilitators’ level is low, students have low levels of academic performance. However, when social facilitators are high, the effect on academic performance is different in relation to the academic engagement level. The results show higher levels of academic performance when academic engagement is high (1 SD above the mean score) in both cases, for high and low levels of social facilitators. Also, for students with low level of social facilitators (1 SD below the mean score), results show that when their level of academic engagement is higher, their level of academic performance increases. A different picture is showed for students with low level of social facilitators (1 SD below the mean score) and low level of academic engagement. Moreover when student show high levels of academic engagement, the effect of low social facilitators is damped and the effect of high facilitator is enhanced.

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4. Discussion

The interest in developing a high quality educational system requires constant research of the variables involved in the teaching-learning process. Among these variables, social and university’s facilitators are particularly important because there is empirical evidence about their positive relationship with engagement, commitment, self-efficacy, happiness and satisfaction in academic context (Salanova et al. 2005). Thus, the first aim of this study was to analyze the relevance of social and university’s facilitator depending of the faculty of belonging. As expected (Hypothesis 1) we found significant differences between faculties, that is: in the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences there are highest levels of both facilitators (i.e., social and academic), whereas the lowest levels of social facilitators are in the Faculty of Law and Economics and the lowest levels of academic facilitators are in the School of Technology and Experimental Sciences. Then, our results showed how social (but not academic) facilitators are antecedents of academic performance, supporting Hypothesis 2. Including academic engagement as an indicator of psychological well-being of university students, we also confirm that it is an antecedent of academic performance over time, supporting Hypothesis 3. Finally, the test of the interaction effect between facilitators and engagement showed that only the interaction between social facilitators and academic engagement is significant, whereas the interaction between academic facilitators and academic engagement isn’t, partially supporting Hypothesis 4.

4.1 Theoretical contributions

A lot of studies have analyzed the teaching-learning process focusing on the internal variables of the process (e.g., curriculum, didactic strategies) and there are fewer studies that focused on psychosocial and academic variables (e.g., facilitators, obstacles). To identify these psychosocial and academic variables permits to comprehend the teaching-learning process from a broader point of view. Furthermore, to understand the effect of these variables on the well-being and performance of students allows carrying out interventions directed to improve this process.

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The present study represents a step forward with respect to previous research into academic context in several ways. First, we could conclude that there are different kinds of facilitators (i.e., social and academic) which are identified as such by most students and that there are differences in their levels in terms of the different faculties. Although this result has clear and useful implications at practical level, it is also theoretically relevant. In fact, on one hand this result showed which specific facilitators could be provided to help students during their courses, and on the other, future research can study the psychological differences that characterized students depending on faculty belonging, which affects the perception of academic and social facilitators. These results updated previous findings about relevant facilitators and their implications on well-being and performance (Salanova et al. 2005; Salanova et al. 2010). These findings must be constantly revised and actualized. In fact, the academic context is suffering continuous changes, as curriculum goals that have become more academic and skill-oriented (Shoshani and Steinmetz 2014), the Bologna treaty about the European higher education area, and new challenges in the use of information and communication technology. In this sense, to identify specific facilitators relevant in each context is fundamental.

Second, whereas previous studies found that engagement fully mediated the impact of facilitators on future academic performance (Salanova et al. 2010), in this study we test their interaction, examining how academic engagement moderates the relationship between social facilitators and performance. Taking separately, our results indicate that student with higher levels of social facilitators tend to achieve better performance, and the same occur for students with higher levels of engagement. However, when these antecedents are taken together, results showed that students attain better performance when social facilitators and academic engagement were high. This is relevant because, as suggested by Furrer and colleagues (2006), we confirmed that there is an interaction effect between contextual variables and engagement to performance.

Finally, the results indicate that academic facilitators, which are more related to the physical context or university infrastructure, do not affect academic performance. In this sense, and

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4.2 Implications for practice

The findings of this study reveal that students’ social facilitators and academic engagement are key factors in achieving academic performance. In terms of practical implications, we conclude with a few suggestions.

First, from an educational point of view, specific interventions can be implemented during the course so that students’ social facilitators and engagement increase. As Fredricks and colleagues (2004) suggested, most educational interventions are aimed at increasing achievement without taking into account the importance of students’ engagement. However, effective interventions should attend to this important variable, focusing on its antecedents to help its development. In this sense, efforts from teachers and family (which are social facilitators as well) may help students to improve their engagement (Bakker et al. 2015). For example, it is possible to reduce student’s fear of failure through positive reinforcement and frequent feedback (Caraway et al. 2003), which also influence positive emotions that are relevant for academic engagement (Reschly et al. 2008).

Second, this study focuses on issues that directly affect the quality of learning and psychological well-being of university students, as facilitators are. In this sense, taking into account facilitator by faculty of belonging was a key issue in proposing and carrying out the improvement of educational quality at a practical level. It is important to note that social facilitators, and not academic, are relevant in this sense. Thus interventions may be especially directed toward enhance relationship with teachers and classmates, in order to assist the development of social support ties.

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4.3 Limitations and future directions

This study has several limitations which highlight important avenues for future research. With the exception of academic performance rates (i.e., GPA), perhaps the clearest limitation is the use of self-reported data, which increases the risk of common method bias (Podsakoff et al. 2003). We tried to minimize such errors by differentiating the response scales for each of these variables, as suggested in Podsakoff and colleagues (2012).

Another limitation of the present study is that data are cross-sectional, with the exception of the GPA, which is collected at a different point in time (i.e., between 4 and 5 months later). Although SEM analysis gives some information about the possible direction of the relationships, cross-sectional study designs do not allow one to draw firm conclusions regarding the causal ordering among the variables studied (i.e., moderation effect). Clearly there is a need for longitudinal studies that may allow stronger causal inferences to be made about the relationship between facilitators, engagement, and performance.

In addition, although the sample of the study came from four different faculties and a number of degrees, our results are based on a sample from the same university. Thus, the results need to be replicated in different universities in order to allow our findings to be generalized to broader academic contexts.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant from Consellería de Educación Generalitat Valenciana – Programa Prometeo (PROMETEO/2013/025).

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5. References

Aiken, L. S. and West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage, Newbury Park, CA.

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Problem-Based Learning on Cell Biology and Ecophysiology using integrated laboratory and computational activities

C. Sousa

Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Portugal E-mail: [email protected]

Received: 2015-02-12; Accepted: 2016-01-13

Abstract Since all the known biological systems require water for their basic biochemical processes, one can find several osmoregulation mechanisms on living organisms for adaptation to related environmental challenges. Osmosis is a cellular mechanism of water movement across membranes which is known to be present throughout the tree of life and occurs by either diffusion across the membrane bilayer or by a faster movement mediated by transmembrane channel proteins, called aquaporins. The expression of aquaporins is regulated at, the cellular level, by environment conditions such as hydric stress, therefore allowing the adaptation of organisms to increase salinity in soils, water deprivation and increase beverage intake. Osmosis and diffusion concepts have been described to be difficult to learn, so, in order to promote meaningful learning, we used a problem-based learning approach that integrates a laboratory activity and a computer simulation model of osmosis and a two phase conceptual mapping. We observed that high school students developed adequate laboratory skills and were able to communicate their results as text and using scientific drawings; and the learning environment was adequate. Therefore we presented a successful implementation case of integrated PBL, in a public Portuguese school, that may constitute an example to facilitate the implementation of active inquiry strategies by other teachers, as well as the basis for future research.

Keywords Problem-Based Learning; experimental activities; computer simulation; osmosis.

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1. Introduction Water is a condition sine qua non of life, however 97.5% of the total Earth’s water content is found in the oceans and global warming and the consequent increase in sea level and soil salinization will diminish the productivity of farmlands throughout the world (Ivits et al., 2013). At the cellular level, the influx (out flux) of substances into (out of) a cell or an organelle can occur either: (i) according to physical and chemical properties by a passive process from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration or (ii) by an active process, consuming energy (ATP molecules), occurring against the concentration gradient and involving specific mediators on the cell membrane. The mechanism of water movement across membranes, from the side with lower solute concentration to the side with higher osmolality, is called osmosis and it is known to be present throughout the tree of life (Verkman, 2011), since this cellular mechanism presents some evaluative advantages such as not requiring consumption of any ATP molecule. This transmembrane movement occurs by either diffusion across the membrane bilayer or by a faster movement mediated by transmembrane channel proteins, called aquaporins - AQPs - and were the focus of a Nobel Prize (Agre, 2003). Cells in hypotonic environment would increase in volume and evenly burst, hence the osmoregulation at the cellular level is an important process that is known to be mediated by vacuoles. Hence this osmolality problem is solved by living organisms by various mechanisms that continuously and actively pump ions out. Plant, algae, fungi and some bacterial cells have an additional barrier - the cell wall - that avoids the variation on total cell volume and the burst of the cells by water influx. However, turgidity is a necessary condition for plants to maintain their firmness or turgor. It has been described the expression of AQPs in all organisms in their cellular membranes (Ishibashi et al., 2011), with the main role of water transportation, which constitute an evidence of evolution by adaptation of organisms to the environmental challenges related to water-based life. This cellular membrane permeability is selective, since water (H2O)

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+ crosses through the membranes, while the hydronium ion (H3O ) does not permeate these proteins, so this distinction is essential to life (Agre, 2003). A limiting factor for plant growth and development is the hydric stress in hypertonic environments, such as due to water deprivation and increased soil salinity, that if continued and/or at high levels will cause plants to wilt and eventually shrivel and die. Plants have evolved several biochemical and molecular mechanisms to cope with these types of abiotic stress, such AQPs expression, therefore one can find some species and cultivars with higher drought and salt tolerance. Recently, UNESCO created the Centre for Membrane Science and Technology, that is responsible for the development of desalination processes based on reverse osmosis, during which seawater is forced through a semipermeable membrane that separates salt from water, so this substantiate the importance of the study of transmembrane transport. This theme constitutes an excellent example for students to learn about the existence of interactions between Science, Technology, Society and Environment (STSE education) since the development of the technological applications of reverse osmosis can be used at a large-scale to produce drinkable water from sea water, with potential economic and life expectancy benefits in several developing countries. Socio-Scientific Issues are also included such as the development of transgenic overexpressing AQPs plants that could be used in agriculture to increase yields and the development of drugs that modulate AQP expression and function can be applicable to medicine. While PBL exists in a variety of forms, depending on the discipline and the goals of the curriculum, it tends to include features such as learner autonomy, active learning, cooperation and collaboration, authentic activities and reflection and transfer (Ertmer & Simons, 2006). Osmosis and diffusion concepts have been described to be difficult to learn, so, in order to promote meaningful learning, we used a problem-based learning approach that integrates a two phase conceptual mapping and experimental activities, such as a laboratory activity, testing the effects of osmolarity in plants and a computer simulation model of osmosis (Kottonau, 2011; Lindgren et al., 2009). The computer simulation was suggested in order promote inquiry learning since it allows students to specify a few

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2. Materials and methods

2.1 Participants Study participants were students attending the tenth grade at a public school (high school, with age from 14 to 16 years, and 15 years as median age) that willing to participate in the study had the corresponding informed consent signed by the parent/person responsible for education (n = 18). The author participated in the instruction by teaching the corresponding curricular unit to all the students at a Portuguese public school (Oporto city, Portugal).

2.2 Educational intervention The results presented were obtained during a one-week period of an action research project on PBL, during the academic year 2012/2013. The PBL methodology used included an ill-structured problem with adequate guidance by the author/tutor according with age and unfamiliarity with PBL of the students. Hence the author/tutor promoted the discussion and the questioning by the students using an electronic presentation in each lab-class (≤ 14 students). The open-ended question proposed to students for this class was ”Is it beneficial for the organisms that life is based on the existence of water?”, and the students discussed, in small groups (≤ 4 students), and proposed new questions and possible solutions to this problem. The theme is included in the discipline Biology and Geology in the curricular unit on the diversity of mechanisms for obtaining nutrients used by different organisms.

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On the first day the duration of the activities was 135 minutes and then 45 minutes at the end of the week for discussion and elaboration of the post-conceptual map.

2.3 Experimental activities

2.3.1 Laboratorial experimental activities In this study we used Pelargonium x hortorum, red flowers cultivar, native of South Africa, that is commonly used as an ornamental plant in Portugal. The experimental setup consisted in three groups of plants maintained in mineral soil- containing vases watered, every other day, during one week, with solutions with different salinity, containing different concentration of minerals (Table 1).

Table 1. Culture conditions for maintenance of each group of plants Pelargonium x hortorum.

Group A Group B Group C

mineral soil + mineral H2O mineral soil + mineral soil + (H2O total mineralisation: 47.7mg/L) 12% NaCl (in deionized H2O) deionized H2O

Note: Deionized water was obtained by the students using the equipment available in the physics-chemistry lab of the school; as well as the 12% NaCl solution (using NaCl, Sigma). Commercially available water was used for plants belonging to group A.

Students observed the macroscopic morphology of plants of groups A and B and were asked to predict the morphology of the group C of plants. For the microscopic observations, we used petals of the flowers of this plant since they present hydrophilic pigments in vacuoles that are responsible for the red colour of the petals. So, students, in small groups (≤4 students), prepared samples by peeling a piece of the superior epidermis of petals of plants of group A and placed two of these samples in two conditions, in slides containing one drop of either 12% NaCl (sample A1) or mineral

H2O; then observed both under the microscope and illustrated a few representative cells

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H2O and observed under the optical microscope and illustrated (sample A2).

2.3.2 Computational experimental activity In the second part of the lab report students were asked to answer the question “What happens to water molecules when cells are in an isotonic medium?”, so in order to observe what happens at the cellular level in plant cells under an isotonic environment, students designed and performed a virtual experiment using the computational simulator of osmosis available online - “NetLogo Osmosis Simulator” (Kottonau, 2011).

2. 4 Instruments A heurist diagram including the laboratorial procedure was provided to the students and they were asked to complete and present it, at the end of the class, as the lab report to be evaluated by the teacher/author. Students, in small groups, were asked to elaborate a conceptual map on transmembrane transport. Then, after referring the concept of aquaporins, a conceptual map, with a defined skeleton structure, was provided to the students and they were asked to complete it with the missing concepts and liaison terms (Fig. 1).

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Figure 1. Portion of the conceptual map on transmembrane movements (referring only to biomolecules, ions and H2O) completed by high school students.

The problematic situation, with the central question “Is it beneficial for the organisms that life is based on the existence of water?”, as well as the corresponding PBL worksheet, in which students were asked to complete the list of facts and questions related to the topic and to define an experimental question, were provided to students as hands-outs and were discussed in small group in class. The lab report based on the heurist diagram that students were asked to complete, and that also included the request to illustrate their observations under the microscope, using the adequate magnification, including the arrangement of a few number of cells within the tissue; and to answer some open-ended questions as well as to write a small text on Science, Technology, Society and Environment interactions about osmosis. To assess the impact of our strategy on learning and long-term retention and ability to apply knowledge in an integrated way, students’ scores obtained in specific questions on the exam at the end of the unit were analyzed.

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At the end of the class, students were asked to respond to a questionnaire in order to evaluate their perceptions about the PBL environment in class, regarding some dimensions, according to Senocak (2009), such as: teacher support (the extent to which the teacher acts a facilitator or metacognitive coach and supports several of the goals of PBL), student interaction and collaboration (the extent to which problems act as stimulus and PBL starts with an ill-structured problem to be solved) and the quality of the problem (extent to which problems act as stimulus and PBL starts with an ill-structured problem to be solved). Students were asked to respond a small questionnaire about their self-perceptions of the contribute of each activity in their learning.

3. Results and discussion

Conceptual mapping has been describing as an useful strategy for learning and assessment (Schönborn & Anderson, 2008), so we used it to assess the preconceptions of students about osmosis before the last round of instruction: 70% of students classified osmosis as a non-mediated type of transport and 70% of the students classified it as a passive type of transport. At the end of the class, after discussion about AQPs, all the students were able to correctly complete the conceptual map in Figure 2, corresponding to meaningful relationships between concepts. Since non-integrated classes have been described not bridge the gap between what students learn during PBL classes and the adequate laboratory skills, we used an integrated PBL approach (Azer et al., 2013) by designing a problematic situation, or problem, and scaffold strategies that promote the development of the desired capabilities. Upon discussion of the problem in small groups, 83% of the students were able to define an adequate experimental question as “What are the effects of increasing salinity at the cellular level?”, and “What are the differences at the cellular levels of plants maintained in normal soils and in soils with higher salinity?”. All the groups of students completed correctly the list of facts and proposed several adequate and interesting questions, of high order, some of which were selected for further

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Students developed the adequate laboratory skills since they were able to select the adequate magnification and field of view for drawing and most students were able to illustrate some details of individual cells and represent form, proportion, and spatial relationships accurately (Table 2).

Table 2. Drawings by students of microscopic observations of Pelargonium sp. (petals of the flowers).

Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4

A1

A2

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Note: Drawing were made upon observation under microscope using a 40x objective. Cells of sample A1 were maintained in slide media containing 12% NaCl, and this media was then replaced by deionized H2O (condition A2).

By analyzing the students’ drawings (Table 2) we were able to observe some misconceptions, such as 35% of students that do not distinguished the vacuole from the cytoplasm (e.g. student 1 in table 2). In the second session we used these misconceptions as an opportunity to discuss with students the plant cell structure and functions of the vacuole and tonoplast, as suggested by others (DiCarlo, 2006), and asked students to redraw and correct their legends. Upon the replacement of slide media containing 12% NaCl (sample A1, Table 2) by deionized H2O (sample A2, Table 2), all students were able to observe an increase in the vacuolar volume in most cells, and elaborated the conclusion that the vacuole and cytoplasm shrinkage observed is a reversible process, under these conditions. More than 80% of students were able to quantify the vacuole volume in both samples, completing correctly the graph provided in the corresponding question of the lab report. Osmosis and diffusion concepts have been described to be difficult to learn, may be due to the fact that these processes involve invisible particles and constitute abstract ideas (Fisher et al., 2011). However, all the groups of students were able to perform the experiment using the computer simulation by adjusting the same concentration inside and outside the virtual membrane and all students concluded that water molecules are constantly going inside and outside the cell, as a dynamic equilibrium, maintaining the cell and vacuole volume. The students’ laboratory skills were assessed by the tutor/author, by observing during the class the complying with safety rules and laboratory manuals, communication skills and productive working skills, and the results were: Excellent for 32% of students, Good for 47%, and Satisfactory for 21% of the students. 50% of the students were able to write a small text, as asked in the final question of the lab report, about osmosis referring the interactions science-technology-society-environment in a future scenario of increase of sea level by climatic changes.

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The lab activity was successful since we observed positive classification of the lab report of all students, and 37% had an Excellent grade (corresponding to a classification of 85% or higher) and 26% were classified with Good (≥ 75% and < 85%) and 37% with Average (< 75% and ≥ 50%).

Regarding long-term retention, 78% of the students were successful (≥50% score) in recalling and applying knowledge, while 22% of the students obtained an insufficient score in the questions about osmosis in the exam at the end of the unit.

The analysis of the responses to the questionnaire that evaluates the perceptions of the students about the PBL process shows that the learning environment was adequate and successful, since their responses, given in a five-point format ranging from Always to Never (5-Always, 1-Never), corresponded to positive results (≥ 3) in 83 to 100% of students. 83-100% of students in the teacher support dimension, 88-96% of students considered the good quality of the problem given and 100% of the students evaluated positively the dimension of student interaction and collaboration. Analyzing the responses to the questionnaire the average of the total score obtained by each student was 89 ± 16, which is in accordance with the interval defined previously by others corresponding to a minimum score of 23 and a maximum score of 115 (Senocak, 2009). The analysis of the responses of students of self-perception of contributes to learning showed that students considered as corresponding to the higher contribute: the PowerPoint presentation and the hands-out containing the problematic situation (47% of the students), experimental work (41%) and computer simulation (12%). The themes included in this teaching-learning strategy are relevant since United Nations defined the theme Water for Life for the decade 2005-2015 and the year 2015 as the International Year of Soils. Therefore, it is important to use this strategy in secondary education in order to increase the awareness about the scarcity of potable water, due to the expected rising of sea level, caused by climatic changes and the consequent increase in salinity of soils as well as contamination of underground potable water (Sousa, 2014; Sousa, 2015). Since this constitutes a global problem, it is useful to discuss the causes and

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4. Conclusions Since the aims of concept mapping and those of PBL are strategies that naturally complement each other in promoting meaningful learning (Addae et al., 2012), in our strategy we used PBL combined with two mapping phases. We also included some experimental activities, such as laboratory activities and computational simulations that were integrated in the context of implementation of PBL in a K–12 environment. Our results showed that we were able to encourage students’ creativity and inquiry that are considered by several authors as essential for biology learning (DiCarlo, 2006), as well as critical thinking and questioning, as referred by students in their satisfactory feedback about the process, at the end of the corresponding unit. As observed by the satisfactory performance in the exam and lab report we also promoted the meaningful learning with long-term retention, and the ability to interpret laboratory results and its communication using drawings, graphically and in writing. In conclusion, the application of the designed problem in high school promoted a multi- disciplinary discussion and constitutes a good example of STSE education and Socio- Scientific Issues discussion about the causes and consequences of environmental changes and ways of reducing their negative impacts (Ashraf, 2013; UNESCO, 2014). Therefore we presented a successful implementation case of integrated PBL in a public Portuguese school that may constitute an example to facilitate the implementation of active inquiry strategies by other teachers, as well as the basis for future research.

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Acknowledgments The author is grateful to the faculty administration for providing funds for this study, and specially to the students that participated in the study, and to the Escola Secundária Aurélia de Sousa (Porto, Portugal) for the conditions to conduct the project.

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Accreditation of Spanish Engineering Programs, first experiences. The case of the Terrassa School of Engineering

Mª Dolores Álvarez*, Mireia Mata, Javier Cañavate, Joaquim Marqués, Carme Espot, Santiago Forcada, Jordi Voltas, Núria Garrido, Jordi Sellarès, Alfred Gil

Terrassa School of Engineering, Colom,1 08222 Terrassa, Barcelona Spain

* Corresponding author: Email: [email protected]; Phone: + 34 937398200

Received: 2015-7-10; Accepted: 2016-1-3

Abstract The implementation of the European Space for Higher Education has entailed new requirements for Spanish Higher Education Programs. Regulations (RD 1393, 2007) stablish that university programs, in order to have official validity, must be submitted to an external evaluation process before their official implementation, denominated Validation, and to an ex-post process or Accreditation. Terrassa School of Engineering (EET) was one of the first schools in Spain to adapt to the European Space for Higher Education, in the academic period 2009-10 and then, one of the first university institutions submitted to an accreditation process. In this communication, the important role of the Internal Quality Assurance System in the assessment of the school’s programs is exposed as well as the approach followed in the key steps of the process: Accreditation

Keywords Internal Quality Assurance System, Programme assessment, Accreditation, European higher education area

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1. Introduction

In recent years, due to the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), university studies in Spain have undergone great changes.

The Spanish legislation (RD 1393, 2007) states that the official university degrees must undergo a process of external evaluation in order to be officially valid. These external evaluation processes include an ex ante assessment, which is called Validation and an ex post assessment process, which is Accreditation.

Between these two stages, there is an annual monitoring of all university programs, which may include corrections or modifications, aimed at improving aspects under consideration.

Thus, the Validation of a degree, its annual monitoring and implementation, the introduction of possible modifications and the accreditation are assessment processes that nowadays are an important part of the life cycle of a university degree.

The Internal Quality Assurance System of every School (IQAS), as a relevant part in the process of developing the curricula, plays a key role throughout the lifecycle of programs. It enables improvement in evaluation, lecturers and lecturing quality, external traineeships and international mobility, as well as in analysing stakeholders satisfaction and employability of graduates.

The implementation of the IQAS allows detecting necessary modifications and opportunities, planning actions of improvement and measuring results in relation to the actions carried out, which results in better quality of the university system.

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Figure 1 Life cycle of a recognized university degree (GPAQ, 2015)

In this document, the important role that the IQAS of Terrassa School of Engineering (EET) is exposed. The approach to the evaluation of the different programs, the new experiences related to the process and the methodology used in monitoring, and the final accreditation of the implemented degrees will be described and discussed in order to provide relevant information about this important improvement in the Spanish University System.

The Spanish National Agency of Evaluation and Accreditation (ANECA) validates the proposal of new study programs through the process called Verifica. The accreditation request is processed after 6 years of monitoring the Institution, where the programs have been implemented. The process includes an inspection visit at the Terrassa School of Engineering in 2015, carried out by an External Evaluation Committee (EEC) designated by the Agency.

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2. Terrassa School of Engineering. Study programmes.

Terrassa School of Engineering (EET) is a higher education school belonging to Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). During its more than 100-year history, EET is specialized in engineering education, and is well known for its prestige and quality.

EET is located on the campus of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) in Terrassa sharing services and resources with other schools. The campus includes higher education, research centres and other facilities, occupying 72,000 m2 in which are located 4 Schools, 23 departments, an Institute of Textile Research INTEXTER, the Catalonian Centre for Plastic, 37 research groups, 5,500 students, 400 teachers and 250 professionals and researchers. Every day, over 6,000 people work and study in this campus, making it an important economical centre of the city.

Starting the process in 2009-10, the Terrassa School of Engineering was one of the first schools to adapt its studies to European Higher Education Area (EHEA). This adjustment included simplification of the syllabi and development of common itineraries between similar programs, improving the efficiency of the implementation of the new curricula.

The different programs currently taught at the EET-UPC are on in Table 1. The term Industrial Engineering, in Spain encompasses all competences related to mechanical, electrical, electronical, textile, chemical and industrial design engineering.

The EET-UPC in addition offers the students the possibility of obtaining a double degree. This double programme requires that students enrol for one extra year of additional subjects (66 ECTS credits). Once these subjects are accomplished, the students obtain two diplomas awarded by the UPC. The additional year ensures the achievement of competencies corresponding to both degrees. (See Table 2)

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Table 1 Academic programs offered by EET-UPC.

Area Obtained Degree

Industrial Engineering Degree in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering

Degree in Electrical Engineering

Degree in Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering

Degree in Mechanical Engineering

Degree in Chemical Engineering

Degree in Textile Engineering

Telecommunications Degree in Audio-visual Systems Engineering Engineering

Master (90ECTS) Master in fibrous materials technology (Textile, Paper, Graphic)

Table 2 Academic programs offered by EET-UPC. Double Degrees

First Degree Second Degree (Double Degree)

Degree in Electrical Engineering Degree in Mechanical Engineering

Degree in Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering

Degree in Industrial Electronics and Degree in Electrical Engineering Automation Engineering Degree in Mechanical Engineering

Degree in Mechanical Engineering Degree in Electrical Engineering

Degree in Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering

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First Degree Second Degree (Double Degree)

Degree in Chemical Engineering

Degree in Textile Engineering

Degree in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering

Degree in Chemical Engineering Degree in Mechanical Engineering

Degree in Textile Engineering

Degree in Textile Engineering Degree in Mechanical Engineering

Degree in Chemical Engineering

Degree in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering

Degree in Industrial Design and Degree in Mechanical Engineering Product Development Engineering Degree in Textile Engineering

3. The importance of the Internal Quality Assurance System in the life cycle of a university degree. Monitoring process.

As already mentioned above, programs annual monitoring is compulsory during the period going from the Validation of the study programs to their Accreditation.

According to the Quality Assurance Agency (AQU), the monitoring has two main objectives:

- Constitute a useful tool for managing the School allowing assessment of the academic contents, development through the analysis of data and indicators, and producing, when necessary, improvement proposals oriented to correct any observed deviations in the ordinary development from the stated syllabi.

- Produce a source of useful evidences for degree accreditation.

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As specified in the “Bachelor and Master Degree Programs Monitoring Guide" published by the agency (AQU, 2013), the Annual Monitoring Reports of the EET-UPC degrees focused in four different dimensions:

- Public information on the operational development of academic program.

- Public information on the indicators.

- The analysis of academic programme and improvement actions.

- The adequacy of the Internal Quality Assurance System (IQAS) for monitoring the university degree.

The university, UPC through its Planning, Evaluation and Quality Office (GPAQ) has developed a computer application called SAT where different centres must submit annually their reports. The Office after reviewing these reports forward them to the accreditation agency AQU.

The deep discussion on these four dimensions is not easy. In this sense, the IQAS implemented in the EET-UPC, ensures collecting relevant information and data in order to provide an efficient management of the whole results corresponding to academic programs, which facilitates the monitoring process and modification in degrees, ensuring continuous improvement through objective data analysis.

The IQAS EET-UPC is divided in different processes. Each process has a responsible person that will assure that the process is properly operating, and that will be regularly reviewing it in order to determine the need for modifications. In addition, monitoring indicators characterize each process. (See Figure 2)

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Figure 2 Importance of the IQAS in the monitoring process

Measurement, analysis and temporal evolution of these indicators is a task assigned to the responsible for the process. He, in collaboration with a Commission, generates an annual report (AR) that is included in the annual report of the School. This report is annually approved by the Board of the School and is a public document.

The reports generally include the following sections:

- Aiming goals: The specific objectives are specified in relation to the process.

- Actions: actions taken to achieve the specified objectives.

- Results: indicators / results and their evolution.

- Assessment: achievements assessment and improvement proposal

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4. The accreditation process. The EET-UPC experience

In order to apply for accreditation, the EET-UPC, developed a preparatory report for this purpose (self-assessment report) that was elaborated following a template provided by AQU. Figure 3 shows the process.

As in the case of the Annual Monitoring Reports, the UPC has developed a software application that allows filling the different sections of the template that generates evidences by linking relevant documents. The application is available in a workspace to members of the Internal Evaluation Committee (IEC) and a section for the technical review of the self- assessment report that the GPAQ performs.

Several standards are discussed in the report, most of them are related to the School in general, but some of them are specific for each study program. Any statement or justification included in the analysis must be supported by relevant documentation (evidence). An External team of auditors (external panel), appointed by AQU analyses the report, reviews the evidence and pays a visit to the School. For one or more days, the external panel holds meetings with several groups of stakeholders, visits the facilities and analyses in situ, if further documentation is needed. The panel elaborates a report that is delivered to AQU for final approval.

The self-assessment report for accreditation considers six standards: the quality of the study program, the relevance of public information, the effectiveness of IQAS, the adequacy of the faculties to the study program, the effectiveness of the learning support systems and the quality of the results of the programs.

The implementation of the IQAS has been fundamental in order to analyse the 6 standards, the evidences and the improvement proposals included in the report.

As explained in previous section, since the implementation of IQAS, the School gather:

- Historical values of indicators related to the quality processes of the School.

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- The annual reports provided by the responsible for the processes including objectives, actions and results. Depending on the achievements, an evaluation is issued.

- The Annual Monitoring Reports submitted to the AQU containing detailed proposals for improvement and, in some cases, proposals for some modifications in the study programs.

Furthermore, and linked to each process constituting IQAS of the School, a documentary check of system own evidences is available. Often, these evidences are included in the report.

Given the previous analysis and documents generated internally along the life cycle of the degrees, the final presentation of the self-assessment report has been much more agile and detailed, producing a report of excellent quality.

4.1. Self-assessment report. Internal organization

Figure 3 shows the flowchart for the process leading to the elaboration of the self- assessment report required for accrediting the degree programs at the EET-UPC.

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Figure 3 Elaboration of the self-assessment report

The first step was the creation of a self-assessment commission (SAC) whose composition and functions were approved by EET-UPC. Table 3 shows the composition and functions of SAC. As shown in the flowchart (see Figure 3), the SAC was responsible for the elaboration of the report which, once reviewed by the GPAQ and made available to the public, was approved by the Board of the Centre.

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Table 3. Composition and functions of the self-assessment commission (SAC)

Stamen Description Responsibilities for the Number accreditation Faculties Coordinators of the study Assessment, review/editing of the 7 programme report, evidences Administrative Head of administration Editing, technical consulting 6 staff Responsible for the Technical consulting, evidences direction area Academic management Technical consulting, evidences IT manager Technical consulting, evidences Logistics and services Technical consulting, evidences Direction Assistant Technical consulting, evidences Direction Director Editing of the report, evidences 3 Vice director for quality Editing of the report, evidences Vice director for academic Editing of the report, evidences organization Students Students representatives Assessment, review/editing of the 4 report Enterprise Companies Assessment, review/editing of the 1 report Total 21

The self-assessment Commission decided the appointment of four members to start setting out a draft document (see Table 3). The first draft was reviewed and modified by the rest of the members in the Commission. This working method enabled the possibility to all the individuals involved to contribute with data and expertise, to the analysis.

The report is public (Spanish only) and available to all groups (internal and external) through the website of the School (EET 2015).

The External team of auditors, in turn, issued a report reviewing the evidences available, and requesting some clarifications and additional information regarding some specific evidences.

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4.2 Contents of the self-assessment report

As stated above the report for accreditation included the analysis of the 6 quality standards criteria set by AQU:

• Standard 1: Programme quality (analysis at School level): The programme's design (competences profile and structure of the curriculum) is updated according to the requirements of the discipline and it meets the academic required level according to QF- EHEA (MECES) in Spain.

• Standard 2: Relevance of public information (analysis at school level): The institution properly informs all stakeholders of the programme characteristics and the management processes necessary for quality assurance.

• Standard 3: Efficacy of the programme internal quality assurance system (analysis at school level): The institution has a formal internal quality assurance system that assures the quality efficiently and the continuous improvement of the program.

• Standard 4: Adequacy of faculties for the programme (analysis at school level): Faculties are enough in number and their profile fits academic needs according the quality criteria.

• Standard 5: Effectiveness of learning support systems (analysis at school level): The institution has adequate and efficient guidance services and resources for student learning.

• Standard 6: Quality of programme learning outcomes (analysis at specific degree level): Learning and assessment activities are consistent with the programme competences profile. The outcomes of these processes are adequate in terms of both academic achievements, which correspond to the programme's level as of the QF-EHEA in Spain, and the academic and employment indicators.

As previously stated, each quality standard is associated to evidences that support the analysis. From the analysis, several proposals of improvement are included in the report.

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At Table 4 we highlight some contents of the report related to the standards.

Table 4 Relevant aspects of the accreditation report

Standard important contents Standard 1: Programme quality - Analysis on student’s profile. - Academic coordination Standard 2: Relevance of - Information resources and their adequacy to the different public information interest groups Standard 3: Efficacy of the - Importance of SGIC in the lifecycle of the degrees programme's internal quality - Mechanisms for information compilation about the learning assurance system outcomes, results and satisfaction Standard 4: Adequacy of - Analysis of the faculties’ adequacy, curriculum, experience, faculties research. - Analysis of the degree of satisfaction of students regarding faculties - Analysis of the satisfaction of UPC with with regard to faculties. - Mechanisms for assigning subjects to faculties. Standard 5: Efficiency of - Explanation and analysis of the professional and academic learning support systems counselling provided by the School. - Description and analysis of learning resources available to the students and pedagogic approaches. Standard 6: Quality of - 4 subjects of every degree programme were selected and programme (learning) studied specifically including achievement, evaluation outcomes system, competences provided, learning methodology. - Results of the evaluation of every subject of the syllabi. - Final thesis, issues, typology, results. - Traineeship possibilities, companies and placements - Relevant indicators of the development of the students. - Employment data analysis. -

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4.3 Visit of the external evaluation committee

The UPC GPAQ informed us on the composition of the External Team of Auditors, and proposed a schedule for the visit to the school. All panel members were external to our institution and were selected according to a specific profile and requirements set by AQU. The external committee consisted of a president, two academic members, a representative from a company, a student representative and a secretary.

Table 5 shows the schedule for the visit. This programme was agreed on the proposal of the committee.

The visit schedule shows that an important point is the focus on interviewing representatives of different agents present at the educational institution: responsible, teachers, students, graduates and employers. Apart from visiting the facilities, the External Team of Auditors objective is to gather opinions and comments from several groups, assessing their satisfaction with the services and academic programs of the school.

Table 5 Programme of the visit of the External Team of Auditors

May 13th of 2015 Timetable Activity 8:30- External Team of Auditors previous work (documentation review) 10:30 10:30- Self-assessment team reception by the management team 10:45 10:45- Interview with the management team and the self-assessment team 11:30 11:30- Break 11:45 11:45- Interview with Initial Common Phase Industrial Engineering 12:30 students, and Initial Phase of Bachelor’s degree in Audio-visual Systems Engineering students. 12:30- Interview with students of 3rd and 4th 13:15 BD in Audio-visual Systems Engineering BD in Mechanical Engineering BD in Electrical Engineering BD in Industrial Electronics and Automatic Control Engineering

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May 13th of 2015 Timetable Activity 13:15- Interview with students of 3rd and 4th 14:00 BD in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering BD in Textile Technology and Design Engineering BD in Chemical Engineering 14:00- Lunch 15:00 15:00- External Team of Auditors work 16:00 16:00- Graduates interview 16:45 16:45- Employers interview 17:30 May, 14th of 2015 Timetable Activity 8:30-9:15 Interview with Initial Common Phase Industrial Engineering teachers and Initial Phase of Bachelor’s degree in Audio-visual Systems Engineering teachers. 9:15- Teachers staff interview (not included in previous audience) 10:00 10:00- Space and facilities visit 11:00 11:00- Break 11:30 11:30- Public audience/ panel´s work 12:15 12:15- 2nd Interview with the management team and the self-assessment 13:00 team 13:00- Preparation of conclusions 13:45 13:45- Preliminary conclusions and farewell 14:15 14:15- Lunch 15:15 15:15- External Team of Auditors work/ Start preparing the external 17:15 evaluation report

The school management team proposed the members for each group, and Vice director for Quality organized the meetings. Table 6 shows the selection criteria for the representatives of each group.

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The purpose of these meetings was to inform about:

- The accreditation process and its importance.

- Members who were part of the External team of Auditors.

- The programme of the visit.

- Possible issues at hearings. The questions listed in the "Guide to the accreditation of recognized bachelor and master’s degree programs” Version 1.0 "published by the AQU (AQU, 2013).

Table 6 Criteria for the selection of the representatives of each group at the audience

Group Criteria Number Students 1st and 2ond Students representatives 10 year (2 for degree minimum) Students 3rd and 4th year Must have participated in international 17 (2 for degree minimum) or Company placement programs Must be doing final thesis Faculty 1st and 2ond Coordinator of compulsory subjects 8 year (2 for degree Representatives of the departments minimum) involved in the degree Faculty 3rd and 4th year Lecturers assigned to the departments 13 (2 for degree minimum) involved in the degree Wide age range Graduated Graduates with double degree 9 (2 for degree minimum) Master students Working students Employers Companies that provide placements for 7 students Companies that participate in grants, agreements, etc. TOTAL 64

Including the Self-assessment team, members of the management team and the participants in the public audience, more than 90 people met the External Team Auditors.

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The visit of the facilities was programmed to show common spaces (classrooms, study rooms, computer rooms, library ...) and teaching laboratories. The coordinators provided the committee with a dossier describing the labs that included the following data:

- Use of the laboratory in the degree.

- Name of the coordinator of the degree.

- Name of the facility.

- Capacity (Number of workplaces).

- Subjects that make use of the facility.

- Photographs, name, description and special features of the most relevant equipment.

Before concluding the visit, the external panel presented preliminary findings to the management. At this moment, we are expecting the external evaluation report, but the EAC anticipated that they will propose the accreditation of every degrees at the time they highlighted a number of good practices related to various standards.

They highlighted specifically some aspects as good relationship with industrial environment, learning support systems; tutoring and counselling, internationalization, library resources and digital campus, also praised the evaluation system for transversal competences and and labour market indicators.

5. Conclusions

The implementation of IQAS at EET-UPC has been effective for continuous improvement and quality assurance for the programme degree offered. IQAS has enabled the monitoring and the appropriate modification of academic programs through the validation and accreditation thereof.

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The accreditation process of the degree programs offered by the EET-UPC has been carried out on a normal course. We emphasize the high participation and collaboration shown by the various stakeholders in this process. The strong relationship with the different interest groups has facilitated the External Team Auditors to have a first-hand perception of stakeholder’s opinions and considerations, beyond the specific figures and indicators that appear on the self for accreditation.

6. References

AQU. 2013. Agencia per la Qualitat de sistema universitari de catalunya. GUIA PER AL SEGUIMENT DE LES TITULACIONS OFICIALS DE GRAU I MÀSTER. versió 1.0. 2013.

EET. 2015. Escuela de Ingenieria de Terrassa. EET-UPC. [En línea] 04 de junio de 2015. [Citado el: 04 de junio de 2015.] http://www.eet.upc.edu/intranet/direccio/autoinforme- acreditacio-final.

GPAQ. 2015. Gabinet de Planificació, Avaluació i Qualitat UPC. [En línea] 2015. [Citado el: 04 de junio de 2015.] http://www.upc.edu/gpaq.

RD 1393. 2007. REAL DECRETO 1393/2007, de 29 de octubre, por el que se establece la ordenación de las enseñanzas universitarias oficiales. 2007.

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Development of Generic and Strategic Skills through a Wiki Plat-form in Industrial Engineering Programs

L. Celorrio-Barragué*,1, A. Lopes-Ramalho2, M.R. Calvete-Gaspar2

1Dpto. de Ingeniería Mecánica. Universidad de La Rioja, San José de Calasanz 31, 26004 Logroño, Spain. 2Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Av. do Empresário, 6000 Castelo Branco, Portugal

* Corresponding author: Email: [email protected]; Phone: + 34 941299542

Received: 2015-7-10; Accepted: 2016-1-3

Abstract This paper describes the collaborative learning task carried out in the framework of a Strength of Materials course in an undergraduate degree program in Industrial Engineering using a wiki platform as a support tool. Stages of the teaching/learning process are described. These are: organization of the wiki to host the work of student groups, creation of working groups and assignation of projects, delivery of guidance material and model, editing the project and publishing pages on the wiki, assessments performed using rubrics, and the results obtained. The wiki platform provides interesting statistics for evaluating cooperation between students and time variation of students’ effort. The final quality of the projects is very high because a midterm evaluation in the form of a “peer review rubric” is carried out. Then, students improve their projects. The paper concludes by gathering the opinions made by students; the benefits provided by this teaching experience are then analyzed.

Keywords Wikis, cooperative learning, transversal competences, group working, rubrics.

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1. Introduction

This article outlines the development of generic and strategic skills by students in all three degree programs currently studying Industrial Engineering at the Universidad de La Rioja in the Strength of Materials course. The latest guidelines drawn from the European Higher Education Area stipulate that, when designing, planning and evaluating courses, the primary focus should be on skills. One must consider not only the skills specific to each course or degree, but also the generic and strategic skills that every university hopes to instill in its students.

The most sought-after generic skills in the current labor market are interpersonal skills. Collectively, this skill set is popularly known as “teamwork” and consists of the ability to work on an interdisciplinary team and to communicate in other languages. These skills can be sharpened by having students work in groups to collaboratively complete one shared or several different projects.

The current development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) has enabled the creation of very powerful group-work tools, not just in the field of education but also in the professional sphere. Social networks and messaging apps for smartphones facilitate effective communication between group members. It is vital that our students learn to apply these ICT tools to their learning practices.

The project that each group must complete consists of describing an emblematic or singular feat of engineering or architecture. These are works that have roused the interest of the general public and are internationally recognized for their touristic or historic importance, for their large size, or because they are emblems of a certain population, were converted into internationally renowned monuments, apply the most innovative construction techniques available or, in some cases, because they were poorly designed, famously collapsed or required extensive repairs. These works have received special attention by the mainstream media and audiovisual content producers. We could cite numerous very well- known TV shows that help a general audience understand the inner workings of the

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construction process, such as Megastructures, Megaconstructions and Extreme Engineering. These shows are constantly in reruns and they doubtless influenced more than one student’s decision to pursue a degree in engineering.

Taking these reports as our point of departure, we proposed that second-year students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Industrial Engineering and enrolled in the course Strength of Materials complete a group project on singular works of engineering and architecture. We asked them to describe these works in greater depth than the televised report, highlighting the chief points of interest for industrial engineers, such as the building type, the new materials used, innovations in the field of construction technology, installations, maintenance and monitoring.

To complete the project, students used the best ICT tool available for group learning: wikis. This technology is described in the following section.

2. Wikis

A wiki is a server-based computer application that can be accessed from any computer connected to the internet. From the user’s point of view, a wiki is just another webpage, but with the advantage that allows for information sharing. Wikis, along with blogs, social networks and a significant number of applications make up what is known as Web 2.0. The distinctive feature of Web 2.0 is that it is no longer a single user who shares information, but rather the entire community that makes contributions. Working on a wiki is very sim- ple: the user simply registers, logs on and gets to work. All registered users can edit or modify content and create new pages (Leuf and Cunningham, 2001). There are typically one or two administrators who ensure that the wiki is functioning properly and grant per- mission to other users. It is most convenient if this is the professor of the subject in which the project is assigned. However, granting administrative permissions to a handful of stu- dents (representatives from each group, for example) can ease the professor’s task load and give students the opportunity to explore the wiki to its full potential. Furthermore, as

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leaders on a higher hierarchical level than the other members of the group, these student administrators feel more responsible. They are more motivated to perform their duties, and this motivation carries over to the rest of the group.

Wikis are among the best tools for collaborative learning and teamwork. They make it possible for students to stay in contact, share and contrast their ideas and opinions on a wide range of subjects, complete a group project, and make consensus-driven decisions when solving problems (Moral and Villalustre, 2007, 2008).

Wikis also have numerous advantages for professors. They facilitate visibility in the educational process and direct communication between the professor and the students, giving professors the chance to guide projects towards fixed goals. The teacher can evaluate the participation and individual contributions each student in the group makes to the project, since on the wiki there is a record of contributions and their authors. This helps professors continually assess the progress of the project, giving grades or feedback every week, two weeks, etc. (Adell, 2007).

Wikis are the perfect tool for peer and group assessment when the project is complete. For example, a group can evaluate another group’s work according to a specific peer- assessment rubric.

In actual practice, students use other ICT tools to support the material of the other work they do, too, and to communicate between group members and share information. It is normal for members of the group to create a group on messaging apps such as Whatsapp, or on a social network such as Facebook, to help them communicate better and set up group meetings. Another key element is a shared folder on a file storage service on the Cloud, such as Dropbox or Google Drive. These folders hold project files and drafts of text that will make up part of the final draft. This makes students’ work more comfortable, since they are not constantly under the watchful eyes of the professor and/or of classmates in other groups. Still, this way of working has a drawback for professors—they cannot track the progress of the assignment without imposing mid-project evaluations of the wiki. E-

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mail is essential, but it has largely been dethroned by other, more direct means of communication, such as instant messaging. On some occasions the wiki’s internal messaging function is used. Figure 1 shows the homepage of the wiki described in this article.

Figure 1: Singular Works Wiki

3. Goals

Students complete their projects within the framework of the course Strength of Materials as part of the degrees in Industrial Engineering (Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering) at the University of La Rioja. Strength of Materials forms part of the mandatory training module in the industrial branch. It is taught in the second quarter of the second years for all three bachelor’s degrees in Industrial Engineering. The teaching team is made up of one professor who is also in charge of the course.

Strength of Materials carries 6 ECTS credits, the equivalent of 60 class hours and 90 hours of student study and work. The group wiki project requires two hours of explanation and classroom work, with 10 of the 90 hours assigned to the project outside of the classroom.

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Because the project is done in groups of five or six, each group should end up dedicating a total of 50 or 60 hours to their project.

The 60 class hours are distributed as follows: 40 large group hours dedicated to theory and problem solving, and 20 hours in smaller groups, of which 16 are set aside for conventional classroom problem solving and questions; the remaining four are for practice time with the educational software MdSolids (Philpot, 2014) and interactive MecMovies pages (Philpot, 2011).

The criteria fixed in the teaching guide for evaluation in the course are: 60% for the final written test, 20% for the group project described in this article and 20% for individual internship projects.

The goals of the wiki-based group project are:

 To improve students’ general skills, especially:

o The ability to gather and process information. In order to acquire this skill, it is essential that students be familiar with advanced searching techniques, such as searching within interest domains, use of suitable search terms and how to search in various languages.

o Interpersonal skills, which consist of two abilities: the ability to work on an interdisciplinary team and the ability to communicate in foreign languages.

o Digital literacy. Although engineering students are already familiar with ICTs, it is essential that they learn how to use them to their maximum potential.

 To acquire specific skills, including:

o Describing practical applications in the field of Structural Engineering and Construction and the theory covered in the course Strength of Materials.

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o Describing the chief advances that have been made in the fields of Structural Engineering and Construction Technology.

o Creating a glossary of terms used in Structural Engineering and Construction.

 To maximize the University’s strategic skills: this collaborative working experience has much in common with Project Based Learning methodology (PBL), which students will develop if they go on to do postgraduate studies at the Universidad de La Rioja.

 To get teaching experience using collaborative learning methodologies through the use of ICTs, especially wikis.

 To share the completed projects among the students enrolled in the course and, eventually, with a general audience.

4. Stages in collaborative learning process

In this section we outline the stages in our proposed collaborative learning process. After describing the goals and methodologies to be employed, choosing the wiki platform to be used is essential. Our chosen platform is Wikispaces. Although the free educational version based on proprietary code does not offer the same range of possibilities as open-source wikis, it has a simple interface and does not require any programming background or the maintenance of a server for storing the wiki. A free version of Wikispaces is available for educational purposes, with a maximum storage capacity of 50 gigabytes and unlimited users. It boasts greater functionality than the wiki tool available in the University’s official Virtual Learning Environment (VLE): it allows administrators to leave the wiki open for reading, unaffected by the annual changes made on the course pages without the professor’s consent. Wikispaces has been the tool of choice for a wide range of teaching applications

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and experiences. It is very easy to use. Students can also access manuals (Palomo et al, 2015), video tutorials on Youtube, and real wikis online.

4.1 Group structure

Groups of five or six will be made in the first two weeks of the quarter. Through their representatives, every group will keep the professor informed on the group’s components and suggest several possible works on which they may base their projects. Finally, since there are often overlaps in group preferences, the professor will ultimately assign the group’s work from among their proposals. This improves group motivation, since their work was not imposed on them, but the product of a consensus. A total of 33 groups are formed.

On the wiki, a Wikispaces Project is created for each group under the name of the work on which they are to focus. These projects are set up in such a way that only the members assigned to each group can work on the project; they do not have access to other groups’ projects. The shared glossary will require creating a specific project that all members of the wiki can access. By the third week of the quarter all of the groups should already be formed and ready to start working.

4.2 Guidance material and model

Providing students with guidance materials is essential for producing the high quality of work expected. A bibliographic paper, or a paper based on gathering and processing information, means more than simply “cutting and pasting.” Rather, students must check several sources, extract the information of interest to the project and compile it in a coherent way, including graphics, charts, photos, references, conclusions, etc. Students are given a set of rules that they must adhere to while working on their project and the criteria by which they will be evaluated. They are enumerated in these documents:

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 A list of the groups, their members and each group’s representative.

 A guide to the aspects that must be addressed by the project, with insistence that, as future engineers, they must focus on the work’s most technical elements and eschew promotional and tourist information. And of course, the professor must point out that the groups can add new aspects or remove those that do not conform to the specific work that they are discussing.

 Project rules: dates for the midterm revision, final due date, rules for coordinating as a group and with the professor, rules on how to edit pages, as well as on the glossary and formal aspects of the project.

 Rubric or evaluation matrix for the midterm evaluation by the groups.

 Rubric or evaluation matrix for the final evaluation of the project by the professor.

Both the guide and the rubrics will give the work direction, given that they enumerate the objective elements to be evaluated. For example, to receive the highest possible score on the glossary aspect, the following requirements must be met:

“At least 10 terms have been added to the glossary. The definitions and/or descriptions provided are in accordance with the use of these same terms in the project. The terms in the glossary itself have been included in the shared glossary. Should some term already be entered into the glossary, the two entries should be merged by the groups.”

Two classroom hours should be dedicated to explaining the content of these documents and answering any questions students may have on the work assigned, or on how to use Wikispaces. Special emphasis should be placed on these two points, which will determine the success of the group project:

Advanced information searching: the project aims to teach students to reach a high skill level with the usual online search engines (e.g. Google), how to use article databases (Dialnet, Google Scholar), paper and presentation repositories (Slideshare), videos (YouTube, Vimeo), etc. They should be heartily encouraged to search in English, since this

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will return much more substantial and interesting information for the project, given that the works to be analyzed have attained international recognition. Students should also be made familiar with the importance of blogs, social networks, message boards and, of course, how to participate in these media by asking questions and giving answers.

Using Wikispaces: Even though Wikispaces is very easy to use, brief tutorials should be given on how to insert images, videos and presentations through editing add-ons called Widgets. Professors should also request the inclusion of a table of contents and links to pages both external to and within the wiki to make navigation easier.

4.3 Editing the project and publishing pages on the wiki

Over the course of the following eight weeks, students will work in groups, and questions that arise will be addressed in class. This will settle formatting questions and help identify some of Wikispaces’ editing abilities and limitations. For example, students cannot change the names of pages or delete them since they only have “Member”-level permissions. To solve this problem, one can temporarily give the representatives of each group “Administrator” permissions so that they can make these changes.

4.4 Rubric-guided group evaluation

In the twelfth week of the quarter, students conduct a midterm evaluation among their own groups using a rubric prepared specifically for that purpose. The evaluation will be conducted anonymously: each group knows the group that it is going to evaluate, but does not know the group by which it will be evaluated. Afterwards, each group will send the professor a completed rubric in which the ratings given in the different fields will be justified—that is to say, merely assigning numeric evaluations will not be enough. The professor will evaluate the quality of the rubrics, bearing in mind the reasoning given for every aspect and the rubric’s objectivity. One important aspect, in terms of improving the

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projects, will be the recommendations provided by the evaluators. In general, these recommendations were well-considered and useful.

The rubric is sent to the interested group through its representative. These comments are transferred to the group undergoing evaluation through the professor in order to maintain the evaluating group’s anonymity. Of the 33 rubrics requested, the groups completed 32. The evaluations were fairly objective, although some of the reasoning did not achieve the degree of detail desired. They were a good reference for the project improvement phase. The negative aspects highlighted in the rubrics in the midterm revision period consisted of the lack of certain important aspects in the project, such as: a glossary, conclusions and bibliographic references. This last aspect is very important, since it helps separate those who have truly done the work, culling and analyzing information from diverse sources, from those who have simply “copy and pasted”. One measure that encourages more objective evaluation is requesting at least three rubrics for each project, completed by three different groups. In this way, the group evaluated has more information to improve the work.

At the start of the thirteenth week of the quarter, the editing feature on the wiki is re-enabled so that groups can make improvements on their projects based on their peers’ recommendations. They have a 10-day period to make these changes.

4.5 Final evaluation by the professor

In the fifteenth and sixteenth weeks of the semester, the professor will conduct a final evaluation of the projects using the professor rubric which, naturally enough, is very similar to the rubric used by the groups. It includes additional fields for which professors must incorporate the progress of student activity by adding new information to Wikispaces. Thus, the evaluation is based on:

 Participation by all members of the group in the publishing of pages

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 Continual work, throughout the work period and not just at the end of the quarter

 Revision of the pages

 True teamwork as seen through shared editing of the pages

 Consideration of the recommendations made during the group evaluation

The project grade will be the same for all members of the group, except in exceptional cases, and will be determined as follows:

25% - Grade received on the group-evaluation rubric

25% - Quality of the evaluation that the group made of another group’s work

50% - Professor’s rubric evaluation

5. Results

First, we will analyze the general data from the wiki. Later we will analyze the moment- to-moment evolution of editions, editors, visits and visitors produced on the wiki.

The total number of wiki members was 183. The number of projects created for the completion of the group project was 33. At the time of the midterm revision, the number of edited pages included in the shared glossary was 652. The number of terms and definitions in the glossary was 218. Together, the wiki pages were accessed (that is, viewed) 20,300 times.

It is interesting to analyze the moment-to-moment evolution of some of the wiki’s parameters. Wikispaces provides a few statistics that can be graphically represented with a spread-sheet. Figure 2 shows the moment-to-moment evolution of the number of editors and the number of wiki pages edited in the period prior to the midterm evaluation. It is clear in the chart that wiki activity increases as the evaluation date approaches. The night prior to the midterm due date sees the highest number of students editing pages, 64, and

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the highest number of pages edited, 948. It is important to bear in mind that many groups prepared drafts of the pages and spent these last days solidifying their final versions. Similarly, figure 3 shows the number of visits the wiki received, as well as the number of pages visited. This number saw notable growth in the days prior to the midterm due date. In both graphics we can see a period with no activity in the first days of April, caused by the Holy Week break.

Wikispaces also offers statistics on the number of messages exchanged. However, very few messages were sent, since students communicated directly or coordinated using instant messaging apps.

Progress of editors and edited pages

Editors Edit pages

Figure 2: Trajectory of page edits

Progress of page visits per day and visitors Visitors Page Visits

Figure 3: Progress of page visits

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Histogram, page edits per member

Frequency

Figure 4: Histogram, edits per member

Besides the graphics above on general wiki activity’s document progress time, it is also possible to determine activity on a project-by-project basis, and even the activity of each member in a given group. It is possible to determine what time pages were edited, and by whom. It is important for the professor to consult this information when it comes time to evaluate the projects.

Wikispaces also allows the administrator to generate statistics for individual members; there are the statistics that were used to determine the number of editions, shown in figure 4. In this histogram, the classes correspond to the number of edits made to pages. We can see that the average student has made between 5 and 20 pages edits, while only 3 have made more than 100. This data corresponds to the state of the wiki during the midterm evaluation period.

In the peer evaluation process, only two projects received failing grades. The rest of the projects received good grades, with an average of 7.1. This could give rise to the low activity in the wiki improvement phase. This is reflected in the following data. The final number of wiki pages included in the glossary was 736, reflecting a 94-page increase in the midterm revision. Nine projects/groups made no changes.

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As for the glossary, the final number of terms was 241, from which we can conclude that 23 terms were added in the improvement phase. (These 23 terms, however, were added by only three groups.)

In the final evaluation, according to the professor’s rubric, the grades were, in general, better than those given in the peer-evaluation stage. The discrepancies between the professor’s evaluation and the peer evaluation were more drastic in the groups that received unjustified evaluations.

6. Conclusions

This paper describes a collaborative learning task completed by students in the second year of the degree programs in Industrial Engineering; it makes use of a wiki platform as a fundamental part of the learning process. This task consists, essentially, of gathering and processing information, including peer revision carried out among student groups.

The quality of the projects completed is higher than that of tradition projects that only have a final due date. The causes behind this quality increase are, at their core, the introduction of a tool well suited for the collaborative project, such as the wiki and the implementation of revisions throughout the quarter. The wiki is also a key tool for making these revisions. Managing such a large number of students, nearly 180, is practically impossible without the use of some sort of digital assistance, such as the wiki, which offers the functionalities described above.

With this setup, members of the group relate to one another better: not only must they agree on the content, but also the form—that is, on the layout of the pages on the wiki. Group members take on greater responsibility both individually and in the way they participate in the group. Now their work can be scrutinized by others in real time. Greater responsibility entails greater respect and greater group connection. In this way, students acquire abilities related to group work and cooperation. We can conclude that the projects completed

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received better grades as consequence of students’ greater academic performance. This fact is motivation enough for students, given that they can improve their grade by nearly two points on the written test when the projects are well done, which in turn improves academic performance.

We gathered students’ opinions on the methodology used. The general opinion is that the Wikispaces interface is simple and preferable to other ICT tools. The group evaluation was accepted in practically all cases, even among those groups that received low grades.

It is important to highlight that now, with the implementation of the Bologna Process, students must not only complete “written tests,” but also projects, internship reports, portfolios, oral presentations, etc. They are subjected to an excessive workload that may lead them to leave their tasks to the last minute if they do not organize their time well. Coordination between teachers in the same course is critical to avoiding this excessive workload. A cross-disciplinary seminar in which students learn time-management and productivity-boosting techniques is advisable.

The group learning activity carried out is not just of importance for students’ professional future; it is also transferable to their postgraduate studies. Those who go on to pursue the University Master’s in Industrial Engineering at the Universidad de La Rioja will have to apply the group-work and cooperation skills acquired through the assignments such as the one described in this article. The University Master’s is structured around the Project Based Learning methodology, which proposes the solution of an integrated project to first-year Master’s students. The integrated project is common to several courses and requires sound coordination between professors and students. A wiki can facilitate this coordination. This experience with wikis acquired during the undergraduate years will yield long-term benefits that will become apparent during students’ Master’s studies or in their academic and professional future.

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7. Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the Vice-Rectorate of Faculty, Planning and Teaching Innovation at the University of La Rioja through the Academic Management of Training and Teaching Innovation, within the framework of the announcement of Teaching Innovation Project for the 2013-2014 academic year.

And, of course, we want to thank the students in the course for their participation and their good work.

5. References

Adell, J. (2007). “Wikis en educación.” In J. Cabero & J. Barroso (Eds.), p. 323-333. Editorial Octaedro, Granada.

Leuf, Bo; Ward Cunningham (2001): The Wiki Way: Quick Collaboration on the Web. Boston: Addison Wesley.

Sánchez-Rodriguez J. and Ruiz-Palmero J. Manual de Wikispaces. Universidad de Málaga. http://tecnologiaedu.uma.es/index.php/materiales/27-curso-de-elaboracion-de-wiki-con- wikispaces

Moral-Pérez M. E. and Villalustre-Martínez, L. (2007). Las Wikis: construcción compartida del conocimiento y desarrollo de competencias. IV Jornadas Internacionales de Innovación Universitaria, Villaviciosa de Odón (Madrid), July 12-13. http://abacus.universidadeuropea.es/handle/11268/3352?show=full

Moral-Pérez M. E. and Villalustre-Martínez L. (2008). Las wikis, facilitadoras de aprendizaje colaborativo y el desarrollo de competencias. Comunicación y pedagogía: Nuevas tecnologías y recursos didácticos, ISSN 1136-7733, No. 226, 2008 , p. 13-17.

Timothy A. Philpot. (2014) MdSolids, www.mdsolids.com

Timothy A. Philpot (2011). MecMovies. http://web.mst.edu/~mecmovie/

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