Learning strategies for the acquisition of specific skills, and its evaluation through an integrated rubric in several degrees of University of Malaga (Spain).

Abstract

It is essential for the university lecturers/professors to design new strategies that help students to acquire skills in the new framework of the European Higher Education Area. Furthermore, the assessment of the effectiveness and impact of the used strategies in the academic performance of the students is a key point [1]. In this work, an integrated rubric has been used to assess the effect of new learning strategies for the acquisition of different skills, such as critical and self-critical reasoning, acquiring knowledge and applying it to practical cases, oral presentations, and teamwork. This study was carried out in eight different subjects of the University of Malaga (Spain), including experimental degrees (Engineering, Biology, Biochemistry, Physiotherapy and Psychology), and an abstract degree such as Mathematics. Given the characteristics of this study, it has involved a large number of students from different subjects and degrees. The critical/self-critical thinking turned out to be better developed by the students with higher scores. Concerning the acquisition of knowledge and ability to apply it to practical cases, independently of the degree, students with good (but not very good) scores are those who consider that they have worked harder on the exercises to achieve their respective scores. Moreover, the oral presentations have been very positively accepted by the students for several reasons, such as the scarce experience of the first year students, and the opportunity to do teamwork. Finally, students have evaluated the performance of these strategies through a common rubric. It seems that the surveys and questionnaires have impacted positively on the final score, and that the students have also rated them positively and considered as very useful learning tools.