The Combined Use Of E-Learning And Traditional Learning Systems For Students Of Biology And Biochemistry

The European Higher Education Area needs methods to examine the specific training of its students, as well as to provide strong scientific and technical foundations, and so it is of interest to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as an educational resource for teachers and students. The present didactic project had two aims: first - as we are in charge of innovative teaching technologies in the Faculty of Biology - we have promoted the use of web learning by the teachers of the different courses in both the Biology and Biochemistry degrees. To assess such use, we polled the teachers. In general, teachers agreed that the use of ICT in the classroom is not only useful, but also necessary to connect with the students. Second, as teachers in Biology and Biochemistry, we have prepared an interactive on-line learning program, and have improved traditional classroom methods in three courses. We used Web-CT and various other Web 2.0 tools to exemplify the interactive learning system. We designed a system to enable the learner's self-assessment of knowledge, creating specific "independent learning tools" for students, which would allow our periodic tutorage of the student's learning progress. Classroom methodology has also been improved by means of problem-resolving methods, in an attempt to develop the student's creativity in defining problems and seeking solutions. Finally, a poll of the students indicated that the methods facilitated the interchange of information between teacher and student and among the students, helping them to recognize their learning difficulties and to improve their self-sufficiency. The statistical results concluded that the learning process has been improved, with respect to previous courses; consequently, the use of web-based and problem-based learning represents a pedagogical and technological recipe for a better teaching practice in higher education.