(657)TEACHER TRAINING: A KEY FACTOR FOR THE SUCCESS ON THEAPPLICATION OF ACTIVE LEARNING METHODOLOGIES1

摘要

The European Higher Education Area requires the application of active teaching new methods topromote in the students the development of skills and competencies demanded by the market.Numerous studies have focused on the application of new methodologies as project-based learning,problem-based learning or case method, among others, and have analyzed their effectiveness in theacquisition and development of the required skills.In general, these studies have assumed the capacity and competence of lecturers to carry outsuccessfully the application of these new methodologies. In order to ensure the success of thesemethodologies it is essential the role as a catalyst and facilitator of student learning of the lecturer.The new approaches by themselves will not guarantee improvement in the learning process. It isnecessary lecturers to be motivated and trained in these methodologies. However, to date, lecturershave been required no training in teaching methodologies. Therefore, this training has depended onthe motivation and willingness of lecturers themselves. In this respect universities are carrying outpolicies to improve the ability of lecturers through innovative learning and teaching programs.The main objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of teacher training in new methodologieson the success of its application. With this purpose we conducted a study among first-year students ofthe Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the University of the Basque Country.Project Based Learning was applied by several lecturers for the learning of financial accounting. Theresults show that the application of this methodology achieves better marks and higher studentsatisfaction with this methodology than with the traditional one.This study found out that those groups of students whose lecturers were trained in the methodologyobtained better marks, higher satisfaction with the methodology and higher evaluation of the subjectthan those groups whose lecturers were no trained in the methodology. In consequence we concludethat teacher training in the methodology is a significant variable on the success of the methodology.