TUTORIALS ADAPTED TO THE STUDENT'S PROFILE: METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES

摘要

In the frame of the European convergence process, the students are claimed to be the actual performers of their own learning. Aiming to the academic success, the definition of competences is required. Tutorials, together with presential lectures, play a substantial role as a tool for both monitoring and coordinating the autonomous learning. Reaching for a cooperative, collaborative and flexible education, tutorials should be carefully adapted to the subject and student's profile, so that the right strategy is selected. In this communication, the application of different methodological approaches on tutorials in higher education is reported. In this sense, as staff of the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (UPV), we consider that presential and virtual tutorials involve essential learning strategies. Here we present our experiences in three different areas: Architecture, Telecommunication Engineering and Fine Arts. In the first case, experimental groups have been introduced. Regarding the subject in question--Mathematical Foundations in Architecture- one hour per week is destined to classroom tutorials, in which individual and cooperative work is promoted. In the second case, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (TIC) in the course “Optical communications” is paramount. UPV has been strongly supportive of “PolitormaT”, its new educational platform. A system of virtual tutorials, complementary of classroom lectures is one of the main tasks of such platform. In the third case, a combination of presential tutorials and multimedia resources is the selected strategy for teaching in “Introduction to Painting Conservation”. In this area, the combination of theoretical knowledge and practical procedures is necessary for the application of new restoration treatments in the workshop. Tutorials are a powerful tool to reinforce both the self-learning of theoretical knowledge and the skills development in presential sessions. The use of tutorial in this course differs from the traditional approach in Fine Arts, given that these students don't regard the computer as a learning too.