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Title- Applying active methodologies for teaching Software Engineering in Informatics Engineering

Abstract- The traditional teaching-learning process used by Chilean universities are changing. This document describes two innovative strategies applied to teach Software Engineering (SE) at two universities in Chile. Experiences are part of our ongoing effort to improve the current teaching-learning strategies of SE in the mentioned universities. In this paper we describe our experiences using both Problem-based learning (PBL) and an agile Software Engineering Methodology (SCRUM), to achieve learning outcomes and to improve students’ participation during classes. We present two ways to correlate activities of a software project, these activities are tasks of a software methodology, and an active learning strategy based on PBL. The strategies used to verify the accomplishment of these goals are detailed too.

Index Terms- Active Methodology, Project-based learning, Engineering Education, teaching-learning process, Learning systems, Software Engineering

Title- Visual Programming Environments for Object Oriented Programming: Acceptance and Effects in Students’ Motivation

Abstract- This paper presents an experiment in which visual programming environments have been used in programming courses aiming at helping students to acquire the competencies of a course on Object Oriented Programming. The presented study is centred in the analysis of the acceptance by the students of this type of environment as well as its effect in the motivation of the students. The obtained results show differences in the results according to the two possible characteristics of the students analysed: their gender and the fact of being newcomer or retaking the subject.

Index Terms- Computer Oriented Programming

Title- Design of activities to promote engineering studies among high school students.

Abstract- In recent years several institutions have begun to organize different outreach scientific activities among high school students. The main objective of these activities is to reverse the trend detected in many countries related to the decrease in the number of students choosing university studies in the field of engineering. This article shows how a set of activities have been designed, within the framework of a project funded by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain), to increase technological vocations among young students. In addition, the results of the experiences with high school students of the Community of Madrid have been included.

Index Terms- Promoting technological vocations, engineering education, remote laboratories, outreach activities

Title- Hands-on Learning of Digital Systems through Semi- Guided Projects

Abstract- This article presents the application of Project- Based Learning to the course “Digital Electronic Systems”, taught in the fourth year of the Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering Degree (B.Eng.) at Universidad de Vigo, Spain. The lab assignments and the working methodology are based on two semi-guided projects developed through an incremental process, in which the target systems are progressively provided with additional functionalities. To do that, students must combine predefined circuits with others designed by them, until a final prototype is obtained. To address timing and materials constraints, students are provided at the beginning of the course with all required hardware components, as well as with detailed information regarding the tasks to be performed before, during and after each of the laboratory sessions. Tasks evolve from fully guided to mostly autonomous ones. Assessment results are also presented and discussed.

Index Terms- Digital circuits, Digital systems, Electronics engineering education, Field Programmable Gate Arrays, Microcontrollers, Project-based learning

Title- Exploring the efficacy of practices with Wiris- Quizzes in online engineering mathematics.

Abstract- The use of online self-assessed questionnaires Wiris-Quizzes as formative assessment tool is an increasingly widespread practice in a variety of subjects in higher education. Some previous studies have examined the impact of such questionnaires on learning outcomes in classroom environments or hybrid teaching. Our work presents an exploratory study that proves that in a course of Mathematical Analysis in a completely online environment, practices with Wiris-Quizzes improve learning outcomes. We have conducted an ex post facto research from the results of the Practice Tests and Continuous Assessment Tests carrying out an analysis using the trimmed means Yuen’s test.

Index Terms- Formative assessment, Online Engineering Mathematics, Learning, Wiris-Quizzes