Analysis of the results of four years of research and application of a student-centered system based on the ECTS to first-year students in order to improve their performance in the subject AC-I

Abstract

In this paper, the results of four years of a research aimed at carrying out a comparative analysis between the application of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and the traditional teaching and learning system (TTLS) to first-year students, in order to improve their performance in the subject Analysis of Circuits I (AC-I) are presented. The ECTS is a student-centered system based on the student workload required to achieve the objectives of a program, and the outcomes of its application have been quite positive. In order to conduct the statistical analysis of the data collected in the educational experiment and make the right decisions, at the beginning of the experiment, during the first years, both treatment and control groups were formed and several tests of hypothesis were conducted in the groups that participated in the educational experiment. Neither all the students who took the above-mentioned subjects nor all the professors who taught them participated in the experiment. However, during the last year of the experiment all the students and almost all professors participated in the experiment. Since the beginning of the experiment, satisfactory partial results have been gradually achieved, and when we managed to involve all the students and almost all professors in the last year of the experiment, the overall results where not only satisfactory but also significantly better than the ones achieved in the previous years. The students satisfaction and confidence have increased gradually, and, in general, the students under the ECTS passed more exams and with better Grades than the students under the TTLS. Also, the teaching-learning methodology strategies, tutor sessions, assessment methods, use of the virtual learning environment (VLE), student teamwork, and collaborative work among professors performed better under the ECTS than under the TTLS.