Suggestions for Improving Geotechnical and Infrastructure Courses Teaching on Higher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to prepare questionnaire-based research proposals by undergraduate students for the Soil Mechanics course of the Dept. Civil Infrastructure Engineering, as well as postgraduate students for the course of Environmental Geotechnics of the Postgraduate Programme "Advanced Environmental Management Technologies in Engineering Works" of the General Department of Larissa of the University of Thessaly, with the ultimate goal being the upgrade of the classes. It is noted that the lecturers of the course participated in the evaluation of the Environmental Geotechnics course through a relevant questionnaire. The research strategy concerns the design of the questionnaire in conjunction with the objectives of the course. According to the curriculum, geotechnical courses aim to enable students to apply the methodologies for calculating the physical characteristics and mechanical properties of the soil, which functions either as a superstructure load recipient or as a structural material for the construction of geotechnical works. The questionnaires took into account the content of each lesson, students' preferences in the learning process, the ability to self-evaluate, evaluate and develop collaborations, the desired number of teaching hours available to cover the subject and the adequacy of the knowledge acquired in each module of the course. Finally, the students' responses were evaluated, and useful conclusions were drawn which could contribute positively to the qualitative improvement of the teaching of the above courses