Design and evaluation of a chemistry subject in an engineering degree

Abstract

The beginning of a new Degree at UPC was the opportunity to design a Chemistry subject from the start. It was designed under the criteria of focusing the process on student learning, following the indications of the last meeting of the European Higher Education Area in Rome, November 2020. The objective of the design was to comply with the regulatory requirements and incorporate the learning outcomes that were already defined in other engineering areas, as well as to facilitate the learning of students who had not studied chemistry in high school (between 20 and 30%). To this end, videos have been created with embedded questions, tests, summary preparation criteria, various cooperative work methodologies, ... to which part of the subject's grade (10%) has been assigned in order to facilitate student commitment to weekly completion. Each academic year (3 normal and one in confinement have been developed) an assessment has been made with the students, both of the methodology and the material. In all cases, they reflect that continuous work and immediate or very close feedback is one of the points that has helped them the most in their process. They have also commented (in each academic year) on possibilities for improvement in which they have been directly involved and have helped to bring it to completion. The material is currently ready to be made public on the University website and accessible to all students.