INNOVATION IN TEACHING APPLIED MATHEMATICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA

This work aims to provide a summarized description of the global experience obtained throughout the different projects of educational innovation in which the authors have participated during recent years. These projects have also involved many other colleagues from different Departments at the University of Granada, and have had to deal so much not only in the way of presenting and conducting the lectures, but also in the manner that professors evaluate the students. An important feature is also the use of different additional technological tools for managing the interactions between the teacher and the students. The general trend now also involves the extensive use and development of several Web platforms. Some of these platforms have been developed by the University and collaborators; but some others have been created by ourselves, based on some predefined Moodle environments, or even from scratch. Various software packages and technological devices also serve as calculation tools during the lectures, mainly for practical sessions with computers, and also for the resolution of different types of problems with the aid of graphical calculators for example. Another fundamental aspect of our experience was the continuous evaluation of the students, with a complete battery of test elements for teachers and students (following the main general recommendation of the Bologna Plan), by means of partial exams of theory and problems, some written on paper and others with the aid of a computer, or even online (for self-assessment) with the aid of some of the existent platforms. All these new teaching methodologies, together with the special emphasis in the dynamisation of such lectures, devoted to the resolution of many practical specific problems, are making the teaching of mathematical subjects at the University of Granada (UGR) more and more efficient, despite the initial level in mathematical skills that students may have at the beginning of their university career.