Applying a constructivist and collaborative methodological approach in engineering education

In this paper, a methodological educational proposal based on constructivism and collaborative learning theories is described. The suggested approach has been successfully applied to a subject entitled "Computer Architecture and Engineering" in a Computer Science degree in the University of La Laguna in Spain. This methodology is supported by two tools: the Moodle platform as a collaboration framework among students and teachers and a free Instruction Level Parallelism (ILP) processor simulator called SIMDE, developed by the authors to promote the experience and help the understanding of superscalar and VLIW processors. This work is described showing how the constructivist and collaborative approaches have been applied and how the activities have been structured temporarily in phases. This educational proposal has been validated and improved with the feedback of the students during two academic years. Furthermore, the methodological procedure is also suitable to be used not only in subjects with contents which require the understanding of dynamic situations but also in subjects with other requirements. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.