Innovation in Teaching

Applied Mathematics

at the University of Granada

Pedro González Rodelas, M. A. Fortes Escalona,

M. Pasadas Fernández, M.L. Rodríguez González,

M.L. Márquez García

{prodelas, mafortes, mpasadas, miguelrg,

mmarquez}@ugr.es

Dept. of Applied Mathematics.

University of Granada. Granada, 18071. Spain

Special thanks to the Vicerrectorado

para la Garantía de la Calidad of the

UGR for the financial support.

• This presentation summarizes the global experience

obtained along the different projects of educational

innovation, in which the authors have participated in

successive years.

• These projects have also involved many other colleagues

from several Departments at the Univ. of Granada, and have

had to deal not only with the way of presenting and

conducting the classes, but also in the way the teachers

evaluate the students.

• An important feature is also the use of different additional

technological tools, for managing different issues and for

calculation during the lectures; mainly for practices with

computers and also for the resolution of different types of

problems.

General Description

Precedents and Aims

• Daily use of the new technologies (TICs) in the mathematics lectures and many other subjects.

• Giving magisterial lectures of theory with PowerPoint or PDF slides.

• Weekly schedule of additional practical classes, with the aid of the computer and the appropriate software.

Use of Web Platforms

• Use and development of several Web

platforms:

• Some developed by the University and

collaborators: «Tablón de Docencia»,

«Directorio de Asignatura», «SWAD»

• Some made on our own: «S.A.G.D.»,

«A.I.P.O.», «DaVinci», …

Continuous Evaluation

• This is another fundamental aspect of the

experience.

• Complete battery of evaluation elements for

the teacher and the students (Bologna’s

Plan).

• Partial exams of theory and problems,

written and with the computer, even online

(for self-assessment) with SWAD and/or

S.A.G.D. web platforms.

Resolution of problems’ lectures

• Increasing use of the Tablet PCs, tablets and electronics blackboards.

• Exemplary resolution of diverse suitable selected prototype problems.

Selected solved problem collections at free

disposition in the different platforms used.

Dynamization of these classes

• It has been promoted the use of the

own tools of calculation of the

students, as their programmable

calculators and laptops.

• Once problems are discussed and

raised all together, by the students

with the aid of the teacher, they can

be completely solved with the aid of

the calculation tools at our disposal.

+

Many students’ books published

• Development of numerous computer

practices, didactic materials and

publication of many educational books, in

different Editorials.

«Tablón de Docencia»

(Teaching Wall)

This web platform cover many practical educational issues.

Directory and web pages associated

to each of the subjects

S.W.A.D. (“Sistema Web de Apoyo a la Docencia”)

by A. Cañas & his team at CEVUG

«A.I.P.O.» and «R.E.QU.E.N.A.»

• Both have been designed(1) to aid the

teacher to solve the students’ questions

during practical classes in the big computer

rooms.

(1) In collaboration with the Dept. of Computer Science of the UGR.

S.A.G.D.

(“Sistema de AutoEvaluación y

Gestión Docente”)

• Our own automatic teaching management system, developed thanks

to a project of educational innovation of the UGR.

• It consists of different sections of management (students, teachers,

courses, subjects, information, exercises, exams, etc.).

• It also provides a personal area (both for teachers and students)

where they all can store their own educational material.

• We also highlight fundamentally the possibility of auto-evaluation for

the students and the semi-automatic generation of exams, configured

and controlled by the teacher, both in PDF or in HTML formats, using the

appropriate LaTeX compilers.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM S.A.G.D.

A complete manual in Spanish can be found in the link below:

serin.ugr.es/unidad_innovacion_docente/memorias/06-03-23.doc

Consultation of questions

• The mentioned consultation can be complete (all

questions) or by keywords.

Who introduced the questionDiverse Characteristics

keywords

Latex ASCII code

• As soon as a search’ criterion has been

established, the questions can be visualized in the

following form:

Questions’ validation

Exams Configuration

Generation of PDF Exams

Web Exams

DNI of the student that did the exam

Question

Possible answers

Answer marked

Correct answer

Practical Implementation

Procedure

SET UP OF THE SYSTEM FOR TEACHING MANAGEMENT

(S.A.G.D.) http://matcam.ugr.es

INCORPORATION OF THIS SYSTEM

TO THE USUAL TEACHING

ACTIVITIES OF THE DIFFERENT

MATHEMATICAL SUBJECTS

INVOLVED

COOPERATIVE FEEDING OF THE DATABASE

OF QUESTIONS FOR AUTO-EVALUATION AND

EXAMS GENERATION

CONTINUOUS REVISION AND UPDATE OF THE SYSTEM

.

Conclussions and future work • We have set up an integrated system that not only performs

the usual management tasks included in every standard

teaching platform, but also has many new capabilities.

• We have made a special emphasis on the possibility of

having a complete collection of mathematical questions.

•We think that this is just the principal novelty of our system,

because many other teaching management platforms do not

include this possibility yet.

•All these questions are well arranged in the database,

according to its type, level of difficulty, the subjects for which

they can be randomly eligible, etc.

•The system can generate, semi-automatically, the exams

configured by the teachers, both in PDF or in HTML format.

• The online test exams, can also be automatically

corrected and stored, with the appropriate mark, in order

to be consulted later by the teacher and the students.

•In that manner, not only a valuable time for the teacher

has been saved, but the system can also be used as a

mean for the auto-evaluation of the students as a former

preparation for the final exams that can be proposed later by

the teacher.

•Our system continue its development and now we are

integrating all of these features in a more convenient

Moodle environment.

The davinci.ugr.es platform

General purpose Moodle platform developed by our team.

The matarq.ugr.es platform

Platform especially developed for the Architecture’s degree at UGR.

Actions and innovation projects

developed and already accomplished

• “Fundamentos Matemáticos en la Arquitectura Técnica y Superior”. Accomplished in 2004.

• Program of “Innovación sobre acción tutorial” implemented in the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos for first year’ pupils (during the academic year 2004-05).

• “Aula Interactiva para las Prácticas con Ordenador (AIPO)”. Presented in 2005.

• “Análisis Numérico en las Enseñanzas Técnicas apoyado por las Nuevas Tecnologías”. Accomplished in 2006.

• “Sistema de Autoevaluación y Gestión Docente en las Enseñanza de las Matemáticas en Titulaciones Técnicas”. Accomplished in 2008.

• «Acción Docente y Evaluación en las Asignaturas: Métodos Matemáticos de las Técnicas y Análisis Numérico en la Ingeniería de Caminos, Canales y Puertos». Accomplished in 2009.

• «Dinamización de las clases de problemas de Análisis Numérico en la E.T.S.I.C.C.P.». Accomplished in 2011.

• «Diseño e implementación de una nueva plataforma docente para Matemáticas en las Enseñanzas Técnicas.». Accomplished in 2012.

Some published books, articles and works

presented at Teaching Conferences I

• Barrera D, González P, Pasadas M, Ramírez V (1998) Taller de Matemáticas con

Mathematica. VIII Jornadas Andaluzas de Educación Matemática “THALES” Jaén-

España. págs. 431-450

• Barrera D, González P, Pasadas M, Ramírez V (1996 y 97) Prácticas Universitarias de

Matemáticas con Mathematica. I y II Congresos de Matemática en España. Valencia y

Madrid-España. págs. 431-450. Link a la web del congreso.

• Barrera D, González P, Pasadas M, Ramírez V (2010) Acción Global de Innovación

Docente en Asignaturas de Matemáticas para las Escuelas Técnicas. Actas de las I

Jornadas sobre Innovación Docente y Adaptación al IEEES en las Titulaciones

Técnicas. Granada-España. ISBN 978-84-92757-64-0, págs. 21-24, link al fichero

PDF.

• Berzal D, Cuellar MP, González P, Marín N, Martínez-Baena J, Requena I (2005).

Remote Query Navigator: A Multi-Agent Distributed System to Solve Remote Queries.

ICECE 2005. Madrid-España, link programa del Congreso.

• Cuéllar M P, Berzal F, González P, Marín N, Martínez-Baena J, Requena I (2009).

A.I.P.O.: Aula Interactiva para Prácticas con Ordenador. IEEE-RITA, Vol.: 4, Num.:1

p. 9-16. link al fichero PDF. .

Some published books, articles and works

presented at Teaching Conferences II

• Ramírez V, González P, Pasadas M, Barrera D, Matemáticas con Mathematica:

- Para estudiantes del 1º curso de Escuelas Técnicas (1994)

- Introducción y Primeras Aplicaciones (1996), weblink

- Cálculo y Álgebra Lineal (1996) - Cálculo Numérico (1997)

- Matemáticas Empresariales (1998). Edit. Proyecto Sur. S.A.

• Ramírez V, Pasadas M, Barrera D, González P (2001) Cálculo Numérico con

Mathematica. Edit. Ariel Ciencia.

• González-Rodelas P, Ocaña-Martos C, Pasadas M (2007) S.A.G.D.: Automatic

Evaluation and Educational Management System for Teaching Technical Subjects.

INTED 2007 (International Technology, Education and Development Conference).

Valencia-España.

• González-Rodelas P, Pasadas-Fernández M (2009) Sistema de Autoevaluación y Gestión

Docente en la Enseñanza de Matemáticas en Titulaciones Técnicas (S.A.G.D.) VI Foro

sobre la Evaluación de la Calidad de la Educación Superior y de la Investigación. Vigo-

España

That’s all for the moment!

For your attention.

Innovation in Teaching

Applied Mathematics

at the University of Granada

Pedro González Rodelas, M. A. Fortes Escalona,

M. Pasadas Fernández, M.L. Rodríguez González,

M.L. Márquez García

{prodelas, mafortes, mpasadas, miguelrg,

mmarquez}@ugr.es

Dept. of Applied Mathematics.

University of Granada. Granada, 18071. Spain

Special thanks to the Vicerrectorado

para la Garantía de la Calidad of the

UGR for the financial support.