Search results

Currently, higher education institutions are in charge of the complex task of connecting the knowledge that students acquire in the classroom to the requirements of the working world, preparing the students to face complex situations inherent in professional life. For this reason, the Tecnológico de Monterrey has included as part of the training of its students the modality, Semestre i, sustained through the teaching methodology of challenge-based learning. Recognizing this new way of learning, the purpose of this paper is to address the study of four basic constructs: student engagement, teacher–student relationship, teamwork and time management.

An exploratory factor analysis was performed on the factors associated with the Semestre i, as well as a correlational analysis between these and the academic achievement of the students in the 2017 August–December period.

The results indicate that the four constructs analyzed were potentialized under the modality, Semestre i – time management showing the least difference of the four when compared with the educational experience of students being traditionally taught throughout their semesters.

Semestre i is an innovative educational proposal where the undergraduate students learn in immersive, real-world contexts by experiencing semester challenges planned for them by the teaching body of the institution. Recognizing this new way of learning, this research addresses the study of four basic constructs: student engagement, teacher–student relationship, teamwork and time management.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the perceived value of an action learning experience (i-Week) on the development of important soft employability skills applying expectation confirmation theory (ECT).

A total of 1,295 activities were offered in 36 cities of ten countries. Each activity had a faculty member and multidisciplinary teams to address an authentic situation during one full-time week. The ECT was applied to assess the disparity between what was expected from the students and their actual learning experience. A total of 929 students answered a Perceived Value Questionnaire to measure 14 transversal competences categorized on five employability skills.

Achievements were statistically higher than expectations in 5 out of 14 transversal competences. The perceived value of the i-Week reflects the impact on soft skills: self-skills, personal, learning, social and systemic. The paper proposed an integrated model to learn these competences from action learning experiences.

The questionnaire is a self-assessment and not an actual performance measure. Besides transversal competences, there were more disciplinary competences that are not included in the study.

The perceived value model of the i-Week could be applied for different educational levels and contexts considering a lower scale. A new version of the Perceived Value Questionnaire on Competences is provided for educational research.

The educational experience, instruments and analysis described in the study might be easily transferred to other action activity used to measure perceived learning results on multiple skills.