Purpose

This study explores the preferences for learning methods among the students of seven engineering disciplines in a Spanish technical university. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the students' views and from them contribute to the knowledge of the effectiveness of learning methodologies.

Design/methodology/approach

An online anonymous questionnaire survey was adopted to collect students' perceptions. Seven learning methods were compared in seven engineering degrees. The authors sampled 1660 students, and 426 completed responses were analysed. In addition to a descriptive analysis of the results, a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was performed using R data processing software.

Findings

It was found that project-based learning and problem-based learning were perceived as the more effective ones. MCA identified response patterns between the preference and the efficiency of learning methods showing that students can be classified into two groups according to their preferred level of activeness in learning.

Research limitations/implications

The study focusses on a single technical university and not all engineering degrees could be sampled. However, five different engineering fields were studied and no significant differences among them were found.

Practical implications

The results add up to the known literature showing that students have different learning needs and consequently they perceive some methods as more effective. Instructors can use this information to strengthen their learning activities. Results also suggest that students can be classified into two groups in relation to their level of activeness in learning. This can also help to enhance general student motivation if two paths with different levels of activeness are planned.

Originality/value

No previous studies have compared several learning methods in different engineering fields. Thus, this study contributes to fill this gap and contributes to the body of evidence around learning methodologies from the perspective of students.

中文翻译：

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学生对工程学科学习方法的看法

目的

本研究探讨了西班牙一所技术大学七个工程学科学生对学习方法的偏好。本文的目的是调查学生的观点，并从中有助于了解学习方法的有效性。

设计/方法/方法

采用在线匿名问卷调查的方式收集学生的看法。在七个工程学位中比较了七种学习方法。作者对 1660 名学生进行了抽样调查，分析了 426 份完整的回答。除了对结果进行描述性分析外，还使用​​R数据处理软件进行了多重对应分析 (MCA)。

发现

结果发现，基于项目的学习和基于问题的学习被认为是更有效的学习方式。MCA 确定了学习方法的偏好和效率之间的反应模式，表明学生可以根据他们偏好的学习积极性水平分为两组。

研究限制/影响

该研究侧重于一所技术大学，并非所有工程学位都可以抽样。然而，研究了五个不同的工程领域，并没有发现它们之间的显着差异。

实际影响

结果与已知文献相加，表明学生有不同的学习需求，因此他们认为某些方法更有效。教师可以使用这些信息来加强他们的学习活动。结果还表明，根据学生的学习积极性水平，可以将学生分为两组。如果计划了两条不同活跃程度的路径，这也有助于提高学生的一般积极性。

原创性/价值

以前没有研究比较不同工程领域的几种学习方法。因此，本研究有助于填补这一空白，并从学生的角度为围绕学习方法的大量证据做出贡献。