Virtual resources for the improvement of teaching in the course of Port and Coastal Engineering (dregree in Civil Engineering)

Abstract

Port and Coastal Engineering is a subject included in the third year of the degree in Civil Engineering (Civil Constructions and Hydrology specialty) taught at the Polytechnic School of Algeciras. As this is a subject with a very specific syllabus, there is no textbook (or even appropriate references) that contemplates all the related topics of the whole course. Moreover, there are many students who, for different reasons (repeaters, Erasmus, labour obligations, ...), cannot attend the regular classes. This lack of attendance has been leading to another problem: this kind of students have been leaving the subject for several years. In addition, understanding of the basic concepts becomes even more complicated for Erasmus students enrolled in the subject because of the language barrier. In order to solve this problem, a project of teaching innovation has been launched which consists of the creation of a set of evaluable tasks for the different topics addressed to be performed by the students. In this way, the students are motivated to keep up-to-date the course contents. A comparison of the last year results with those of the preceding five years is provided. Finally, an analysis of the significance of the improvement is also presented.