Authors

Alfonso Meneses Monroy, Pilar Mori Vara, Jorge Diz Gómez, José María Blanco Rodríguez

Position

Profesores de la Escuela Universitaria de Enfermería, Fisioterapia y Podología. Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Contact address

EUE, Fisioterapia y Podología. Facultad de Medicina. Avda. Complutense, s/n. Pabellón 2, 3ª planta. 28040 Madrid.

Contact email: amenes@enf.ucm.es

Abstract

In the European Space for Higher Education great importance is placed on distance learning as well as on personalised in-classroom teaching or through tutoring (tutorship) of small groups. The experience acquired in an academic innovation project developed at the School of Nursing, Physiotherapy and podiatry of the Complutense University of Madrid during the course 2006/2007 entitled “Tutoring through a virtual campus”, to train first-year nursing students on the use of virtual campus tutoring is herein presented. Students who claimed not to be aware of the existence of a Virtual Campus were selected. Of the 317 students enrolled in the first year, only 8 admitted not to have any experience at all on the use of virtual tools. A brief questionnaire was administered to these students in order to ascertain their opinion on tutoring and they attended a training workshop in which they learnt how a virtual campus works. A student claimed not to be aware of the availability of tutoring; however, they all agreed that it is used to clarify doubts on the contents of the courses taught and to provide guidance on projects. Seven of these students said tutoring was used to provide some guidance on how to research bibliography or resolve doubts on assessment criteria. For 6 students tutoring sessions should be on a one to one basis and for 2 students tutoring should be collective or in group sessions. They all preferred in-classroom tutoring and did not accord with the possibility to reduce class hours in exchange for tutoring hours. Even though the sample size is small in order to draw general conclusions, the participating students changed their opinion on virtual tutoring after they had the chance to become familiar and to experiment with virtual tutoring. These students highlighted their utility and easy access, which appears to demonstrate the relevance of training students on these new technologies.

Keywords:

tutoring; virtual campus; learningEuropean Space for Higher Education

Versión en Español

Título:

Atención personalizada a los alumnos a través del campus virtual