Universities teaching practices and the construction of learning contexts

Abstract

This research’s purpose was to deepen into universities’ teaching practices as to understand which elements are key to the construction of learning contexts. Four professors were observed inside the classroom, four conversation groups made of students were formed, the teachers observed were interviewed and the quantitative data was consulted regarding the teachers and students’ evaluations.

The study of teaching practices is a relevant matter if we consider that teaching is one of the fundamental functions inside the University as well as the fact that the issue concerning university professors’ professionalization is not a commonly studied case in most universities even though teaching is key so that students learn. Inside the relation between the curricula and the student is the professor acting as a bridge to bring the former closer, the professor will always be the essential element that decides how to build this bridge using as a reference his or her own beliefs, intentions and knowledge; all these are the reasons as to why it is impossible to postpone working on the issue that represents the universities’ teaching process. It is an observational, exploratory and interpretative study. A mixed method was used combining the recollection of qualitative data in line with quantitative data. The qualitative aspect was determined by classroom observation, the interviews made to the teachers and the conversational groups. This data was obtained independently from the quantitative data analysis obtained from the information belonging to the institution´s data base. The quantitative data refers to the students’ and teachers’ evaluations. Both types of data articulate and support the correlations given in the interpretation of the obtained information. The investigation allowed to identify three analytical axes that help understand the learning context, these axes are: the activities performed inside the classroom, the interactions that happen inside it and the strategies used to build the meaning behind the knowledge’s object. The professor faces a group of unique situations that joined with the degree’s content, the development of skills for the requirements that the profession demands and the innate nature of the subject taught, forces the fact that each classroom presents diverse conditions.