Teaching Model
The teaching model of the URV is oriented to a learning system in which the student is the center of the action of a collective project in which the teaching staff is the engine of innovation and quality teaching.
At the URV, students are taught a lot more than just content; they acquire the knowledge, skills and competences of the discipline alongside the interdisciplinary skills and competences required by any job, and which are present in all URV degrees.
Student learning should not be considered a product but a process. Teaching has to mean, above all, that someone learns. That is why the main objective is that students learn more and that what they learn is becoming increasingly significant in terms of applicability and projection in their personal and professional lives.
Taking into account that learning is an active process, planning, monitoring and evaluation processes need to be established so that students can more readily acquire the expected learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and competences), teachers can review and improve the teaching process, and the institution can evaluate how successful they have been.
In this regard, Royal Decree 822/2021, which regulates university education, highlights the planning, development and evaluation of the learning outcomes of degrees.
It should be pointed out that coordination among the program coordinator, departments, faculties, and schools is key to the implementation of the teaching model.
On the other hand, Rovira i Virgili University watches to boost and define new strategies that help improve the training of its students. In this sense, it has carried out a prospective study to find out the challenges that will characterize the future of the labour market in the Tarragona region, and to identify which actions or projects it can promote in order to face them.
The professional action competences and interdisciplinary profile of students
We understand professional action competencies to mean the set of knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities that a person possess and which an individual needs in order to be able to respond critically and creatively to the challenges that emerge in professional environments.
The URV has defined two main types of degree profile: the first is specific for each degree or discipline, and the second is interdisciplinary and applies to all degrees. With these two blocks, the URV aims to provide its students with a range of professional competences.
- Specific block: the knowledge, skills and competences specific to the discipline and the degree.
- Interdisciplinary block: the skills and competences required for any job, not for a particular occupation, and which are present in all URV degrees.
The interdisciplinary skills and competences that make up the interdisciplinary profile of URV students were approved by the Academic Policy Committee on 12 December 2022 and presented to the Governing Council on 20 December 2022. They are as follows:
Bachelor's degree:
Interdisciplinary skills
ST1. Manage information and knowledge through the efficient use of IT tools
ST2. Solve problems critically, creatively and innovatively in a particular field
ST3. Explain information clearly and precisely, orally and in writing, to a variety of audiences
ST4. Use information specific to the field of study in a foreign language
Interdisciplinary competences
COT1. Work in a team with responsibility and initiative within their field of study
COT2. Evaluate their own learning process to improve academically and professionally
COT3. Apply democratic principles and values including the gender perspective
Master's degree:
Interdisciplinary skills
ST1. Formulate evaluations through the efficient use of IT tools
ST2. Solve complex problems critically, creatively and innovatively in multidisciplinary contexts
ST3. Explain information clearly and precisely, orally and in writing, to all sorts of audiences
Interdisciplinary competences
COT1. Work in teams and complex contexts
COT2. Evaluate their own learning process to improve academically and professionally
COT3. Apply democratic principles and values including the gender perspective
Planning
URV degrees are planned so that students acquire learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and competences).
On the basis of the profile of each degree, every year the teaching staff makes and publishes the teaching guides of each subject, with the aim of:
- Establish a training commitment with the student.
- Guarantee the transparency of the information so that the student is clear about the competences that will be learned, what they will have to do to achieve them and how to demonstrate them to be evaluated.
- Ensure teaching coordination in the design of training processes.
Active methodologies and learning activities
If students are to acquire skills and competences, they need to engage in action and reflection. For this reason, one of the pillars of the URV's teaching model is the use of active and reflective methodologies. These methodologies are put into practice in the form of learning activities such as:
- Face-to-face and virtual simulations
- Tests
- Clinical practices
- Case studies
- Work for projects
- Problem based learning
- Seminars
- Workshops
Technologies for Learning and Communication. Teaching face-to-face and virtual
The URV promotes the integration of Learning and Knowledge Technologies (TAC) in teaching activities, and comprehensive answers are offered to improve the teaching and learning process and make it more efficient and effective through face-to-face teaching and virtual teaching.
Regarding virtual teaching, the URV has a teaching virtualization model whose objective is to guarantee the quality of the qualifications offered in a semi-classroom or virtual mode.
In accordance with the principles of the teaching model of the URV and using the possibilities offered by Learning and Communication technologies, the URV focuses on virtualization of learning and not merely content, easing the role of the student and allowing him to take the direction of his learning with the support and continuous monitoring of the teaching staff.
Tutoring Action Plan. Student monitoring and accompaniment
One of the main features of the URV's teaching model is that it envisages that students will be accompanied throughout their learning process. This accompaniment is structured by the Tutoring Action Plan and aims to:
- Facilitate the adaptation of the student to the university.
- Tracking competency learning.
- Provide a formative value, contributing to the development of transversal competence COT2. Evaluate their own learning process to improve academically and professionally.
- Orientate in those aspects that are required during the academic life of the student.
Each centre/school has designed and approved its Tutorial action plan (PAT), which defines the actions that will be carried out to provide students with the help and guidelines necessary to improve their integration into the University and their academic development. The PAT of each centre can be consulted in the "Quality" section of its website.
Assessment
The student's evaluation is a key element in the teaching model of the URV. This is understood as a systematic process of gathering and interpreting information for decision making regarding the achievement of learning by the student and the improvement of the teaching and learning process by the student.
The URV has established a series of rubrics for evaluating the interdisciplinary profile to assist in their application.
Different evaluation methodologies are used according to the agents involved:
- Hetero-evaluation. Evaluation that one person does on another regarding their work, performance, performance, etc. The teacher is usually taught by the students.
- Co-evaluation. Assessment with shared responsibility between teachers and students. It is the continuous feedback that any teaching and learning process must have.
- Self-assessment. Evaluation of oneself about the knowledge available, on ethical and social aspects, etc.
- Peer assessment. Evaluation that is carried out between students.
