Comparative study on teaching-learning methodologies in three UK universities

Resumen

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has made general changes to the methodologyof teaching and learning at universities and this has naturally had an impact on teaching. Educationpolicymakers often refer to the British model as an example of best practice in university teaching.That is why we aim to know and learn this model and compare it with our practices.Different types of learning delivery are being used in Higher Education nowadays such asLecture, Seminar, Tutorial, Workshop (Payne and Whittaker, 2006:9) or as Teaching- Research(Jenkins, 2004; Jenkins & Healey, 2005; 2012; Healey, Jenkins y Lea; 2014); Thus the role of theactors involved in Higher education, mainly students and teachers, had to change (Badley andHabeshaw, 1991; Unesco, 2002; King, Widdowson, 2009;2012; Kay, Dunne, Hutchinson, 2010;Levy& Petrulis, 2012; Lile & Kelemen, 2013).In the present study an attempt was made to discover the teaching-learning methodologiesused in British universities and their application in different areas as well as the evaluation systemused to assess the progress of students and the previous information provided in the study guide.We have carried out a study based on secondary sources and their content analysis. For thisstudy we have referred to three top British universities, especially in the areas of the study(Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Law, Social Work). These universities are: University ofCambridge for Engineering and Law, University of Bath for Social Work and University ofEdinburgh. A qualitative methodology (Pérez, 2007; Della Porta, 2008; Tonon, 2011) has been usedto compare the website information for student’s.The results showed that this information is essential because the teaching-learning processfocuses on students, and the role of teachers and universities is to help them in their learningprocess from the very first moment they have contact with the university.