Problem-Based Learning as a way to teach Education students how to support people with disabilities

Resumen

The launching of the European Higher Education Area calls for a new educational paradigm, one involving active methodologies and evaluation strategies that focus on skill-building as the means
to achieve the comprehensive education of students. This paper describes the implementation of an i nnovation project based on the application of one of these active methodologies, Problem-Based Learning (PBL), for Education students enrolled in courses that address disability awareness. PBL is applied to contribute to the development of
basic competencies that will be useful in the students' personal and professional future: planning and organisational skills, written and oral communication, teamwork, interpersonal skills and recognition of and respect towards disability. Vari ous evaluation instruments were designed, such as rubrics and Likert-type questionnaires.
The results show that recognition of and respect towards disability is the competence in which the students attain the highest levels of performance after using PBL; however, with regard to teamwork and oral and written communication, the changes were not as significant. The students' positive assessment of the methodology suggests that PBL is appropriate and that this type of
experience should be continued.