Journal of Technology and Science Education SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISES IN CONTINUUM MECHANICS WITH AUTONOMOUS LEARNING Jordi Marcé-Nogué, LLuís Gil, Marco A. Pérez, Montserrat Sánchez Departament de Resistència de Materials i Estructures a l’Enginyeria, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Terrassa, Spain Jordi.marce@upc.edu , lluis.gil@upc.edu , marco.antonio.perez@upc.edu , Montserrat.sanchez@upc.edu Received October 2012 Accepted November 2012 Abstract The main objective of this work is to generate a set of exercises to improve the autonomous learning in "Continuum Mechanics" through a virtual platform. Students will have to resolve four exercises autonomously related to the subject developed in class and they will post the solutions on the virtual platform within a deadline. Students will self-correct the exercises and assign a mark according to the rubric indicated by teachers. The work presented herein is based in applying the research done in autonomous learning by the Community of Practice GRAPAU of the RIMA Project (UPC-BarcelonaTech). Keywords – continuum mechanics, autonomous learning, virtual platform. ---------- 1 INTRODUCTION University teaching has changed the curriculum and syllabus of their subjects by adjusting it to the technology evolution. Over the last decades, the increasing capabilities of computers have solved many unresolved physical problems by using a numerical and computational methodology. Up to now, many of these problems could only be solved in class by the teacher in very particular cases of simple geometries or simplifications of the formulation. Today most university schools have implemented successful practices and modifications in the subjects to accommodate the computational resolutions. However, most of these changes have taken place at the end of the undergraduate courses when the students have gained clear vision along with practical approximation. Also it has provided the students with the necessary tools to relate their knowledge achieved previously with the usual practice of computational calculations. The subjects included in the first cycle of undergraduate degrees, especially scientific degrees, have not experienced very much these changes since their purpose is to generate learning processes with theoretical approximation which usually are resolution procedures for problems and formula demonstrations necessary to learn scientific laws. Moreover, in higher education, university and adult teaching perspectives that have designed a learning process for subjects using skills help teachers to develop programs based on academic and professional profiles (Farrar & Connor, 2011) and contributes to reduce the gap between the education and reality of the labour market. One of the generic skills included in the curriculum of Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria Industrial I Aeronàutica de Terrassa (ETSEIAT) is the autonomous learning. According to the Institut de Ciències de l’Eduació (ICE) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), "Autonomous learning is the ability to detect gaps in self-knowledge and overcoming them through critical thinking and choosing the best action to extend that knowledge" (Institut de Ciències de L’Educació, 2008). However, it should be noted that people Journal of Technology and Science Education. Vol 3(1), 2013, pp 23 On-line ISSN 2013-6374 – Print-ISSN 2014-5349 DL: B-2000-2012 – http://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.57