Universal Journal of Educational Research 8(5): 1752-1758, 2020 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.080511 Proposals for Upgrading the Teaching of Geotechnical Courses Nikolaos Alamanis 1,* , Grigorios Papageorgiou 1 , Ioannis Chouliaras 1 , Nikolaos Xafoulis 1 , Spyridon Kotsopoulos 1 , Evangelia Farsirotou 2 , Konstantinos Lazogiannis 3 , Georgios Soulis 1 1 General Department of Larissa, University of Thessaly, Greece 2 Department of Ichthyology & Aquatic Environment, School of Agricultural Sciences, University of Thessaly, Greece 3 Department of Geography - Climatology, Department of Geology & Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece Received January 19, 2020; Revised March 27, 2020; Accepted April 19, 2020 Copyright©2020 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract The purpose of this paper is to prepare proposals resulting from questionnaire research, in which both undergraduate students took part in the course "Soil Mechanics Laboratory" of the Department of Civil Engineering (Academic Year 2018-2019) and Forestry Department (A.Y. 2002-2003) and postgraduate students in the courses "Advanced Geotechnics-Simulations" and "Road Infrastructure Harmonization in the Environment" of the Postgraduate Studies Programme "Advanced Environmental Management Technologies in Engineering Works" of the General Department of Larissa of the University of Thessaly, with the ultimate goal of upgrading and modernizing the teaching of the above and similar courses. The general purpose of teaching in geotechnical courses is that students acquire knowledge necessary for the design and construction of geotechnical projects, in collaboration with other civil engineering specialties. The research of the teaching strategy concerns about the design of the questionnaires in conjunction with the objectives of the course. According to the curriculum, geotechnical courses aim to enable students to apply the methodologies for calculating the physical characteristics and the mechanical properties of the soil. Finally, the responses of the undergraduate and postgraduate students were evaluated, and useful conclusions emerged, which can positively contribute to the qualitative upgrading and the modernization of the teaching process of the above courses. Keywords Educational Engineering, Geotechnical Courses, Soil Mechanics & Asphalt Laboratory, Teaching Improvement. 1. Introduction Until recently, the civil engineering profession and studies were booming worldwide, profiting from the favourable socio-economic conditions that prevailed in the second half of the 20th century. The beginning of the 21st century however, signalled a sharp change. The financial crisis led many countries into recession, which reduced infrastructure expenditure [1] and increased unemployment in the sector [2]. In a significant number of developed countries, after many years of construction, any new infrastructure planning must overcome a time consuming and cumbersome permit issuance process. On the other hand, many other countries have entered their development phase and are promoting heavy investment in infrastructure, as market globalization advances rapidly. It should be emphasized that there is still a strong need for new infrastructure in the world. To cope with the drastic changes of the socio-economic environment, the civil engineering profession must intelligently adapt [3]. Since geotechnical engineering is the connecting branch of all Civil Engineering specialties, it becomes obvious that upgrading the teaching of the respective courses generally improves the quality of the entire Civil Engineering field. Geotechnical courses, in addition to the learning process of calculating the physical and mechanical properties of the soil as well as the study of geotechnical projects, are designed to enable students to develop social skills that include cooperation, communication, mutual assistance, organisation and responsibility [4]. Thus, the sociability of teaching is reflected in the cultivation of those skills that promote science and the practice of daily life [5]. This project aims at activating the students and CITE THIS PAPER [1] Nikolaos Alamanis , Grigorios Papageorgiou , Ioannis Chouliaras , Nikolaos Xafoulis , Spyridon Kotsopoulos , Evangelia Farsirotou , Konstantinos Lazogiannis , Georgios Soulis , "Proposals for Upgrading the Teaching of Geotechnical Courses," Universal Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 1752 - 1758, 2020. DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.080511.