Education for Sustainable Energy: Comparison of Different Types of E-Learning Activities

Abstract

This paper reports a comparison of results obtained by using different e-learning strategies for teaching a biogas topic in two courses of the chemical engineering degree at the University of Granada. Particularly, four different asynchronous e-learning activities were carefully chosen: (1) noninteractive videos and audio files; (2) reading papers and discussion; (3) virtual tour of recommended websites of entities/associations/organizations working in the biogas sector; (4) PowerPoint slides and class notes. Students evaluated their satisfaction level (assessment) and teachers gave scores for evaluation exams (scores). We discuss the results from a quantitative point of view to suggest recommendations for improving e-learning implementations in education for sustainable energy. For dependent variables, reached scores and satisfaction assessment, we find the differences between means for students in two different academic years are no significant. In addition, there are no significant differences between means depending on the type of course. Significant differences appear for scores and satisfaction assessment between different activities. Finally, we deeply analyze the relationship between score and satisfaction assessment. The results show a positive correlation between assessment of e-learning activities and the score level reached by students.

Keywords

• assessment
• education for sustainable development
• e-learning activities
• blended learning
• engineering education
• higher education