Design and validation of an instrument to evaluate the workgroup methodology in university students

Abstract

Workgroup methodology is often used to promote curricular learning. However, the intentionality in choosing a teaching strategy only sometimes has the best achievement in learning. This study aims to develop and validate an instrument (questionnaire) that is easy to apply and allows the professor to evaluate the effectiveness of the workgroup in learning (curricular) development. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted and three constructs were extracted: Practice, Motivation and Effectiveness. The correlation between the constructs indicates a good relationship and dependence between them. The results show that the instrument is valid and reliable, proving that it could be an essential tool to ascertain whether students see workgroup as a factor that promotes their learning and thus allow the professor to monitor and assess this method´s effectiveness in their teaching strategy. This study leads us to consider developing questionnaires to assess students' perceptions of other teaching–learning methodologies.

Keywords

• University students
• Workgroup
• Validation
• Exploratory factor analysis
• Teaching–Learning process