AI-generated summary
The COVID-19 lockdowns caused widespread disruption across many sectors, with education among those facing significant challenges. However, the education field quickly adapted through innovation, accelerating both ongoing and novel changes. Universities and their research groups have been at the forefront of these educational innovations, exploring new methods and addressing critical issues.
Recent developments include a study from the University of Alicante examining YouTube’s role in education and its gender gap, highlighting the need for training and social changes to increase female representation among influential EduTubers. The Polytechnic University of Madrid explored LEGO Serious Play as an innovative methodology to teach software engineering while fostering soft skills. Additionally, Gabriel Pinto from the same university shared insights on promoting inquiry-based STEAM learning in classrooms. A broader perspective on innovation in higher education was provided by Valentina C. Tassone from Wageningen University, offering a framework to understand the sector’s evolution. Lastly, expert voices featured on The Conversation discuss ongoing debates about educational models, emphasizing the necessity of moving from memorization to critical thinking to keep education relevant and effective.
Together, these initiatives and reflections illustrate how educational innovation is evolving rapidly, driven by research, practical application, and critical discourse.
We collect five articles on educational innovation on Lego, Youtube and the gender gap, critical thinking, STEAM or software engineering.
When lockdowns were announced around the world, there was an impasse in practically all social and vital areas. Education was no exception, but it is among the fields that have had to make the greatest and most agile adaptations in record time. Innovation, already at that time, was key, and today, that same innovation that accelerated changes already initiated and others that are radically new, is in full swing.
Universities and their research groups are leading the way in everything related to educational innovation. These are the latest developments that we echo.
1. The power of YouTube in education and the gender gap
The University of Alicante publishes the Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, a very interesting journal of new approaches in educational research. This biannual publication has included in its latest issue the article “The gender gap between EduTubers and the factors that influence it in a significant way“.
This piece focuses on the use of YouTube in the educational environment and how the content creators of these channels perpetuate (or not) classic gender roles. Daniel Pattier, from the Department of Education Studies at the Complutense University of Madrid, signs this article, in which he suggests formulas to reduce the gender gap through specific training and “social change that facilitates the presence of women as influential figures in informal education”, as he states in his abstract.
2. LEGO Methodology for Software Engineering Education
Last summer, a team of researchers from the area of Computer Systems at the Polytechnic University of Madrid published an illustrative study that addresses how the use of innovative methodologies can motivate students and develop their soft skills.
And he’s not talking about just any methodology, but about LEGO Serious Play, whereby the classic game is used to help students learn the fundamentals of software engineering.
3. Educational innovation, in the words of those who exercise it
Educational innovation has two legs, the theoretical and the practical. The second includes the professionals who put it into practice, those who from the classroomencourage and test upward trends.
In this interview, Gabriel Pinto, who coordinates the Educational Innovation Group (GIE) of Chemistry Didactics at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, delves into the objectives and results of the project “Promotion of inquiry-based STEAM learning”. It is always very enriching to learn first-hand about the experiences of those who dedicate their day to day in this field.
4. An overview of innovation in higher education
Beyond the trends or latest advances in educational innovation, it never hurts to have an overview of the sector. Where it is and where it comes from to know where it is going. That is precisely what this article offers, entitled “Mapping Course Innovation in Higher Education: A Multifaceted Analytical Framework” and signed by Valentina C. Tassone, from the Education and Learning Sciences Group at Wageningen University, in the Netherlands.
5. The opinion of expert voices
The Conversation is a portal that should be on the radar if we talk about scientific dissemination. With the slogan “Academic rigour, journalistic style”, it publishes articles and opinions of experts from various fields, including education.
Among its latest releases we find this article, closely linked to the current (and eternal) debate on the ideal educational model, signed by Carmen Sánchez, dean of the Faculty of Education at the Camilo José Cela University.
Or this one, entitled “Critical thinking or memorization? This is the education that is coming,” about how the classic approaches to the educational environment run the risk of becoming obsolete if they are not updated. Its author is María Antonia Casanova, professor at the Camilo José Cela University and director of the Higher Institute of Educational Promotion of the Camilo José University
