Open education through interactive training material

Abstract

This work has come about as a result of an attempt to improve educational practices by taking advantage of research experience in the field of additive manufacturing technologies. As a result of the work carried out, an open educational resources project was developed by the group of educational innovation Ingeniería de Fabricación of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It consists of interactive teaching material adapted to the new international standards that regulate these technologies and includes a methodology for selecting the most appropriate technology for the specific application. In this paper, we describe the co-creation process that was carried out with students in order to develop the resources, as well as a description of the didactic material itself together with its interactive elements. An analysis of its use in various academic courses is included and also an evaluation of its impact, both in teaching a specific subject and in other training activities. Our findings indicate that the process has led to the production of didactic materials that present content in an attractive way and which, in combination with active methodologies, noticeably improves students' learning experiences, and is also considered a successful experience in open educational practices.