El aprendizaje basado en proyectos como estrategia didáctica para superar las fronteras del aula

Abstract

This communication addresses the application of the Project-Based Learning (PBL) methodologyas a new strategy for the subject Cyber-Journalistic Writing, aimed at the teachers who delivered the subjectduring previous sessions of the degrees in Journalism, Publicity and Audiovisual Communicationat the University of the Basque Country (UPV).Said subject draws on the knowledge acquired from subjects taught during the first year: InformativeWriting in the Press (first term), and Information Genres (second term). It follows on from this byteaching a set of writing skills which complement those relevant to print and audiovisual media. Specifically,the subject Cyber-Journalistic Writing gets closer to the fundamentals of the structure of the journalisticmessage online and the specificity of journalistic genres in new multimedia environments. Thebasic concepts of effective writing for the Internet are explained throughout the term. The subject alsoaddresses Internet writing techniques for organising hypertext and multimedia, for incorporating linkswithin the content and for ensuring that published texts have a good presence in search engines.PBL is a teaching strategy in which the students, organised into groups, develop projects based onreal situations (Bender, 2012; Patton, 2012). They plan, develop and evaluate projects which go beyondthe classroom and aim to have an impact in the real world.Businesses and organisations nowadays need new and up-to-date methodologies and professionalswith the capacity and skills necessary for solving problems, making decisions, working collaborativelyand adapting flexibly to the rapid changes which take place in the information society(Cenich y Santos, 2005). Future professionals must be prepared to meet these needs, which in turnrequires innovative and participative methodologies which improve the quality of teaching andlearning.The research is of exploratory type and the questionnaire was used as tool for collecting informationabout about the appreciations that the students have experienced in this Project-Based Learning(PBL).