Debates in Higher Education: Developing a Scale to Assess Their Implementation and Impact on Learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15359/ree.30-2.21335Keywords:
active learning, teacher training, digital and media literacy, skills, communication, SDG 4, quality educationAbstract
Introduction. Currently, methodological systems that involve the active student participation during the teaching lectures are being applied. In this regard, group debates are presented as a key resource for language and social skills development. Methodology. A quantitative instrumental study for scale validation was conducted with a sample of 212 students. The objective of this study was to implement a tool to evaluate the impact of debates as an active and participatory methodology in higher education. After expert evaluation of the suitability of the items that made up the questionnaire in terms of coherence, clarity, and usefulness, we proceeded to validate the scale through the analysis of its reliability using Cronbach‘s Alpha and the Kayser-Meyer-Olkin test. Results. After performing the principal components analysis, we identified that three items explained 59.05% of the variance. The scale was found to have high validity (α = 0.932, KMO = 0.935), comprising three major constructs around which it was associated (Learning, Social Transversality, and Perception of the Activity). Conclusion. The results of this study suggest that the scale constitutes a reliable and valid tool for evaluating the success of implementing debates as an active methodology in higher education, allowing teachers to direct their teaching practices to promote the development of critical and transversal skills in students.
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