RESUMEN
The recent appearance and rapid spread of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus meant taking unprecedented measures to control the pandemic, which in Spain forced a state of alarm and a very strict confinement, leading the university system to become virtual online teaching. Taking into account the emotional deficiencies originated during the pandemic, among the most powerful tools to achieve engagement along with the identification, control and management of emotions is emotional intelligence (EI). The present study aims to establish the effect of the current confinement on the teaching-learning process and academic performance and the impact of the application of EI on university students. In total, 47 volunteers of the second course of the Degree in Pharmacy of the University of Granada (Spain) took part in this experience. Two temporary periods were established: at the beginning of the confinement period and after teaching several concepts of emotional intelligence online for two months. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey Inventory (MBI-SS) and the Spanish version of Utrech Work Engagement Scale-Students (UWES-S) were used to evaluate the intervention. In total, 63.5% of the students presented academic burnout during the confinement before the intervention. After the EI workshops and seminars, only 31.1% presented academic burnout. Before the intervention with the emotional intelligence workshops, 44.6% experienced exhaustion, 41.7% cynicism and 60.3% felt it was ineffective in their academic performance. After the emotional intelligence workshops and seminars, 29.1% experienced exhaustion, 30.1% cynicism and 28.8% felt it was ineffective. The scores achieved after the study of EI in physiology classes led to better levels in all the variables studied. Students managed their adaptive processes more adequately and regulated their emotions better, as they felt less academic burnout and more engaged in their academic activities at the end of the study of EI through physiology.
RESUMEN
El propósito de esta investigación fue determinar el impacto de un programa de tutoría entre iguales para prevenir el fracaso académico en la Universidad de Granada. La muestra estuvo compuesta por alumnado de nuevo ingreso de las titulaciones de Ingeniería de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Licenciatura de Farmacia, Licenciatura en Economía e Ingeniería Química (N = 100). Tras elaborar y seleccionar los instrumentos necesarios que recopilaran la información demográfica y académica pertinente en la muestra seleccionada, y de asignar aleatoriamente al alumnado a la condición experimental o control, la intervención consistió en una serie de sesiones de tutoría altamente estructuradas, por parte de alumnado de últimos cursos y doctorado previamente entrenados para ello. Los resultados procedentes de los análisis paramétricos y no paramétricos realizados muestran diferencias estadísticamente significativas en estrategias de aprendizaje en el grupo experimental, y tamaño del efecto favorable al grupo experimental en la calificación media por crédito matriculado, tasa de rendimiento y tasa de éxito al finalizar la intervención, así como en el cómputo total del curso académico, incluida la tasa abandono. Esta intervención consiguió incrementar el rendimiento académico de los participantes y mejorar la calidad de sus procesos de aprendizaje, contribuyendo a mejorar la eficacia, eficiencia y utilidad de la Educación Superior en las titulaciones intervenidas.
This research sought to determine the impact of a peertutoring program on diminishing or preventing academic failure at the University of Granada, with a sample of first year students drawn from Engineering, Pharmacy, Economics and Chemical Engineering (N = 100). After selecting and constructing the necessary instruments to gather all demographic and academic relevant information from the sample, and assigning randomly the students to either the experimental or control group, the intervention consisted of a series of tutoring sessions highly structured with freshman students delivered by last year students and doctorate students previously trained to act as tutors. The data obtained from parametric and non-parametric tests shows statistically significant differences in favour of the experimental group on such variables as learning strategies, as well as size effects on average score by grade points average, performance rate and success rate at the end of the intervention, and at the end of the academic year, including also better dropout rate. Therefore, this intervention has contributed to increase student's performance and their learning processes, as well as to improve the efficacy, efficiency and utility of those Higher Education's careers intervened.
