Creation of a Digital Learning Ecosystem Using Research-Based Learning for Future Programming Teachers

Introduction

Teacher training has been evolving together with society (Maquilón, 2011). Professional, digital and interpersonal skills, together with resilience and lifelong learning are key features that future teachers will need to adapt to new generations of students. Hence, numerous studies have been remarking for decades the need to change the teaching methodologies to give the students –in all fields and levels, but especially future teachers- an active and central role in the learning process, as this will enhance their competence development (Sein Echaluce et al., 2017). For this reason, current higher education curricula have changed from a training-centered and professional development model to a competence development model, from a work orientation to a lifelong learning orientation, from a teaching paradigm to a learning paradigm. The logical consequence of this change is that innovation is required, not only in the form of instruments and digitization of learning, but also in the learning process and in the students' learning experiences (Nurul Ratnawati, 2020).

There are countless learning methodologies that can be used for teacher training, such as challenge-based learning (CBL), project /problem-based learning (PBL), teamwork, etc., that can help to improve future teachers’ learning and, especially, to satisfy nowadays demands. Teachers must be trained to transit through their own learning paths and to analyze and evaluate the different didactical strategies that have been designed and applied to create knowledge (Sánchez Puentes, 2014).

All active methodologies have common goals and processes. Their mission is to ensure that students in general actively participate in the learning process, cooperating with other students, reflecting, making decisions, and producing knowledge (Fidalgo et al., 2019a). It has been proven that the increase of active participation (typical of methodologies such as PBL, Gamification, Research-based Learning- RBL, etc.) benefits the aspects related to collaboration and, therefore, the development of necessary transversal competencies in the professional future. Specifically, the RBL methodology allows students to create new knowledge through research and integrate it into their skills and professional practice (Afdal & Spernes, 2018). It can develop the critical thinking skills, problem solving, creativity, and communication skills, which are key in 21^st century learning processes (Susiani et al., 2018). As these authors mention, this methodology proposes to follow the scientific method in class. This includes starting from a general question, looking for existing literature on the topic, defining questions and hypothesis, designing the activities and data collection, analyzing data and interpreting it, and presenting the results.

In the case of future teachers, developing the aforementioned competences is fundamental because they will be applied in their classrooms with school students. Hence, the use of RBL in their learning programs seems to be crucial. In this context, Afdal & Spernes point out that there is a growing body of research in Europe and North America around the incorporation of Research-Based Learning in teacher education programs, policies, and educational research (Afdal & Spernes, 2018). These authors explain that RBL enables teachers to make autonomous, rational, and theory-based decisions and to integrate research and practice in a profound way. And this is important because future teachers need to be able to continuously renew their curricula and teaching methodologies according to students´ changing needs, and to create knowledge instead of just receiving it. Therefore, using RBL with future teachers implies educating them in a specific style of thinking and acting that is based on the scientific method (Griffiths, 2004).