Resumen: [EN] The 21st century university has the big educational challenge of how to
encourage “a will to learn” in students living in a world saturated with a
huge amount of information and distractions. A needed step to keep students
motivated is to update their learning environments. Herein we present a
proposal with a methodology based on microprojects in DIY desktop
machines (MicroP-DIY-DkM). The main idea is to consolidate students’
theoretical background using motivating microprojects in which foreign
entities act as petitioners. The students will also receive a broad view of
current state of manufacturing technologies. At the same time, English
language and Information and Communication Technologies skills can be
promoted by our methodology. We provide information about the
implementation of several examples of these microprojects, which were
applied in the technical subject ‘Manufacturing Technology’. The use of open
source DIY-DkM offers students the possibility to understand essential
principles of industrial technologies and processes. According to our
surveys, students’ scores and success rate results, the methodology proposed
demonstrated its convenience to be applied in technical subjects. Students
showed greater motivation level and success rate than previous years using
conventional methods. Limitation of the proposal and possible means of
improvement are also included.
