Design of a Competitive and Collaborative Learning Strategy in a Communication Networks Course

In this paper, an educational methodology based on collaborative and competitive learning is proposed. The suggested approach has been successfully applied to an undergraduate communication networks course, which is part of the core curriculum of the three-year degree in telecommunications engineering at the University of Valladolid in Spain. This methodology is supported by two tools: the Moodle wiki for the collaborative part and a competitive learning tool called QUESTOURnament, which has been created by the authors to encourage the development of students´ inquiry, documentation, and critical analysis skills while raising the level of involvement and communication between students and teachers. This paper describes how the collaborative and competitive approaches were combined and how the activities were ordered in phases. This educational proposal has been validated with academic outcomes and students´ feedback.