Assessment on the use of the virtual tutorial tool in the “Optics and Optometry” Degree at the University of Alicante

Abstract

The Virtual Campus of the University of Alicante is an Internet-based tool addressed to teachers, students and administration and services staff of this University. The above mentioned resource is offered as a complement to academic and administrative management. Regarding to teachers and students, the functionalities of the tool are designed to provide some teaching and management tasks. In the educational level, the teacher can, among other things, manage recommended bibliographies, receive and reply to tutorial, propose and moderate discussions and provide materials to students. The presented work focuses on the use of virtual tutorial tool by both the student and teacher. A monitoring of these tutorials have realized for a period of four courses in different subjects in the area of Optics of the Optics and Optometry Degree from the University of Alicante. The ultimate goal of our work was observing the strengths and identifying possible shortcomings of the use of this tool as a complement, or just as replacement, of traditional on-campus tutorials by students of the Optics and Optometry Degree.