New technologies at university

The university of León ,also called 'campus universitario', apart from being a very prestigious university, is also very well known due to the exciting technological innovations,which have been one of the most important factors in the development of teaching activities.

The campus consists of many faculties.In each faculty you can study several degrees which are interrelated.There is a great number of facilities such as laboratories or projectors .We can also mention the usage of computers instead of blackboards,which is becoming more and more frequent.

The best centre to show this innovation is the CRAI TIC.This new building was made possible through the colaborative FEDER program few years ago.The research an development of the building has expanded to cover a wide range of necessities.These tools provided by this innovative building are useful to encourage student's desire to learn.




Here you can see some pictures:

















With the aim of exploring the new technologies we are going to look around the CRAI TIC.
The main facilities in this building are the 'computer rooms',the 'videoteca', 'la sala fría'etc. All of them are related to the new technologies.


As soon as we approach to the entry we come across a security guard who is in charge of the control of the building.In front of the door there is an original machine where you can configure your university card in order to be able to access to the net.

The first room we visit is one of the computer rooms.At this moment,the room is packed,so in this case we should book a seat with the university card.Here,students can not only search the information for their projects but also use the e-mail service.

The second room we visit is 'la videoteca' on the second floor.In this room you can enjoy yourself while watching different types of videos such as films,documentaries or cd's for hours.Even,you can borrow videos in order to watch them at home but, remenber:you need your university card.

Our last visit is to the room 109.Here,we find a great amount of computers which are specially useful to write down faster instead of using the old fashion blackboard.

Once we have finished this interesting visit we interview the well-known professor of French Mario Tomé Díez who has been in charge of many different projects related to innovations in education.

M=Mario Tomé I=Interviwer

I:-How long have you been interested in computers?
M:-I have been interested in computers since 1997
I:-How long have you been using this method?
M:-I began to design my own blogs in 1999 and since then I have been using them as material in my classes.
I:-Have you colaborated with other people to carry out this project?
M:-Basically I have always been a self-taught person but I keep in touch with professors from France who are also working in similar projects.In order to swap information I visit Grènoble twice a year.
I:-How does teaching with the new technologies differ from more traditional forms of instruction?
M:-In my opinion there are two clear tendencies.On one hand some people affirm that computers are a mere tool like books or dictionaries and on the other hand some people claim that they are an important way of communication.
I:-How do teachers assess a student's progress?
M:-We do it by exams, audio activities and also by taking control of the
students' attendance.

I:-In the classes where the project has been implemented,what results have you seen so far?
M:-Preliminary results show an increased student interest in classroom activity among all students including those who were previously uninterested in classroom activities.I also believe that the emerging technologies expand our capability to create,share and master


knowledge.However we should remark that the presence of the teacher in class is tremendously important .

In spite of the fact that computers have become more and more a new classroom tool, many people are reluctant to use this new method .
What about you?are you for or against?