Most engineering curricula in the United States include some form of major design project experiences for students, such as capstone courses or design-build-fly projects. Such courses are examples of project-based learning (PBL). Part of PBL is to prepare students—and future engineers—to deal with and prevent common project failures such as missing requirements, overspending, and schedule delays. <i>But how well are students performing once they join the workforce?</i> Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to prepare future engineers as best we can, the frequency of failures of complex projects shows no signs of decreasing. In 2020 only 53% of projects were on time, 59% within budget, and 69% met their goal, as reported by the Project Management Institute. If we want to improve success rates in industry projects, letting students get the most out of their PBL experience and be better prepared to deal with project failures before they join the workforce may be a viable starting point. <br><br>The overarching goal of this dissertation is to identify and suggest improvements to areas that PBL lacks when it comes to preparing students for failure, to investigate student behaviors that lead to project failures, and to improve these behaviors by providing helpful feedback to students. <br><br>To investigate the actions and behaviors that lead to events that cause failures in student projects, I introduced “crowd signals”, which are data collected directly from the students that are part of a project team. In total, I developed 49 survey questions that collect these crowd signals. To complete the first part of the dissertation, I conducted a first experiment with 28 student teams and their instructors in two aerospace engineering PBL courses at Purdue University. The student teams were working on aircraft designs or low-gravity experiments.<br><br><i>Does PBL provide sufficient opportunities for students to fail safely, and learn from the experience? How can we improve?</i> To identify areas that PBL may lack, I compared industry failure cause occurrence rates with similar rates from student teams in PBL courses, and then provided recommendations to PBL instructors. Failure causes refer to events that frequently preceded budget, schedule, or requirements failures in industry, and are identified from the literature. Through this analysis, I found that PBL does not prepare students sufficiently for situations where the failure cause missing a design aspect occurs. The failure cause is fundamentally linked to proper systems engineering: it represents a scenario where, for example, students failed to consider an important requirement during system development, or did not detect a design flaw, or component incompatibility. I provided four recommendations to instructors who want to give their students more opportunities to learn from this failure cause, so they are better prepared to tackle it as engineers. <br><br><i>Is crowdsourced information from project team members a good indicator of future failure occurrences in student projects?</i> I developed models that predict the occurrence of future budget, schedule, or requirements failures, using crowd signals and other information as inputs, and interpreted those models to get an insight on which student actions are likely to lead to project failures. The final models correctly predict, on average, 73.11±6.92% of budget outcomes, 75.27%±9.21% of schedule outcomes, and 76.71±6.90% of technical requirements outcomes. The previous status of the project is the only input variable that appeared to be important in all three final predictive models for all three metrics. Overall, crowdsourced information is a useful source of knowledge to assess likelihood of future failures in student projects. <br><br><i>Does targeted feedback that addresses the failure causes help reduce failures in student projects?</i> To improve student behaviors that lead to project failures, I used correlations between failure measures and the crowd signals as a guide to generate 35 feedback statements. To evaluate whether the feedback statements help reduce project failures in the student teams, I conducted a second experiment at Purdue University with 14 student teams and their instructors. The student teams were enrolled in aircraft design, satellite design, or propulsion DBT courses. The student teams were split in two treatment groups: teams that received targeted feedback (i.e., feedback that aimed to address the failure causes that the specific team is most prone to) and teams that received non-targeted feedback (i.e., feedback that is positive, but does not necessarily address the failure causes the specific team is most prone to). Through my analysis, I found that my targeted feedback does not reduce the failure occurrences in terms of any metrics, compared to the non-targeted feedback. However, qualitative evaluations from the students indicated that student teams who received targeted feedback made more changes to their behaviors and thought the feedback was more helpful, compared to the student teams who received non-targeted feedback.<br><br>

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[ES] El auge de la lengua española en muchos países es indudable y esto impulsa la investigación de su enseñanza y aprendizaje. Son múltiples los estudios realizados (Fernández Saavedra y Gómez, 2010; Fondo y Gago, 2022; Manzanares, 2020; Merziq, 2022; Rabadán y Orgambídez, 2018; Rodríguez García, 2022) en diferentes contextos educativos y sus aportaciones y relevancia son de suma importancia para la didáctica de las lenguas. Ante el cambio constante y acelerado en el mundo, principalmente en los ámbitos económico, social y tecnológico, mejorar la actuación docente supone muchos beneficios para la sociedad. Permite formar al estudiantado para su futuro laboral, así como promover el uso de tendencias pedagógicas actuales y plantear nuevas propuestas adaptadas a las demandas de la sociedad. La presente tesis doctoral tiene como objetivo general investigar la situación actual de la enseñanza-aprendizaje del español como lengua extranjera en Rumanía a nivel de secundaria y de universidad para detectar necesidades y carencias y ofrecer propuestas pedago-didácticas innovadoras, aplicables al aula. Para conseguirlo, primero se hace una incursión teórica en los métodos de enseñanza-aprendizaje y en la evolución del español en Rumanía. Después, la metodología de investigación adopta un enfoque mixto de recogida de datos basado en técnicas cuantitativas y cualitativas. Se recolecta información acerca de las características, creencias, necesidades y dificultades del profesorado y alumnado rumano de secundaria superior y universitario. Se trabaja con una muestra de 60 docentes y 470 estudiantes de diferentes centros educativos del país. Los datos se analizan estadística y manualmente. En base a ello se diseñan dos propuestas de mejora: una guía de buenas prácticas basada en las tendencias pedagógicas actuales y un proyecto formativo para el profesorado de Español Lengua Extranjera (ELE). Su implementación en la realidad educativa rumana se lleva a la práctica utilizando dos vías: la guía se aplica a un grupo clase de 23 estudiantes universitarios de la Universidad Babe¿-Bolyai de Cluj-Napoca y el proyecto formativo se da a conocer entre los docentes del país y se difunde bajo la forma de Encuentros virtuales a nivel nacional e internacional. Los resultados obtenidos revelan la necesidad de un cambio en el sistema educativo y en la metodología docente para adaptarse a los intereses de los actuales aprendientes. Asimismo, ponen de manifiesto el requisito del profesorado de formarse en las tendencias actuales de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Las propuestas responden a los deseos expresados y consiguen motivar al estudiantado y entusiasmar a los docentes. Las conclusiones evidencian los beneficios que reporta la presente tesis doctoral a la comunidad educativa y científica, transferibles a contextos educativos similares. / [CA] L'auge de la llengua espanyola en molts països és indubtable i això impulsa la investigació del seu ensenyament i aprenentatge. Són múltiples els estudis realitzats (Fernández Saavedra i Gómez, 2010; Fons i Gago, 2022; Manzanares, 2020; Merziq, 2022; Rabadán i Orgambídez, 2018; Rodríguez García, 2022) en diferents contextos educatius i les seues aportacions i rellevància són de summa importància per a la didàctica de les llengües. Davant el canvi constant i accelerat en el món, principalment en els àmbits econòmic, social i tecnològic, millorar l'actuació docent suposa molts beneficis per a la societat. Permet formar a l'estudiantat per al seu futur laboral, així com promoure l'ús de tendències pedagògiques actuals i plantejar noves propostes adaptades a les demandes de la societat. La present tesi doctoral té com a objectiu general investigar la situació actual de l'ensenyament-aprenentatge de l'espanyol com a llengua estrangera a Romania a nivell de secundària i d'universitat per a detectar necessitats i mancances i oferir propostes pedago- didàctiques innovadores, aplicables a l'aula. Per a aconseguir-ho, primer es fa una incursió teòrica en els mètodes d'ensenyament-aprenentatge i en l'evolució de l'espanyol a Romania. Després, la metodologia d'investigació adopta un enfocament mixt de recollida de dades basat en tècniques quantitatives i qualitatives. Es recol·lecta informació sobre les característiques, creences, necessitats i dificultats del professorat i alumnat romanés de secundària superior i universitari. Es treballa amb una mostra de 60 docents i 470 estudiants de diferents centres educatius del país. Les dades s'analitzen estadística i manualment. Sobre la base d'això es dissenyen dues propostes de millora: una guia de bones pràctiques basada en les tendències pedagògiques actuals i un projecte formatiu per al professorat d'Espanyol Llengua Estrangera (ELA). La seua implementació en la realitat educativa romanesa s'emporta a la pràctica utilitzant dues vies: la guia s'aplica a un grup classe de 23 estudiants universitaris de la Universitat Babe¿-Bolyai de Cluj-Napoca i el projecte formatiu es dona a conéixer entre els docents del país i es difon sota la forma de Trobades virtuals a nivell nacional i internacional. Els resultats obtinguts revelen la necessitat d'un canvi en el sistema educatiu i en la metodologia docent per a adaptar-se als interessos dels actuals aprendientes. Així mateix, posen de manifest el requisit del professorat de formar-se en les tendències actuals d'ensenyament- aprenentatge. Les propostes responen als desitjos expressats i aconsegueixen motivar a l'estudiantat i entusiasmar als docents. Les conclusions evidencien els beneficis que reporta la present tesi doctoral a la comunitat educativa i científica, transferibles a contextos educatius similars. / [EN] The increased interest in studying Spanish as a Foreign Language in numerous countries is unquestionable and thus encourages us to research peculiarities about its teaching and learning. Multiple investigations (Fernández Saavedra y Gómez, 2010; Fondo y Gago, 2022; Manzanares, 2020; Merziq, 2022; Rabadán y Orgambídez, 2018; Rodríguez García, 2022) have been conducted in different educational contexts and their contributions and relevance are of the utmost importance for language teaching. Given the constant and rapid changes in the world, mainly in the economic, social and technological fields, improving teaching performance brings a number of benefits into our society. It allows the student body to be trained for its future inclusion in the labor market, but also promotes the use of current pedagogical trends and proposes new programmes adapted to the demands of the society. The general objective of this doctoral thesis is to investigate the current situation of the process of teaching-learning Spanish as a foreign language in Romania in both secondary and university levels in order to detect needs and deficiencies and offer innovative pedagogical and didactic proposals, applicable to the classroom. To achieve this, first a theoretical incursion is made into the teaching-learning methods and the evolution of Spanish in Romania. Then, the research methodology adopts a mixed approach to data collection based on quantitative and qualitative techniques. Information is collected about the characteristics, beliefs, needs and difficulties of Romanian upper secondary and university teachers and students. A sample of 60 teachers and 470 students from different educational centers in the country was used. The data is statistically and manually analyzed. Based on this, two proposals for improvement are designed: a guide to good practices based on current pedagogical trends and a training project for teachers of Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE). Its implementation in the Romanian educational context is put into practice using two approaches: the guide is applied to a class group of 23 university students from the Babe¿-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca and the training project is made known amongst teachers in the country and is disseminated in the form of virtual meetings at the national and international level. The results obtained reveal the need for a change in the educational system and in the teaching methodology in order to adapt to the interests of current learners. Likewise, they highlight the requirement of teachers to be trained in the current teaching-learning trends. The proposals are based on the highlighted requests and advise to motivate the students and enthuse the teachers. The conclusions demonstrate the benefits that this doctoral thesis reports to the educational and scientific community and how they are transferable to similar educational contexts. / Stînga, PA. (2023). La enseñanza-aprendizaje del español como lengua extranjera en Rumanía. Análisis de la situación y propuesta de mejora [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/201556