How university students perceive different learning techniques: a study in Spain and Italy

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on different learning techniques from the perspective of university students. Upon group discussions conducted with students, 12 learning techniques were identified, which can be gathered in the following four groups: 1) classroom-based learning (learning from theoretical and practical classes, learning from academic and professional guest lecturers, learning from case studies and real-life examples), 2) outdoor learning (learning outside the classroom and firm visits), 3) collaborative learning (group work and intercultural teams) and 4) technology-based learning (e-learning and m-learning). These techniques were assessed then among 309 students of Faculty of Economics from two European universities: University of Valencia in Spain (N=158) and Sapienza University of Rome in Italy (N=151). The fieldwork was conducted at the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018. Results show that learning from real-life examples and practical classes emerged as favourite techniques, followed by learning through firm visits and learning from professional guest lecturers. Instead, learning from theoretical classes, academic guest lectures, and technology-based learning (both e-learning and m-learning) were the lowest scored methods. Several significant differences were obtained when perceptions of students from the Spanish and Italian university were compared, especially in the case of outdoor learning and most of the classroom-based learning techniques. Technology-based learning practices did not show any significant difference between the two examined groups.