DIAGNOSIS OF PEDAGOGICAL SKILLS IN STUDENTS

The Cronbach's alpha coefficient calculated from the experts' responses on the validity of the questionnaire was 0.77, which is considered a good consistency value and supported its use in the research. Of the 30 students (38.96% of the population) who responded to the questionnaire, 18 are women (60% of the sample). Sixteen students (53.3%) are aged between 18 and 22 years, 13 (43.3%) are aged between 23 and 27 years, and one student (3.3%) is in the age range of 28 to 32 years. The following are the key results derived from the questionnaire responses.

Ten percent of the participants (Figure 1) stated that they have no knowledge of teaching methodology, and 43% consider their knowledge to be limited. Thirty-seven percent fall into a medium level (neither much nor little), and the remaining 10% believe their knowledge of teaching methodology is sufficient.

Figure 1: Knowledge about teaching methodology as reported by the students 

It is known that there is an important subjective component in questionnaire responses (^{Li et al., 2021}), so this result may include both underestimations and overestimations of students' self-assessments. For example, in Spain, ^{Pizá & Suñé (2022}), in a study on university students' self-perception of their own knowledge about Mathematics, demonstrated that at least one in three students is aware of their educational weaknesses, which shows that the subjective component does indeed play a significant role in these evaluations. Similar results had been obtained in Chile by ^{Castro & Jaramillo (2018}) in a study on the self-perception of pedagogy students regarding their vocation for teaching across various dimensions. However, the fact that more than half perceive themselves as poorly equipped to teach suggests the usefulness of a strategy to address this gap.

Despite this lack of knowledge, the students were able to identify four pedagogical skills: mastery of content, teamwork, communication skills, and innovation in learning methods (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Pedagogical skills identified by the students 

All participants considered that mastery of content and communication skills are important or very important pedagogical skills; the other two skills (teamwork and innovation in learning methods) were considered important or very important by 29 out of the 30 participants (96.6% of the sample).

Mastery of content can be enhanced through the use of digital resources that allow students to visualize study material and absorb information; among other digital resources, gamification of classes and the review of materials before class help students better understand the content and can be used for these purposes (^{Zainuddin, 2018}).

Digital environments can also contribute to the development of communication skills (^{Claro et al., 2018}). In fact, in modern universities, various resources are used to foster communication between students and professors. For example, it has been shown that messaging apps like WhatsApp can be conveniently used for this purpose due to their interactive capabilities between students, between professors and students, and through groups created for educational objectives (^{Morsidi et al., 2021}).

Teamwork fosters interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary relationships between individuals specialized in different areas of knowledge. Through these relationships, individuals benefit from the knowledge and skills of others and can cooperate in achieving a common goal. For this reason, authors such as ^{Rodríguez et al. (2021}) highlight it as one of the skills that should be developed in future professionals. As in the previous cases, this is a skill that significantly benefits learning and can be developed using digital tools (^{Lorente et al., 2024}).

The use of innovative learning methods, including technological tools, helps shift students' thinking and capture their attention (^{Kalyani & Rajasekaran, 2018}). Innovative capacity is related to three fundamental elements of the future agent of social change: the ability to perceive failure as an opportunity for learning and new contributions to the outcome, critical thinking as a way to analyze mistakes and correct them, and the inherent feasibility of quick and efficient access to existing information on a topic through technologies such as e-learning (^{Rodríguez et al., 2021}).

Ninety-three percent of the respondents considered the use of digital tools for learning to be useful or very useful (Figure 3), and consequently, 80% of the participants expressed that they would agree or strongly agree to participate in a strategy that uses ExeLearning to improve their pedagogical skills (Figure 4).

Figure 3: Opinions of the respondents on the usefulness of digital tools in learning 

Figure 4: Willingness of the respondents to participate in a strategy based on ExeLearning of the development of the pedagogical skills 

Today, many students prefer using virtual environments and software for learning; they even advocate for the existence of informal digital spaces where they can obtain various types of content. This has motivated the development of practices more centered on the student, their self-development, and independence in searching for and transmitting information through platforms and other resources of this kind (^{Valtonen et al., 2021}). However, despite this identified need and the fact that these digital resources are already being used in practice for knowledge acquisition and skill development, insufficient theoretical work has been done to systematize their use (^{Häkkinen et al., 2016}), which supports the use of strategies like the presented below.

Innovative pedagogical approaches, including problem-based learning, flipped classrooms and interactive teaching, enhance students' critical thinking. Technology-supported teaching practices significantly improve student performance, foster critical thinking, participation in activities, and collaboration. Unlike traditional methods that rely on the passive reception of knowledge by students, interactive methods through digital technology tend to develop the construction of knowledge, enhancing creativity and proactivity in future professionals (^{Bhuttah et al., 2024}).

DESIGN OF THE DIDACTIC STRATEGY

Based on the results of the diagnosis, a didactic strategy supported on ExeLearning was designed for the acquisition of pedagogical skills by the students (Table 1). The strategy combines individual activity procedures, such as observing audiovisual materials, completing questionnaires, and sharing personal opinions in forums, with group activities such as teacher-guided discussions and collective case analysis.

The general objective of the strategy is to develop pedagogical skills in seventh-semester students of the Biotechnology program through the use of the digital tool ExeLearning. It includes general and flexible activities to be carried out within the framework of the course "Plant Biotechnology," allowing educators to apply it within the objectives and content specific to the subject. The strategy aims at the development of three pedagogical skills with their corresponding specific objectives:

Table 1: Didactic strategy for the development of pedagogical skills 

The abovementioned skills, recognized in the pedagogical field, are also common to contemporary university professions. Furthermore, in the context of professional training, it has become essential that graduates not only possess the specific competencies for their profession but also become agents of change (^{Celis, 2021}). In the current context, marked by globalization and social networks, information is generated at great speed, knowledge quickly becomes obsolete, and fake news spreads as easily or even more so than scientific findings (^{Celis, 2021}).

This is because scientific results typically appear in peer-reviewed publications, while falsehoods can be found on numerous platforms. This situation drives leaders to develop skills such as selective information search and critical analysis to determine its usefulness, followed by its appropriate dissemination.

To achieve this, it is necessary for them to develop generic skills like those presented here. These are also referred to as "soft skills" or "21st-century skills," because they are not specific to the profession itself but enable individuals to identify useful content, analyze it critically, and transmit that information in changing environments (^{Rodríguez et al., 2021}).

Under this approach, teaching is not limited to that provided in the classroom by professors dedicated specifically to this role; it is also carried out by professionals in research centers and scientific dissemination (^{FUNIBER, 2020}). In fact, it is common to find university professors who take on part-time teaching after their work in science and production, and they do not always possess full mastery of these skills. The improvement of these generic skills would practically mean that every professional could become a potential teacher, providing them with the tools for successful performance in that role.

Finally, the development of these types of skills provides graduates with a more comprehensive education and greater opportunities for advancement in their new jobs. Currently, employers are looking not only for professional knowledge but also for the ability to communicate their knowledge to others and make decisions based on critical analysis of information.

Thus, it is even more crucial for educational institutions, especially universities that provide professionals to society, not to focus solely on preparing qualified graduates but also to enhance their personal skills, which are essential for productive performance in today's job market and necessary for interacting with others in this ever-changing environment (^{Ummatqul, 2020}). These skills are sometimes underestimated by university professors and even by the graduates themselves (^{Dolce et al., 2019}), which calls for greater attention.

In Ecuador, as noted by ^{Bustos et al. (2022}), more than 80% of teaching procedures and methods are traditional, meaning they focus on what the teacher explains and transmits, with students being passive recipients of that knowledge. This system, which Paulo Freire referred to as "banking education," must change if it is to integrate properly into the innovative models currently practiced worldwide. Although numerous studies address the importance of education, innovation, and the competitiveness of graduates, all of which are included in the United Nations 2030 Agenda, research on the relationship between these elements is scarce (^{Barrichello et al., 2020}). Nevertheless, there is little doubt about the influence education and its stakeholders can have on developing innovative skills and enabling graduates to enter the labor market as contributors to a new reality. One of the obstacles to this change is precisely the training of those who are meant to lead it: ^{Herrera et al. (2021}) conducted a survey of 1,864 teachers and observed that approximately half of them support a teaching-learning process based on collaborative methods for knowledge search, but the other half clings to traditional methods of knowledge transmission from the teachers' perspective and criteria. The need for a transformation is therefore very clear.

The evaluation of the proposed strategy by the experts resulted in a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.82, which is considered a good consistency value. There is also the willingness of the students to participate, who are both actors and beneficiaries of the proposed model, as expressed in the results of the diagnosis conducted in the first phase of the study. Consequently, it is feasible to implement it under the conditions described in this research.