University labs: Experimentation and innovation. The case of MediaLab UTPL

Abstract

Latin American universities need to undergo a major technological upgrading to meet the challenges posed by the use of labs as teaching and learning tools. These changes should aim to offer an educational option that meets the current and future needs of society, which implies quality education with equality and sociocultural relevance in the context of a permanent education system through internships. Labs as spaces for experimentation have become one of the main innovation centres. The MediaLab UTPL, is a social production space, intended for research and the generation and dissemination of multidisciplinary projects, where researchers, students, faculty, and the general public can propose, create, and explore the different forms of experimentation and collaborative learning, through the use of the available tools and technology. This paper analyses the origin and development of this particular Lab and collects students’ opinions about their learning experience in it. The conclusions of this research will be of great importance to educational communities and society in general, since they can serve as the basis to generate quality criteria to improve media skills that improve the dimensions and indicators of university communication labs. The research hypotheses are: 1) The implementation of the lab involves a series of practices that call for innovation in education through internships; 2) The knowledge acquired enables constructive learning through the development of scientific, technical and methodological skills and competences.