PGDnet: a new problem-solving virtual learning environment

The purpose of this paper was to provide information about the virtual learning environment known as PGDnet (the Spanish acronym for Plataforma de Gestion Docente or Educational Management Platform in English), which was developed by the innovative education group at the Technical University of Madrid known as "Nuevas metodolog as docentes en ingenier a mecanica y fabricacion" (New Teaching Methodologies in Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing). This tool has been created on an ad hoc basis to cover specific teaching requirements for some engineering courses, which would be difficult to implement on general educational platforms such as Moodle or Blackboard. PGDnet was essentially created as an online engineering problem-solving tool. These exercises are checked and corrected automatically, providing students with their final and partial scores, and with the solutions to these various sections. A stochastic programming model selects different exercises each time that an activity is performed and attaches the tables, graphs, figures and annexes that are needed for their resolution in each case. As is common with these types of tools, PGDnet provides effective management of publication and delivery dates for the proposed work, and contains records and databases, which allow the stored information to be processed. Its main features include ease of use, reliability and great versatility as a specific tool in the area of technical university education.