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Teaching in Higher Education is with increasing frequency completed within a Learning Management System (LMS) environment in the Blended Learning modality. The use of learning objects (activities and resources) offered by LMS means that both teachers and students require training. In addition, gender differences relating to the number of students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and Non-STEM courses might have some influence on the use of those learning objects. The study involves 13 teachers (6 experts in e-Learning and 7 non-experts) on 13 academic courses (4 STEM and 9 Non-STEM) and a detailed examination of the logs of 626 students downloaded from the Moodle platform. Our objectives are: (1) To confirm whether significant differences may be found in relation to the use of learning objects (resources and activities) on Moodle, depending on the expertise of the teacher (expert vs. non-expert in e-Learning); (2) To confirm whether there are significant differences between students regarding their use of learning objects, depending on the expertise of the teacher (expert vs. non-expert in e-Learning); (3) To confirm whether there are significant differences for the use of learning objects among students as a function of gender. Differences were found in the use of Moodle learning objects (resources and activities) for teachers and for students depending on the expertise of the teacher. Likewise, differences were found for the use of some learning objects as a function of gender and the degrees that the students were following. Increased technological training for both teachers and students is proposed, especially on Non-STEM qualifications, in order to mitigate the effects of the technological gap and its collateral relation with the gender gap and the digital divide.

Measuring thermo-physical properties of phase change materials (PCM) in a consistent and reliable manner is essential for system layout of thermal energy storages and correspondingly material selection. Only if basic properties are assessed in a comparable way a selection process leads to the top candidate for any given application and thus enhances market penetration of renewable energy sources coupled with thermal energy storage. In this study, we focus on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) as basic assessment techniques and develop consistent measurement procedures to create a database with comparable results. We show consistency of the measured results through analysis of coefficient of variation (CV), being in the mean 1.69%, 0.05%, 0.06% and 4.00% for enthalpy, melting onset, melting peak and maximum operating temperature, respectively. Overall, 23 PCM have been measured with the presented methodology, which was mainly possible due to the reduced measurement and preparation time per PCM compared to standard techniques, while achieving similar accuracy and precision.

Interest in phase change materials keeps on rising as thermal energy storage grows in popularity in the scientific community as a promising complement for renewable energies in the future. Extending the possibilities beyond pure compounds, the use of mixtures (especially eutectics) widens the range of suitable phase change materials (PCM) available in the market. However, a precise knowledge of the mixtures’ phase behavior is required, making phase diagrams the most appropriate tools to follow. The aim of this work is to collect and analyze published literature concerning the phase diagrams of fatty acid esters mixtures, which constitute promising candidates as PCM due to their attractive properties, such as high latent heat, chemical stability and the possibility of extracting them from vegetable and animal oils. The topic appears as a still open scientific field, where further studies need to be performed to complete, complement and perfect the currently available information.

The open educational resources are learning, teaching and research materials available in open sites for free access, and are frequently grouped into personal collections by users. MERLOT, the well-known online repository, includes amongst its materials Bookmark Collections (BC) created by its contributors. This article evaluates, from the point of view of users other than the creators, the usefulness of the MERLOT personal collections in engineering education. There are at least 895 Bookmark Collections in the Engineering collection of MERLOT. The main assessment criteria are the potential of shareability and reusability of the collection in terms of the engineering content and description, and the coherence of materials and collection with the respective engineering discipline and sub-discipline. Results show that the quality of these collections could be improved if the assignment of the collection would be declared, as the title and description, during the BC creation. The improvement of the BC title and most especially its description would be also a good improvement that will guide the searcher more precisely.