The creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) generates new ways of understanding the teaching role of university teachers and is a crucial element in the actual creation of this common space. A group of 7 educational developers working in different Spanish universities have developed a joint project addressed to: 1) assess the training needs of university teachers to comply with the new goals of HE; 2) design a joint program to train university teachers to reach this goal; 3) pilot the program in the universities involved; 4) carry out a formative assessment of the program and, 5) finally evaluate its results.

This project shows various features of interest which partly originate in the collaborative nature of this work. First, the systematic identification of the training needs of a broad group of Spanish university teachers regarding the new European context can give a precise picture of the situation with some generalization power. Second, this needs evaluation is a solid ground for the design of a program to address these needs that will be piloted in different universities. Third, the design of a viable and coherent system for the evaluation of the delivery process and its results is also of interest and may allow fruitful comparisons. Finally, we hope a training experience in similar, yet different universities will allow us to create a valuable knowledge base regarding the best conditions and approaches to support the educational development of teachers to reach the requirements of the EAHE.

The results attained to date by the project, still in course, will be presented. The main training needs identified, the outstanding features of the program and its formative evaluation will be discussed. Some provisional results will be presented, together with some conclusions regarding the best conditions for this training.

The creation of the European Higher Education Area generates new ways of understanding the teaching role of university teachers, an element of paramount importance for the actual creation of this common space. A group of 7 educational developers working in different Spanish universities have developed a joint project addressed to: 1) assess the training needs of university teachers in the new context created by the EAHE; 2) design a joint program to train university teachers to reach the new HE goals; 3) pilot the program in all the universities involved; 4) carry out a formative assessment of the program while it is being delivered and, 5) finally evaluate its results.

This project shows various features of interest which partly originate in the collaborative nature of this work. In the first place, the systematic identification of the training needs of a group of Spanish university teachers regarding the EAHE will give a precise picture of the situation from their particular point of view and with some power to be extended to other universities in this country. Educational developers were also asked about their perceived needs. Some studies on needs assessment under the present context have been carried out, but addressing managers rather than teachers or educational developers. Their view, however, is crucial, since they are the actors of the present change. Seventy five teachers participated in this study (51 % male, 43 % female; 42% hold permanent positions while 39% do not). Analysis of results shows these two viewpoints are different and also contrasted to the perception of university managers.

Based on this needs evaluation, a program was designed to address them. Taking into account the main needs identified, offering teachers some training in problem based learning seemed to be a sensible choice, since this methodology includes and links in a coherent way the main components required by the EAHE with which Spanish teachers seem to be less familiar. The components of this program will be described: identification of the competences students need to develop, an example of an active learning methodology, cooperative learning, student tutoring, student assessment methods reflecting the new educational goals, teachers collaboration in setting goals and teaching activities, and program planning.

This program has been piloted with a sample of teachers in each university. Over sixty teachers of different disciplines have participated in the pilot. Several conditions were asked of these teachers: they should teach in the first degree years and if possible belong to the same degrees in order to assure their future collaboration. Some academic authorities should also be involved in the training. The training activities have been carried out in very similar ways and, yet, important differences are emerging among the groups. At a very general level, not all groups have shown the same stability and involvement. Some factors which seem to have an influence in the viability of this training are the personal stance of the local educational developer towards the program and his or her involvement as well as his/her activity in supporting coordination and follow up of the group; the nature of the group of teachers, or the presence of an academic manager interested in the procedure are also influential. In the best circumstances, the group of teachers has followed the training with interest, has worked in a steady way, and, in some cases, the number of teachers involved has even grown. Moreover, the teachers have made some use of their new knowledge in their teaching activity. On the contrary, some of the groups in the worst conditions have disappeared and/or are not using any elements of the training in their teaching.

The main features of the evaluation system designed for the formative evaluation of the delivery process are described as well as some of the results. The methods and procedures used to evaluate the results of the program will also be presented.

 At a time of change, when this kind of training is necessary, it is useful to collect data about the process and also about the results. It is interesting to know which are the barriers along the development process and also to identify if or when some signs of worry appear. Although the project has not finished yet, some interesting (and provisional) conclusions can be reached.

Finally, when the data of all universities have been collected, we hope we shall have a valuable knowledge base regarding the best conditions and approaches to support the educational development of teachers to reach the requirements of the EAHE. Since both the profile of the participants and the conditions under which the training has taken place differ in important ways, we hope to reach some conclusions of interest.