Table 1.

Description and corresponding grade of the variables considered in the written evaluation survey

Variables	Description of the variable and its assessment methodology	Variables grade
I Gender and Age	Both students’ gender and age were recorded via self-report.	0: female 1: male
II Grade	Students’ grade obtained in the elective was recorded via self-report.
III Workload Perception	Workload is the work entailed to successfully complete the assignments, tasks and examinations. Perception of the elective’s workload was assessed through a questionnaire with five sentences reporting feelings related with the elective amount of work.	Students were asked to choose from 1 point [totally disagree] to 5 points [completely agree], making a total of 25 points. The final score of workload perception was given by the sum of all items. The higher the score obtained, the higher the students’ workload perception [12].
IV Attendance	The attendance of the elective was assessed using a retrospective self-attendance frequency questionnaire that included three questions: 4.1) How often did you attended the classes of the elective? 4.2) How often did you study for that elective during the exams period? 4.3) On the days that you studied, how many hours did you study on average per day?.	For the first two questions, students had a Likert scale of response options to choose from. For the first question: 0%, 1 to 24%, 25 to 49%, 50 to 74%, 75 to 99 and 100%. For the second question: never; once or less than once a month; 2 or 3 times per month; once a week, twice a week, 3 to 4 times per week; 4 times per week; and 6 to 7 times per week. For the third question: the number of hours was recorded through self-report. To calculate the amount of self-study per week, the selected frequency category was converted to mean times/week and multiplied by the number of self-study hours [13].
V Assessment in the exams’ period	Students were asked if the elective had its assessment occurring during exams’ period.	If the answer was affirmative, students were asked to indicate both the number of days spent studying during the time of exams and the number of hours dispended per day studying through self-report.
VI Global Satisfaction	Global satisfaction of students with an elective was assessed through a questionnaire with eight sentences reporting feelings related with global satisfaction.	Students were asked to choose from 1 point [totally disagree] to 5 points [totally agree], making a total of 40 points. The final score of students’ global satisfaction was given by the sum of all items. The higher the score obtained, the higher the level of global satisfaction of students with the elective they attended.
VII Assessment Methodology	Students were asked if they agreed with both the assessment methodology in the elective and with the weight of each assessment component.	If students did not agree, they were asked to choose from a set of assessment methodologies and to attribute one weight to it, according to their self-perception of which the assessment methodology of the elective they assigned to should be.
VIII Typology of Classes	Students were asked if they agreed with the typology of classes applied in the elective.	If students did not agree, they were asked to choose from a set of typologies according to their self-perception of what the typology of classes of the elective they assigned to should be, with the possibility to add a new suggestion of typology.
IX Estimated Workload	The estimated workload of the elective was assessed through a NASA-Task Load Index, a multi-dimensional scale proven to be reliable in obtaining workload estimates [14], consisting of six subscales that represent independent cluster of variables: mental, physical and temporal demands, performance, effort and frustration.	For each variable, students were asked to choose the answer that best represents their effort in the accomplishment of the elective in a scale from 1 point [low] to 10 points [high]. The final score of estimated workload was given by the simple sum of the individual scales. The higher the score obtained, the higher the estimated workload [15].