Perception of college students about Moodle tools for skills development

La evaluación de competencias supone la base del modelo de enseñanza del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. Por ello, el logro de competencias por los estudiantes es un indicador clave para evaluar los estudios universitarios. El auge del e-learning en los últimos años requiere urgentemente de metodologías para evaluar la adquisición de competencias adaptadas al modelo europeo. La importancia creciente de la participación incrementa la complejidad de las metodologías de evaluación y en ocasiones se pierde rigor, sin embargo el análisis multi-criterio permite integrar la participación individual de manera rigurosa en un proceso global. En esta investigación se utiliza el método de las jerarquías analíticas (AHP) para evaluar la adquisición de una competencia general y una específica: Aprendizaje Autónomo y Adquisición de Contenidos definidos en la guía docente. Se recogen las percepciones individuales de 71 estudiantes de GADE on-line que evalúan 7 herramientas de Moodle en una asignatura de carácter cuantitativo, y se obtiene una valoración conjunta. Los resultados muestran en general una mayor importancia de las unidades didácticas y de las tutorías, frente a otros recursos docentes, aunque existen diferencias relativas entre ambas competencias.The evaluation of skills is the basis for the European Higher Education Area model. Therefore, the achievement of competencies by students is a key indicator to evaluate university degrees. In recent years, the rapid rise of e-learning platforms urgently requires methodologies adapted to the European model for assessing the acquisition of competencies. The growing importance of participation increases the complexity of the assessing methodologies and, sometimes, rigor is lost. However, the multi-criteria analysis allows to integrate individual participation in a rigorous and overall process. We propose to use Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) techniques to evaluate the acquisition of one general and one specific competence, say Independent Learning and Content Acquisition defined in the teaching guide. For this purpose, we have surveyed the individual perceptions of 71 students in an on-line Business Administration Degree, and evaluated 7 Moodle tools based on the achievement of the 2 selected competencies in a quantitative course in order to compute the joint perception. The results show in general a greater importance of teaching units and tutorials over other teaching tools, although there are differences among both considered competences.Depto. de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y EstadísticaFac. de Ciencias Económicas y EmpresarialesTRUEpu

Towards a global participatory platform: Democratising open data, complexity science and collective intelligence

The FuturICT project seeks to use the power of big data, analytic models grounded in complexity science, and the collective intelligence they yield for societal benefit. Accordingly, this paper argues that these new tools should not remain the preserve of restricted government, scientific or corporate élites, but be opened up for societal engagement and critique. To democratise such assets as a public good, requires a sustainable ecosystem enabling different kinds of stakeholder in society, including but not limited to, citizens and advocacy groups, school and university students, policy analysts, scientists, software developers, journalists and politicians. Our working name for envisioning a sociotechnical infrastructure capable of engaging such a wide constituency is the Global Participatory Platform (GPP). We consider what it means to develop a GPP at the different levels of data, models and deliberation, motivating a framework for different stakeholders to find their ecological niches at different levels within the system, serving the functions of (i) sensing the environment in order to pool data, (ii) mining the resulting data for patterns in order to model the past/present/future, and (iii) sharing and contesting possible interpretations of what those models might mean, and in a policy context, possible decisions. A research objective is also to apply the concepts and tools of complexity science and social science to the project's own work. We therefore conceive the global participatory platform as a resilient, epistemic ecosystem, whose design will make it capable of self-organization and adaptation to a dynamic environment, and whose structure and contributions are themselves networks of stakeholders, challenges, issues, ideas and arguments whose structure and dynamics can be modelled and analysed. Graphical abstrac

Degrowth and Educative Deconstruction of the Neoliberal Subject: Alternatives to Build up a Sustainable Society

The paper makes a literary review of degrowth pedagogy. Degrowth has become one of the fundamental approaches posed to survive in a world of limited resources and to face the profound causes of the current crisis. Learning to live better with less turns out to be not a moral postulate but a vital necessity of our species. The paper analyses the current investigations in the field, as well as the relevant publications in 88 peer review articles, focused on degrowth published between 2006 and 2019, including 41 proposals for action, among which 14 are specialized in the field of education. The conclusions point to the urgent and imperative need to change economic and environmental policies, but also mentalities. Decolonising the collective dominant imaginary trapped in consumerism and individualism; educating in a collective and shared lifestyle of voluntary sobriety; deconstructing the productivist reason and adopting an alternative model of eco social future in the unique world we have. The education and the school, as discussed in the paper, has a fundamental role to play in this endeavor.2019-2

Degrowth and Educative Deconstruction of the Neoliberal Subject: Alternatives to Build up a Sustainable Society

p. 123-138El artículo hace una revisión literaria de la pedagogía del decrecimiento. El decrecimiento se ha convertido en uno de los enfoques fundamentales que se plantea para sobrevivir en un mundo de recursos limitados y para enfrentar las causas profundas de la crisis actual. Aprender a vivir mejor con menos resulta no ser un postulado moral pero una necesidad vital de nuestra especie. El trabajo analiza las investigaciones actuales en el campo, así como las publicaciones relevantes en 88 artículos de revisión por pares, centrados en el decrecimiento publicados entre 2006 y 2019, incluidas 41 propuestas de acción, entre las cuales 14 son especializado en el campo de la educación. Las conclusiones apuntan a lo urgente e imperativa necesidad de cambiar las políticas económicas y ambientales y las mentalidades. Descolonizar el imaginario dominante colectivo atrapado en consumismo e individualismo; educar de forma colectiva y compartida estilo de vida de sobriedad voluntaria; deconstruyendo la razón productivista y adoptar un modelo alternativo de futuro eco social en el mundo único que tenemos. La educación y la escuela, como se discute en el documento,tiene un papel fundamental a desempeñar en este esfuerzoS

Towards a global participatory platform Democratising open data, complexity science and collective intelligence

The FuturICT project seeks to use the power of big data, analytic models grounded in complexity science, and the collective intelligence they yield for societal benefit. Accordingly, this paper argues that these new tools should not remain the preserve of restricted government, scientific or corporate élites, but be opened up for societal engagement and critique. To democratise such assets as a public good, requires a sustainable ecosystem enabling different kinds of stakeholder in society, including but not limited to, citizens and advocacy groups, school and university students, policy analysts, scientists, software developers, journalists and politicians. Our working name for envisioning a sociotechnical infrastructure capable of engaging such a wide constituency is the Global Participatory Platform (GPP). We consider what it means to develop a GPP at the different levels of data, models and deliberation, motivating a framework for different stakeholders to find their ecological niches at different levels within the system, serving the functions of (i) sensing the environment in order to pool data, (ii) mining the resulting data for patterns in order to model the past/present/future, and (iii) sharing and contesting possible interpretations of what those models might mean, and in a policy context, possible decisions. A research objective is also to apply the concepts and tools of complexity science and social science to the project’s own work. We therefore conceive the global participatory platform as a resilient, epistemic ecosystem, whose design will make it capable of self-organization and adaptation to a dynamic environment, and whose structure and contributions are themselves networks of stakeholders, challenges, issues, ideas and arguments whose structure and dynamics can be modelled and analysed

Succeeding with Smart People Initiatives: Difficulties and Preconditions for Smart City Initiatives that Target Citizens

Smart City is a paradigm for the development of urban spaces through the implementation of state-of-the-art ICT. There are two main approaches when developing Smart Cities: top-down and bottom-up. Based on the bottom-up approach, the concepts of Smart People and Smart Communities have emerged as dimensions of the Smart City, advocating for the engagement of citizens in Smart People initiatives. The aim of this research is both to find the types of Smart People initiatives and to identify their difficulties and preconditions for success. However, such initiatives that aim to (1) leverage the citizens intellectually and (2) use citizens as a source of input for ideas and innovation, are understudied. Therefore, this research proposes a concentrated framework of Smart People initiatives from an extensive literature review. On one hand, this framework contributes with a common ground and vocabulary that facilitates the dialogue within and between practitioners and academia. On the other hand, the identification of difficulties and preconditions guides the academia and practitioners in how to successfully account for citizens in the Smart City. From the literature review and the conduct of case studies of five European cities, participation came out as the key difficulty across both types of Smart People initiatives and cases, closely followed by awareness, motivation and complexity

Mapping the connections : An integrated approach to mapping Nature’s contributions to people in a Nordic biosphere reserve

Naturen og hennes økosystemer gir flere bidrag til mennesker som gagner vår velvære. Disse økosystemtjenestene er truet på grunn av omfattende menneskelige aktiviteter som har resultert i omfattende arealbruksendringer, raske klimaendringer og destruktiv overhøsting. Å anerkjenne og verdsette økosystemtjenester er en måte å gjøre rede for dem i politiske handlinger for å forvalte økosystemer bærekraftig for mennesker og natur. Imidlertid er det forskjellige måter som økosystemtjenester kan verdsettes på tvers av biofysiske, sosiokulturelle og monetære verdidomener, og disse verdiene samhandler innenfor og på tvers av domener. For å verdsette økosystemtjenester fullt ut er det behov for ikke bare å utvikle verdsettingsmetoder på tvers av alle tre domenene, men også måter å integrere på tvers av dem. Økosystemtjenester er ikke jevnt fordelt, og deres verdier er forskjellige i rom på grunn av ulike sosiale og økologiske faktorer. For å administrere økosystemtjenester må vi derfor også se hvordan og hvorfor verdiene deres varierer på tvers av landskap. og vi må gjøre rede for det dynamiske forholdet mellom økosystemtjenester på tvers av verdidomener og sosial-økologiske kontekster. I denne oppgaven presenterer jeg fire artikler som tar for seg noen av disse utfordringene med økosystemtjenester innenfor konteksten av et UNESCO-biosfærereservat på Vestlandet. Først kartla vi sosiokulturelle verdier for økosystemtjenester ved hjelp av en undersøkelse av geografiske informasjonssystemer (PPGIS) for offentlig deltakelse. Vi undersøkte hvordan sosiokulturelle verdier for økosystemtjenesteverdier varierer på tvers av et biosfærereservat, hvilke verdier som vanligvis forekommer sammen i bunter, og hvilke sosial-økologiske egenskaper som bestemmer fordelingen av disse buntene. Folk kartla hovedsakelig steder for friluftsliv, biologisk mangfold, landbruksprodukter og kulturarv, hovedsakelig i områder med høyere menneskelig befolkning. Vi identifiserte fem bunter som representerer koblede biokulturelle verdier for landbruk og kulturarv, friluftsliv og biologisk mangfold, og vill mat og mental velvære. Generelt var tilgjengelighet den viktigste faktoren som avgjorde fordelingen av buntene. For det andre integrerte vi biofysiske verdier med sosiokulturelle verdier og kartla økosystemtjenester i biosfærereservatet. Vi undersøkte fordelingen av disse integrerte økosystemtjenesteverdiene over biosfærereservatsonene og deres bunter over to romlige skalaer. Økosystemtjenestene samlet inn i tre distinkte sosial-økologiske systemarketyper som var like i distribusjon og relative økosystemtjenesteverdier på begge romlige skalaer. Buntene var også godt tilpasset relative økosystemtjenesteverdier i biosfærereservatsonene (kjerne, buffer og overgang), noe som indikerer at buntene fanger opp de sosialøkologiske systemene i sonene. Disse resultatene viser at det er viktig å vurdere sonenes sosialøkologiske kontekst for å gi tilstrekkelig kunnskap til å informere ledelsen. For det tredje brukte vi en ny kombinasjon av PPGIS og sosiale nettverksdata for å kartlegge økosystemets samproduksjonsnettverk i biosfærereservatet. Vi identifiserte fire komponenter i økosystemets samproduksjonsnettverk som sosiokulturelle verdier, direkte ledelse, styring og forskning/kunnskapsproduksjon. Først kartla vi den relative oppmerksomheten ulike økosystemtjenester mottok fra disse samproduksjonskomponentene. Deretter kartla vi det sosiale nettverket for kommunikasjon om ulike økosystemtjenester blant samproduksjonskomponentene. Vi fant misforhold mellom ulike komponenter i samproduksjonsnettverket. Viktigere, vi identifiserte at kulturelle økosystemer ble høyt verdsatt, men får relativt mindre styring og særlig forskningsoppmerksomhet. Videre var de primære forvalterne av kulturelle økosystemtjenester også dårlig koblet i økosystemtjenestens samproduksjonssosiale nettverk. Resultatene viser viktigheten av å tenke på samproduksjon av økosystemtjenester som et relasjonelt nettverk og av å kartlegge hva som diskuteres av hvem. Til slutt integrerte vi økologiske feltundersøkelser og PPGIS for å utforske (mis)matchen i biofysiske og sosiokulturelle verdier for økosystemtjenester i sammenheng med landforlatelse og skogplanting. Biofysiske verdier for økosystemtjenester var mer like på tvers av vegetasjonstyper, mens sosiokulturelle verdier generelt var høyest i åpen vegetasjon og uplantede skogtyper. Økosystemtjenesten med størst forskjell i biofysiske og sosiokulturelle verdier global klimaregulering, mens biologisk mangfold og landbruksprodukter var like på tvers av verdidomenene. Sosiokulturelle verdier var ikke jevnt fordelt på studiedeltakerne. Det var to distinkte grupper som representerte eldre bønder bosatt i regionen med høye verdier for å levere økosystemtjenester på den ene siden, og yngre kvinner som ikke er innbyggere som verdsetter regulering og vedlikehold av økosystemtjenester. Denne studien viser viktigheten av å vurdere ulike både ulike verdidomener og faktorene som påvirker disse verdiene i beslutninger om endring av arealbruk.Nature and her ecosystems make multiple contributions to people that benefit our wellbeing. These ecosystem services are under threat due to extensive human activities that have resulted in widespread land-use change, rapid climate change and destructive overharvesting. Acknowledging and valuing ecosystem services is a way to account for them in policy actions to manage ecosystems sustainably for people and nature. However, there are different ways in which ecosystem services can be valued across biophysical, socio-cultural, and monetary value-domains and these values interact within and across domains. To fully value ecosystem services there is a need to not only develop valuation methods across all three domains, but also ways of integrating across them. Ecosystem services are not evenly distributed, and their values differ in space due to various social and ecological factors. Therefore, to manage ecosystem services we also need to know how and why their values vary across landscapes, and we need to account for the dynamic relationship between ecosystem services across the value-domains and social-ecological contexts. In this thesis I present four papers that addresses some of these challenges with ecosystem services within the context of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in western Norway. First, we mapped socio-cultural values for ecosystem services using a public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) survey. We explored how socio-cultural values for ecosystem service values vary across a biosphere reserve, which values commonly co-occur in bundles, and what social-ecological characteristics determine the distribution of those bundles. People mapped predominantly places for outdoor recreation, biodiversity, agricultural products, and cultural heritage predominantly in areas with higher human populations. We identified five bundles representing linked biocultural values for agriculture and cultural heritage, outdoor recreation and biodiversity, and wild food and mental wellbeing. In general accessibility was the most important factor that determined the distribution of the bundles. Second, we integrated biophysical values with socio-cultural values and mapped ecosystem services in the biosphere reserve. We explored the distribution of these integrated ecosystem services values across the biosphere reserve zones and their bundles across two spatial scales. The ecosystem services bundled into three distinct social-ecological system archetypes that were similar in their distribution and relative ecosystem service values at both spatial scales. The bundles were also well matched to relative ecosystem services values of the Biosphere Reserve zones (core, buffer and transition) indicating that the bundles capture the social-ecological systems of the zones. These results show that it is important to consider the social-ecological context of the zones to provide sufficient knowledge to inform management. Third, we used a novel combination of PPGIS and social network data to map the ecosystem co-production network in the biosphere reserve. We identified four components of the ecosystem co-production network as socio-cultural values, direct management, governance, and research/knowledge production. First, we mapped the relative attention different ecosystem services received from those co-production components. Then we mapped the social network of communication about different ecosystem services among the co-production components. We found mismatches between different components of the co-production network. Importantly, we identified that cultural ecosystems were highly valued but receive comparatively less governance and particularly research attention. Furthermore, the primary managers of cultural ecosystem services were also poorly connected in the ecosystem service co-production social-network. The results show the importance of thinking of ecosystem service co-production as a relational network and of mapping what is being discussed by whom. Finally, we integrated ecological field surveys and PPGIS to explore the (mis)match in biophysical and socio-cultural values for ecosystem services in the context of land abandonment and afforestation. Biophysical values for ecosystem services were more similar across vegetation types while socio-cultural values were generally highest in open vegetation and unplanted forest types. The ecosystem service with the largest difference in biophysical and socio-cultural values global climate regulation, while biodiversity and agricultural products were similar across the value-domains. Socio-cultural values were not evenly spread across the study participants. There were two distinct groups representing older farmers resident in the region with high values for provisioning ecosystem services on the one hand, and non-resident younger females valuing regulating and maintenance ecosystem services. This study shows the importance of considering different value-domains and the factors that influence those values in land-use change decisions.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Applying innovation system concepts in agricultural research for development: a learning module

This learning module is expected to have multiple uses. One, a source material for trainings that could be organized at different levels, and two, as reference document to upgrade the knowledge of staff of partner organizations about innovation systems approach and applications. The design of the learning module includes guidance notes for potential trainers including learning purpose and objectives for each session; description of the session structure (including methods, techniques, time allocation to each activity); power point presentations, presentation text, exercise handouts, worksheets, and additional reading material. There are also evaluation forms and recommended bibliography for use by future facilitators. The module has been prepared in the style of a source book and it assumes that the reader is familiar with the concepts, procedures and tools used in participatory research approaches. Users can pick and choose the sessions/idea/tools/concepts that are most relevant and appropriate in specific contexts and for specific purposes. This is work in progress. The module is being continually refined and updated, based on application of the concept and tools in the project and elsewhere and, lessons learned in the process. Case studies will be prepared to supplement this module. Therefore, IPMS would like to encourage users of this learning module to actively provide feedback, including suggestions on how it can be improved

Creative, arts-inspired tasks for critical intercultural communication pedagogy at a German University

Although artistic practices have been shown to have value for intercultural education in contexts such as community projects, research into the use of these methods for Critical Intercultural Communication Pedagogy (CICP) in HE is scarce. This reflexive, interpretivist practitioner case study addresses this gap, investigating the value of creative, arts-inspired tasks for learning within my own undergraduate Intercultural Communication course at a large university in Germany. Three subquestions addressed (i) the participants' attitudes to the tasks, (ii) the role of creative process for learning, and (iii) the relative merits of the tasks set. Twenty-four participants carried out a collaborative poster-making task and created individual collages which were subseqently shared. Their experiences were discussed in individual and small group semi-structured interviews, carried out in two phases. Participants' reflective course portfolios and my own researcher diary supplemented this data in a 'bricolage' approach to research that was adapted to the study's context and aims. Analysis was characterised by processes of abduction (Alvesson and Sköldberg, 2009) whereby theory and empirical data are successively reinterpreted in the light of each other in an intellectual rather than technical process. Ellingson's (2009) conceptualisation of 'crystallization' informed the inclusion of artistic work and 'interludes' alongside the main narrative in the thesis. The contribution of the study is two-fold, demonstrating the value of artistic practices for undergraduate learning and as an application and extension of CICP specifically, developing the theoretical work of Halualani (2017) and Sobré (2017). Six key findings emerged from the discussion of the data. Three key findings demonstrated the ability of artistic processes and products to (a) fulfil the need for relatedness, (b) allow the generation of insightful, personally meaningful knowledge, and (c) serve as prompts for reflective thinking. Two further findings identified productive dialectical tensions for the creative process and qualitative differences between the collaborative and individual tasks. The final finding showed how arts-inspired work could advance and extend notions of CICP in HE, encouraging open attitudes and authentic connections with others, a tolerance of ambiguity and risk, an appreciation of difference, and critical self-reflection. Because the tasks were also found to validate undergraduate students' unique voices and nurture agency, it is argued that they offered participants more emancipatory ways to approach their learning

Building up eParticipatory decision-making from the local to the global scale. Study case at the European Higher Education Area

P. 26-41The social systems developed in the context of globalisation are further more complex that those arisen within the rule-of-law of the nation–states. The local, national and international relations impose into these social systems different force fields determining the space of possibilities in which they evolve. In this situation, the decision-making is correspondingly further more complex as to drive democratic participation from the root-level of individual members and stakeholders, all the way through until the global system. eParticipation represents a possibility to make it possible determined by the member perceptions of partaking in relevant decisions. A paradigmatic example of these globalised social structures is the European Higher Education System, in which very well defined local and national structures coexist with a normative field of globalised relations. Between 2010 and 2013 an eParticipation system was developed under EU support involving a significant number of universities from Europe and abroad. A flexible approach was used to adapt the system to the different contexts, whereas an analytical framework was set up to evaluate the experience in order to find guidance for future eParticipation developments. The socio-technical and analytical frameworks and the corresponding results are discussed aiming to propose a new architecture for eParticipation. This solution targets the challenges of the 21st century University in which the crossroads of learning analytics, eAdministration and eParticipation are deeply re-structuring the academic environment.S