Independence in Europe: Secession, Sovereignty, and the European Union

The aim of this thesis is to explore the experiences of four cohorts of students from their first semester until one year after graduation, with the focus on how they perceive their opportunities to influence their study conditions transition to work. The study has a longitudinal design. Data collected from students in a MSc programme in engineering started in the first semester and continued yearly until one year after graduation and consisted of questionnaires and interviews. Results indicate that students’ perceptions of their opportunities to influence their study conditions is related to their self-efficacy and motivation; strategies they use and approaches to studying they adopt. Students adopt an adaptive approach, based on the perception that the programme is supposed to be demanding and that students should accept and adapt to the conditions of the programme; a critical approach, based on the perception that difficult conditions are negative because they make it hard to reflect on what is studied; or a cooperative approach, based on the perception that cooperation with peers is important. Quantitative results show that cohorts who studied project-based courses cooperate significantly more with peer students than cohorts who study in conventional courses. Students with most project based courses experienced workload and social support in different ways than other students. The final study on students’ transition to work show that students who study in many project-based courses are more prepared to work than students who study conventional courses. The overall findings indicate that it is important to integrate psychological, social and individual ways of interpreting the student experiences of their studies and transition to work.Syftet med avhandlingen är att utforska fyra studentkohorters erfarenheter frånderas första termin till ett år efter deras examen, med fokus på hur de uppleversina möjligheter att påverka sina studieförhållanden samt erfarenheter av att blianställningsbara. Avhandlingen baserar sig på en longitudinell studie.Datainsamlingen från studenter på Civilingenjörsprogrammet för Teknisk fysikoch elektroteknik påbörjades första terminen och pågick årligen till ett år efter attde tagit examen och bestod av frågeformulär och intervjuer. Resultaten visar attstudenternas upplevelser av sina möjligheter att påverka sina studieförhållanden ärrelaterade till deras självtillit (self-efficacy) och motivation; de strategier som deanvänder och de studieansatser som de antar. Studenter antar en adaptivstudieansats, baserad på uppfattningen att programmet ska vara krävande och attstudenter ska acceptera och anpassa sig till programmets förhållanden; en kritiskstudieansats, baseras på uppfattningen att svåra studieförhållanden är negativaeftersom de gör det svårt för studenten att reflektera över det som studeras; elleren kooperativ studieansats, baserad på uppfattningen att samarbete medstudiekamrater är viktigt. Kvantitativa resultat visar att årskullar som läserprojektbaserade kurser samarbetar mer med studiekamrater än årskullar som läserkonventionella kurser. Vidare upplevde studenter med flest projektbaserade kurserarbetsbelastningen och det sociala stödet på andra vis än övriga studenter. Densista studien om studenters övergång till arbetsliv visade att årskullar som läserprojektbaserade kurser känner sig mer redo att börja arbeta än årskullar som läserkonventionella kurser. De övergripande resultaten visar att det är viktigt attintegrera psykologiska, sociala och individuella sätt att tolka studenterserfarenheter av sina studier och övergång till arbetslivet

An innovative pedagogical tool for robotics engineering studies

At the Engineering School of Barcelona (ETSEIB- UPC) a multimedia pedagogical tool has been developed in order to traini ng concepts and ecojustice, environmentalism and sustainability to the students in Technical degrees, specifically in Robotics Engineering. This didactical tool consists in a serial of multimedia world maps that describes the world situation in a wide range of different trends such as the nuclear energy, the fossil fuels, the electronic components of the machines, the atomic weapons, etc. The developed pedagogical instrument uses a slide presentation format in order to integrate the relevant information of different economical-environmental- social themes related with actual society. In this paper one of the multimedia maps is explained and discussed: the nuclear energy map. This pedagogical resource boosts the reflection in our students about several aspects of social interest in a sustainable overview and students are able to understand the role of Robotics in many and relevant applications.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Do female motives for enrolling vary according to STEM profile?

Contribution: Stereotypes and immediate environment are the reasons for low enrollment of women in STEM studies. Background: The low number of women in STEM degree courses has been the subject of much research, which has found that the lack of female enrollment is not evenly distributed across all STEM studies. In some areas, such as computing, communications, and electrical and electronic engineering (CCEEE), not only has the number of women not increased, it has even fallen. Research Questions: Is there a stereotype for women taking STEM studies? Is this stereotype different between women taking CCEEE and non-CCEEE degrees? What are the main reasons that lead women to enroll in STEM studies? Methodology: A survey was sent to 3699 female students and STEM graduates belonging to the authors’ university in six schools with a lowest level of enrollment, and 1060 replies were received. A qualitative study based on data analysis triangulation was performed. Findings: The women surveyed consider social stereotypes (31.47%) and the immediate environment (14.5%) as the main reasons for the low enrollment of women in STEM studies. Surprisingly, the third reason (11.03%) is that women do not like engineering. New knowledge concerning what motivates female students to enroll in STEM studies, what stereotypes they must struggle against, and the existence of possible differences between CCEEE and STEM but non-CCEEE female students could help policy makers and academia to improve female enrollment in STEM and, in particular, in CCEEE studies.Peer ReviewedPostprin

Applying learning analytics to students’ interaction in business simulation games. The usefulness of learning analytics to know what students really learn

Nowadays, different ways of communication and interaction among multiple actors are dominating learning processes. However, there are critical opinions that question the contribution of student interaction to real learning. This study applies learning analytics and data mining techniques to explore the online discussion forums of 362 business students at the bachelor and master levels, who participated in business simulation games between 2011 and 2016. The findings revealed that the most frequent contents in the students’ online discussion forums were related, firstly, to the parameters and features of the business simulation game, and, secondly, to elements that fostered the students’ learning process, while small talk or regular conversation did not appear to be relevant. In addition, the contents with predictive power over learning results were related to uncertainty, time, interaction, communication and collaboration, although none of these elements influenced teacher assessment of student learning. This study reveals the usefulness of learning analytics tools to gain a more wide and holistic view of the learning process of students, discovering new aspects that affect students’ learning resultsPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Adoption and diffusion of double entry book-keeping in Mexico and Spain: A related but under-investigated development

There is a consensus within Mexican accounting historiography regarding widespread use of double entry bookkeeping by the end of the 19th Century in the realm of both private and public enterprise. However, there is conflicting and even contradictory claims as to when exactly this technique arrived to the viceroyalty of New Spain (present day Mexico) as well as its diffusion during the colonial era. In this article we address this conflict while putting forward the idea that the history of ‘modern’ accounting practice in Latin America should be framed by developments in its former colonial power. We offer the analysis of primary and secondary source material to support the view that there was continuity in the use of double entry in Spain and therefore, the so called ‘period of silence and apparent oblivion’ seems limited to the production of indigenous accounting thought (as expressed in the production of bibliographic material such as manuals and textbooks). We conclude that the history of Latin America accounting should be wary of extrapolating everyday practice by interpreting bibliographic material and proceed by examining surviving company documents as well as informal educational practices amongst organisations based in the metropolis and its then colonies.double entry, diffusion of accounting systems, knowledge transfer, Mexico (New Spain), Spain

Service-learning experience through outreach and engagement with science and technology museums

The paper describes and analyzes the service-learning experiences of various engineering students in two science and technology museums, over the years 2020, 2021 and 2022. The experience was based on the design and implementation of education and outreach activities and scaffolding material was provided. Student learning was significant not only in terms of content but also in terms of generic and transversal competencies. In addition, this service-learning model shows a good potential to address some of the problems in engineering today, such as the declining interest in engineering among school students. Thus, it can be a win-win model for all the agents involved: museums, university, the student himself and society in general

Language report for Catalan (English version)

The central objective of the Metanet4u project is to contribute to the establishment of a pan-European digital platform that makes available language resources and services, encompassing both datasets and software tools, for speech and language processing, and supports a new generation of exchange facilities for them.Peer ReviewedPreprin