Analysis of the use and design of rubrics in competency assessment in engineering degrees

Velasco-Martínez, L. C. & Tójar-Hurtado, J. C. (2016). Analysis of the use and design of rubrics in competency assessment in engineering degrees. In F. J. García-Peñalvo (Ed.). Fourth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality. (pp. 177-184). New York, NY.: The Association for Computing MachineryThe defining, implementation and assessment of competencies are challenges for new undergraduate and Master’s degrees which must respond to current education demands. The use of rubrics in universities is considered an instrument of innovation and educational change that transforms assessment practices, both for students and educators. Furthermore, new education, focusing on the development of student competencies, implies a profound modification, not only of assessment approaches, but also of the approach towards education, instruction and teaching. Since their appearance in the university environment, the application of competencies in assessment systems has progressively grown. But, there is yet to be a solid body of knowledge providing evidence of the use of rubrics by educators as assessment instruments. In this study, rubrics have been analysed in 50 educators from the engineering departments of distinct Spanish universities. The rubrics used represent a wide variety of courses and university centres. A comparative analysis allows us to determine how these rubrics are being used (or not) to assess competencies. To do so, the type of works and tasks to which they are applied has been revealed, as well as the technical and pedagogical aspects that are considered by the educators in their design. The results and conclusions allow us to detect the educational needs of the teaching staff that hopes to use rubrics to assess competencies.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Universidad de Salamanca, IUCE, GRIAL, ICP

Study of manifold geometry using non-negative kernel graphs

Amb l'augment de la mida de les dades, els sistemes efectius de reducció de la dimensionalitat s'han tornat necessaris per una gran varietat de tasques. Un conjunt de dades es pot caracteritzar per les seves propietats geomètriques, entre les quals es troben la densitat dels punts que hi té, la seva curvatura, i la dimensionalitat. En aquest context, la dimensió intrínseca (ID) fa referència al nombre mínim de paràmetres necessaris per caracteritzar un conjunt de dades. S'han proposat moltes eines per a l'estimació de DI, i les que aconsegueixen els millors resultats estan molt enfocades a resoldre aquest objectiu. Aquests estimadors altament especialitzats no permeten la interpretació de la geometria local de les dades en altres aspectes a part de la ID. A més, els mètodes que si ho permeten no són capaços d'estimar la ID de manera fiable. Proposem l'ús de grafs de kernel no negatiu (NNK), una aproximació a la construcció de grafs que caracteritza la geometria local de les dades, per estudiar la dimensió i la forma de les superfícies mutlidimensionals de dades a múltiples escales. Proposem l'ús d'una sèrie de propietats relacionades amb els grafs NNK per obtenir informació sobre diversos conjunts de dades. En particular, observem el nombre de veïns en un graf NNK, la dimensió de les aproximacions per anàlisi de components principals tant per als grafs K-nearest neighbor (KNN) com NNK, el diàmetre dels polítops definits pels grafs NNK i els angles principals entre les aproximacions per anàlisi de components principals dels grafs NNK. A més, estudiem aquestes propietats a múltiples escales utilitzant un algorisme que fa que les dades siguin més disperses fusionant punts en funció d'una tria de similitud. Utilitzant una similitud basada en els conjunts de veïns NNK, podem submostrejar conjunts de dades preservant les propietats geomètriques del conjunt de dades inicial.Given the increasing amounts of data being measured and recorded, effective dimensionality reduction systems have become necessary for a wide variety of tasks. A dataset can be characterized by its geometrical properties, including its point density, curvature, and dimensionality. In this context, the intrinsic dimension (ID) refers to the minimum number of parameters required to characterize a dataset. Many tools have been proposed for the estimation of ID, and the ones that achieve the best results are narrowly focused on solving this goal. These highly specialized estimators don't allow for the interpretation of the local geometry of the data in other aspects besides ID. Moreover, methods that do make this possible are not able to estimate ID reliably. We propose the use of non-negative kernel (NNK) graphs, an approach to graph construction that characterizes the local geometry of the data, to study the dimension and shape of data manifolds at multiple scales. We propose the use of a series of properties related to NNK graphs to gain insight into manifold datasets. In particular, we look at the number of neighbors in an NNK graph, the dimension of the low-rank approximations for both K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and NNK graphs, the diameter of the polytopes defined by NNK graphs, and the principal angles between the low-rank approximations of NNK graphs. Moreover, we study these properties at multiple scales using an algorithm that makes data sparse by merging points based on a choice of similarity. By using similarity based on local NNK neighborhoods we can subsample datasets preserving the geometrical properties of the initial dataset

A participatory citizen consultation: the case of the state of Michoacán, Mexico

"This article discusses the process of construction of “critical citizenship” in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, since 2002. After the anthropologist Lázaro Cárdenas Batel, the candidate of the PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution), took office as state governor in that same year, a process designed to favor, stimulate and empower the citizens in the exercise of their right to participate in the government’s co-management was started. On the basis of the political platform of his electoral campaign, his government plan and mainly the explicit political will to govern “from, for and with the citizens,” actions designed to materialize this motto were developed. The article describes the foundations of this process, the methodological proposals, the design of the “workshops for self-diagnosis and working out of proposals” (TADEPs), their implementation, the required instruments and the results that have been obtained. It presents other consultation mechanisms that have been applied and their results. It also describes the “follow-up mechanisms” that were implemented to apply what was researched and in this way to strengthen the real processes of citizen participation." (author's abstract

La perspectiva de los participantes en la producción y análisis de la información de la investigación cualitativa

En las siguientes páginas se va a ir analizando el rol de los participantes a partir de la perspectiva de los implicados. Dicha perspectiva que por supuesto es “subjetiva”, no debe ser en ningún caso desdeñada por arbitraria o improcedente. Como se verá, esa perspectiva, con sus motivaciones e inquietudes es la que nos interesa para comprender mejor el mundo que les/nos rodea. Para aproximarnos a esa perspectiva existen numerosos métodos y técnicas. De entre ellas vamos a destacar algunas de las denominadas “participativas”, por ser estas las que más claramente muestran la importancia de profundizar en la perspectiva de los implicados y la contribución de los participantes al desarrollo de la investigación. Las técnicas participativas, como otras empleadas en investigación cualitativa, pueden ser clasificadas entre las técnicas de recogida o de recolección de la información. Sin embargo, una nueva perspectiva, que destaca la aportación de los verdaderos protagonistas de la investigación, señala la oportunidad de referirnos a ellas no tanto como técnicas de recogida (o de recolección) de datos, sino de producción de información. Una vez producida y analizada la información es necesario “devolver” y validar la información con los propios implicados. Se trata de una cuestión de justicia y de derecho. ¿Qué opinión le merecen a los implicados los resultados y conclusiones que se derivan de una investigación en la que ellos han participando? ¿Merece la pena contar con su visión al respecto

Análise de proveniência das contas verdes dos Perdigões

A variscite é um mineral raro que oferece uma excelente opotunidade de estudo dos padrões de comércio e troca na Europa durante a Pré- História através da determinação da sua fonte de proveniência. No presente texto será discutida a proveniência das contas de colar verdes com base em análises de XRF e XRD, através das quais se criou uma identidade geoquímica passível de ser comparada com as das fontes de variscite conhecidasVariscite is a rare mineral that offers an excellent opportunity to study trade and exchange patterns in prehistoric Europe through proveniencing of source material. In this paper we discuss the provenance of Perdigões’ green beads by means of XRF and XRD analyses, thus creating a geochemical baseline that is compared with that of the known variscite source

Oxidative Damage during the Operation of Si(211)-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) based on sliding metal–semiconductor junctions are an emerging technology that can efficiently convert mechanical into electrical energy. These miniature autonomous power sources can output large direct current (DC) densities, but often suffer from limited durability; hence, their practical scope remains uncertain. Herein, through a combination of conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) and photocurrent decay (PCM) experiments, we explored the underlying cause of surface wear during the operation of DC-TENGs. Using monolayer-functionalized Si(211) surfaces as the model system, we demonstrate the extent to which surface damage develops during TENG operation. We reveal that the introduction of surface defects (oxide growth) during TENG operation is not caused by the passage of the rather large current densities (average output of ~2 × 106 A/m2); it is instead mainly caused by the large pressure (~GPa) required for the sliding Schottky diode to output a measurable zero-bias current. We also discovered that the drop in output during operation occurs with a delay in the friction/pressure event, which partially explains why such deterioration of DC-TENG performance is often underestimated or not reported