Crossing Borders in Business and Economics Classrooms: Implementing Telecollaboration to Advance Diversity and 21st Century Skills

The emerging changes in global societies challenge businesses as teams work across borders. Consequently, higher education promotes student interaction from diverse cultural backgrounds using technological tools without restricting time, cost, motivation or mobility. In this regard, telecollaboration engages students in a learning process that develops 21st century skills with peers from diverse language, socio-cultural, and educational backgrounds. This article presents a telecollaboration project designed and implemented by Queens College, City University of New York, and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, an online university in Barcelona, in which 196 Economics and Business undergraduate students from the United States and Mexico enhanced intercultural communication. The aim of this study was to identify the effectiveness of telecollaboration as a tool for advancing diversity and transversal skills. The results showed a positive effect but detected the need to raise awareness on the importance of intercultural skills as part of 21st century skills sought by employers

Attitudes and burden in relatives of patients with schizophrenia in a middle income country

BACKGROUND: Most studies of family attitudes and burden have been conducted in developed countries. Thus it is important to test the generalizability of this research in other contexts where social conditions and extended family involvement may be different. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the attitudes of caregivers and the burden they experience in such a context, namely Arica, a town located in the northernmost region of Chile, close to the border with Peru and Bolivia. METHODS: We assessed attitudes towards schizophrenia (including affective, cognitive and behavioural components) and burden (including subjective distress, rejection and competence) in 41 main caregivers of patients with schizophrenia, all of whom were users of Public Mental Health Services in Arica. RESULTS: Attitude measures differed significantly according to socio-demographic variables, with parents (mainly mothers) exhibiting a more negative attitude towards the environment than the rest of the family (t = 4.04; p = 0.000).This was also the case for caregivers with a low educational level (t = 3.27; p < 0.003), for the oldest caregivers (r = 0.546; p = 0.000) and for those who had spent more time with the patient (r = 0.377; p = 0.015). Although attitudes had significant association with burden, their explanatory power was modest (R2 = .104, F = 4,55; p = .039). CONCLUSIONS: Similar to finding developed countries, the current study revealed a positive and significant relationship between the attitudes of caregivers and their burden. These findings emphasize the need to support the families of patients with schizophrenia in this social context

The telecollaborative foreign language anxiety scale: detecting students' affective barriers in virtual exchanges [TAPP-Virtual exchange]

Globalisation and mobility have created new cultural, social and working scenarios which demand wider academic and professional skills. Taking advantage of the synergy of technology and pedagogy, Virtual Exchanges (VEs) provide learners with an adequate context for real-world intercultural learning. In VEs mediated by videoconference, students interact synchronously, close to face-to-face experiences, boosting communicative, interpersonal and intercultural skills development. However, foreign language and intercultural communication can also turn into negative forces for some learners and become a source of discomfort. In this regard, Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA), has been one of the most studied and damaging emotions in multilingual and multicultural contexts. This dysphoric anxiety is suffered by at least two-thirds of foreign language learners and users (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope, 1986; Trang, Baldauf and Moni, 2013). However, there was no available tool to detect the sources and explore the effects of FLA in VE interactions. As a result, the Telecollaborative Foreign Language Anxiety scale, the T-FLAS - A 21-item questionnaire - was developed and validated, showing a high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of 0.96). In this article, the foundation, development and validation of the T-FLAS is explained, as well as the results obtained with the tool in three subsequent VE projects. The aim is to share with researchers and practitioners the first insights on FLA in VE settings using the scale

Territorios colectivos : proceso de formación del Estado en el Pacífico colombiano (1993-2009) - Reseña del autor

Territorios colectivos propone pensar el proceso de formación del Estado en el Pacífico colombiano a partir de una mirada etnográfica centrada en la cotidianidad de los actores que intervienen en las múltiples escalas de acción estatal, tanto en la escala local, donde las comunidades negras se organizan según los parámetros que especifica la ley para poder titular colectivamente sus tierras, como en la escala “central”, donde múltiples actores confluyen en la contienda por expedir leyes y decretos y por la operación de mecanismos formales e informales para volverlas efectivas y lograr sus intereses. En el fondo, este libro plantea la necesidad de pensar el Estado como un sistema complejo, de fronteras porosas, en el que confluyen múltiples actores, con intereses y capacidades políticas muy variadas, pero un Estado que, a su vez, logra establecer órdenes territoriales a escala local, involucrando a los ciudadanos en procesos de simplificación y legibilidad de población, territorio y recursos

La agricultura pampeana: transformaciones productivas y sociales

428 páginasDespués de impulsar, durante varias décadas, procesos de desarrollo económico basados en la expansión industrial, los países de América Latina han comenzado a reconsiderar la importancia relevante del sector agropecuario. Argentina no ha sido la excepción. La problemática agraria ocupa un sitio cada vez más preponderante, debido entre otros factores a la capacidad de la producción agrícola de la región pampeana para generar flujos de divisas necesarios para el desarrollo global de la economía. El propósito de este documento es ilustrar claramente las peculiaridades del sector agropecuario argentino y contribuir en la redefinición de sus funciones, dando el renovado papel de dicho sector en la economía argentina. Es esta obra se estudia la situación del sector desde el período conocido como de estancamiento (en las décadas 1940 y 1950) hasta la actualidad, sin descuidar ninguno de los aspectos imprescindibles para una acabada comprensión del tema: los cambios tecnológicos, la industria de insumos agropecuarios, las transformaciones sociales, la respuesta ante la crisis de precios. El contenido informativo está estructurado en tres partes y bajo los siguientes encabezamientos principales: 1) el retroceso; 2) la expansión; 3) la crisis de precios y el desafio tecnológico

Tecnologías de bioeconomía para valorizar residuos y desperdicios: oportunidades de negocio para la agricultura familiar

74 páginasSe pretende dar a concer la bioeconomía y sus oportunidadades, además de ayudar a posicionar en en plano estratégico, en las líneas de financiamiento de organismos supernacionales y gobiernos de la Región. El estudio da respuesta al potencial aprovechamiento de los residuos, mienstras recopila conocimientos especializados de diversas fuentes internacionales; el análisis se centra en las oportunidades para el agricultor familiar que aprovechan los residuos ya generados