eHealth and mHealth development in Spain: promise or reality?

In the last decades, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has progressively spread to society and public administration. Health is one of the areas in which the use of ICTs has more intensively developed through what is now known as eHealth. That area has recently included mHealth. Spanish health system has stood out as one of the benchmarks of this technological revolution. The development of ICTs applied to health, especially since the outbreak of the pandemic caused by SARS Cov-2, has increased the range of health services delivered through smartphones and the development of subsequent specialized apps. Based on the data of a Survey on Use and Attitudes regarding eHealth in Spain, the aim of this research was to conduct a comparative analysis of the different eHealth and mHealth user profiles. The results show that the user profile of eHealth an mHealth services in Spain is not in a majority. Weaknesses are detected both in the knowledge and use of eHealth services among the general population and in the usability or development of their mobile version. Smartphones can be a democratizing vector, as for now, access to eHealth services is only available to wealthy people, widening inequality.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. CSO2014-53014-

Estudio del grado de institucionalización de la coordinación académica en los másteres de las universidades públicas españolas: aplicación del modelo del análisis cualitativo comparativo de categorías difusas (Fuzzy-set QCA)

El presente trabajo se centra en el análisis de la institucionalización del cargo de coordinación académica de los másteres impartidos bajo modalidad online en las universidades públicas presenciales españolas, analizando las condiciones en las que la gestión de los programas de máster online, por parte del personal académico, ayudan (o no) a institucionalizar las coordinaciones académicas. Para ello, se ha aplicado el Análisis Cualitativo Comparativo (Qualitative Comparative Analysis, QCA) y, en particular, el denominado método fuzzy-set QCA, una técnica que ha permitido, a través de un análisis cualitativo, combinar un conjunto de variables que condicionan el grado de institucionalización del cargo de coordinador/a. Los resultados indican que en aquellos casos en los que la persona responsable de la coordinación tiene atribuidas unas funciones específicas para el desempeño de su tarea, muestra una buena opinión sobre las iniciativas de e-learning de su universidad y ejerce el cargo durante un periodo reducido de tiempo. En ese caso, se da una institucionalización alta.The present paper focuses on the analysis of the institutionalization of the academic coordination position of the online master’s degrees in Spanish public universities, analyzing the conditions in which the management of online master programs by academic staff, help (or not) institutionalize academic coordination. The methodology used in this investigation is the Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method, a technique that has allowed, through a qualitative analysis, to combine a set of variables that determine the degree of institutionalization in the position of coordinator. The results indicate that a high institutionalization occurs in those cases in which the person in charge of the coordination has specific functions for the performance of their task, he/she shows a good opinion on the e-learning initiatives of their university and exercises the position during a short period of tim

Los Másteres en el sistema universitario español: un estudio del Grado de modalidad on-line

This paper presents the results of a study on the academic management of online master’s degrees taught at Spanish attendance-based state universities. The study focused on the analysis of the distance learning modality to establish a typology of courses and their degree of virtualization. To gather data, a heuristic test was designed consisting of four fundamental dimensions: type of online learning platform, course description regarding the learning modality, simultaneity with other modalities, and the degree of virtualization. The results show that due to the lack of conceptual clarification, more than 60% of the masters offer a blended modality because they require the physical presence of the student at some point in the learning process