Improvement of learning through European educational projects

Proceedings TEEM 2020: Eighth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality.[EN]The purpose of this article is to set out the research plan for the doctoral thesis, which deals with the definition of a methodological guide for the successful use of digital technologies in education, especially in eLearning, taking as a reference European educational projects that have been successful in achieving an improvement in the teaching and learning process. We live in an increasingly digital society that requires citizens to be prepared to adapt to the needs of the moment and to solve the problems that arise. For this to be possible, the education system must be prepared to adequately train future citizens who will join a changing labor market. To this end, teachers must be trained and know how to carry out efficient educational projects that allow them to make the most of the potential of ICT in the classroom or in distance education. The situation experienced during the 2019-2020 school year with the COVID-19 pandemic has tested the education system and its ability to adapt to a situation where the use of distance education was required and where ICT was very much needed in most of the cases to bring education to the homes. These factors make it very necessary to work for a better teaching professionalization. Therefore, the main objective of this PhD work is to enable teachers to design their projects, involving electronic learning, in a more effective way. To achieve this, what better than to use the educational projects compiled in the Erasmus+ results platform, which allow the analysis of project typology, outcomes, topics and to see those that have been catalogued as a good practice or success story. This database will be a key tool to gather information together with the collaboration of the main actors of those projects that have been successful. A methodological guide would allow teachers and teacher trainers to know the key factors that help to achieve a good design of educational projects and allow an optimal use of ICT resources and the greatest impact on the teaching-learning process

Aspectos pedagógicos en la Informática Educativa

[ES] La tecnología aplicada a los procesos de enseñanza/aprendizaje es una realidad en una sociedad que se encamina a una Sociedad del Conocimiento. El diseño de los constructos tecnológicos con aplicación en dichos procesos es el objeto de la Informática Educativa como disciplina. Sin embargo, cuando este diseño se realiza sin los adecuados objetivos pedagógicos, o cuando, de forma más crítica porque puede haber productos tecnológicos de perfil generalista que se usan posteriormente con fines educativos, el uso de una tecnología en un contexto educativo se hace de espaldas a criterios pedagógicos o el diseño instruccional de la acción formativa no integra bien esa tecnología, el fin último, EL APRENDIZAJE, puede quedar seriamente comprometido. Esto tiene una clara implicación en que los avances en Informática Educativa requieren, en la mayor parte de los proyectos, de equipos interdisciplinares donde, a parte de otros roles, los perfiles tecnológicos y pedagógicos estén bien cubiertos. Ejemplo de esta relación sinérgica y simbiótica se da en el Simposio Internacional de Informática Educativa, SIIE, que tras 14 ediciones se ha convertido en uno de los foros que mejor muestra este principio. En este número especial de la revista TESI se han seleccionado seis trabajos presentados en la pasada edición del SIIE, celebrada en Andorra a finales de octubre de 2012, en los que sobresale esta vinculación entre Tecnología y Educación.[EN] Technology applied to teaching & learning processes is a reality in current society that wants to advance to the so called Knowledge Society. Technological artifacts design to be applied in the above mentioned educational processes is the aim of Computers in Education discipline. However, when these design tasks are done without the proper pedagogical goals or when these technological products are used with educative purposes without pedagogical criteria (which is more critical due to there are lots of technological components that were not designed for learning but may be used for) or the instructional design does not involve technology in a suitable way, the final goal, THE LEARNING, may be seriously in risk. This means that Computer in Education advances require, in the most of the projects, interdisciplinary teams composed by technicians and educators, plus other complementary and interesting professional profiles. An example of this synergic and symbiotic relationship is the Computers in Education Symposium, SIIE, that after 14 editions it has become in one of the forums that better represents this principle. This TESI special issue gathers six selected papers presented in the last SIIE edition, held in Andorra at the end of October 2012, which ones enhance this Technology and Education link

Soluble and insoluble dietary fibre intake and risk factors for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged adults: The AWHS cohort

Introduction: The Westernization of the Mediterranean lifestyle has led to a modification of certain dietary habits such as a decrease in the consumption of dietary fibre-rich foods. The impact of these changes on cardiovascular diseases (CVD) has been studied over the last few years and the effect of the different sources of fibre on cardiovascular risk parameters and coronary heart disease (CHD) continues to create controversy. Objective: To evaluate the association between the source of dietary fibre and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and other cardiovascular risk factors in a Spanish working population. Subjects and methods: The study was carried out in a sample of 1592 Spanish workers free of CVD (40-55 years old) within the Aragon Workers' Health Study (AWHS) cohort. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, clinical and biochemical data were collected. Fibre intake was assessed by means of a validated 136-items semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. MetS was defined by using the modified National Cholesterol Education Programme-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) definition. Results: After adjusting for possible confounding factors, we found an inverse association between insoluble fibre intake and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoprotein B100 and ratio TG/HDL. Soluble fibre was inversely associated with triglycerides and apolipoprotein B100. Furthermore, prevalence of MetS was found to be lower (OR 0.62, 95% CI: 0.40-0.96) in those participants in the highest quartile of insoluble fibre intake. Conclusion: A higher intake of insoluble fibre could play an important role in the control and management of hypertension, lipid profile and MetS. Introducción: La occidentalización del estilo de vida mediterráneo ha dado lugar a una modificación de ciertos hábitos dietéticos, tales como una disminución en el consumo de alimentos ricos en fibra dietética. El impacto de estos cambios sobre las enfermedades cardiovasculares (ECV) se ha estudiado en los últimos años y el efecto de las diferentes fuentes de fibra en los parámetros de riesgo cardiovascular y en la enfermedad coronaria sigue creando controversia. Objetivo: Evaluar la asociación entre la fuente de fibra dietética y la prevalencia de síndrome metabólico (SM) y otros factores de riesgo cardiovascular en una población laboral española. Sujetos y métodos: El estudio se llevó a cabo en una muestra de 1592 trabajadores españoles libres de ECV (40-55 años) pertenecientes a la cohorte del Estudio de la Salud de los Trabajadores de Aragón (AWHS). Se recogieron datos sociodemográficos, antropométricos, clínicos y bioquímicos. La ingesta de fibra se evaluó por medio de un cuestionario semicuantitativo de frecuencia de consumo de alimentos de 136-items previamente validado. Para la definición de SM se siguieron los criterios del Programa Nacional de Educación del Colesterol en el marco del III Panel de Tratamiento de Adultos (NCEPATP III). Resultados: Se encontró una asociación inversa entre el consumo de fibra insoluble y la presión arterial sistólica y diastólica, colesterol total, triglicéridos, apolipoproteína B100 y la relación TG/HDL, tras ajustar por posibles factores de confusión. Así mismo, la fibra soluble se asoció inversamente con triglicéridos y apolipoproteína B100. Además, se encontró una menor prevalencia de SM (OR 0.62, IC del 95%: 0.40 a 0.96) en aquellos participantes en el cuartil más alto de consumo de fibra insoluble. Conclusión: Una mayor ingesta de fibra insoluble puede desempeñar un papel importante en el control y manejo de la hipertensión, el perfil lipídico y el SM

Development and validation of a questionnaire to evaluate lifestyle-related behaviors in elementary school children

Background The SI! Program promotes cardiovascular health through a multilevel school-based intervention on four lifestyle-related components: diet, physical activity, understanding the body and heart, and management of emotions. We report here the development and validation of the KAH (knowledge, attitudes and habits)-questionnaire adapted for elementary school children (6-7 years old) as a tool for the forthcoming evaluation of the SI! Program, where the KAH scoring will be the primary outcome. The efficacy of such an intervention will be based on the improvements in children's KAH towards a healthy lifestyle. Methods The questionnaire validation process started with a pool of items proposed by the pedagogical team who developed the SI! Program for elementary school. The questionnaire was finalized by decreasing the number of items from 155 to 48 using expert panels and statistical tests on the responses from 384 children (ages 6-7). A team of specialized psychologists administered the questionnaire at schools providing standard directions for the final administration. The internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's α coefficients. Reliability was measured through the split-half method, and problematic items were detected applying the item response theory. Analysis of variance and Tukey's test of additivity were used for multiple comparisons. Results The final KAH-questionnaire for elementary school children should be administered to children individually by trained staff. The 48 items-questionnaire is divided evenly between the 4 components of the intervention, with an overall Cronbach's α = 0.791 (α = 0.526 for diet, α = 0.537 for physical activity, α = 0.523 for human body and heart, and α = 0.537 for management of emotions). Conclusions The KAH-questionnaire is a reliable instrument to assess the efficacy of the SI! Program on instilling healthy lifestyle-related behaviors in elementary school children

Gender equality in STEM programs: a proposal to analyse the situation of a university about the gender gap

[EN]According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, most of the countries have achieved gender parity in educational attainment. Furthermore, Latin America and Europe have more women than men enrolled in tertiary education. The problem arises when those numbers are analysed by degree studies. There is a gender gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), with a low number of women enrolled in those programs and even lower numbers of graduates. The universities have a key role to steer new conceptions and understanding of the females in STEM . The higher education institutions have to define measures and policies to reduce the gender gap in the careers of the future. This work aims to provide a proposal to analyse the gender equality gap in STEM as a first step to define gender equality action plans focused on processes of attraction, access and retention and guidance in STEM programs. The proposal was applied in ten Latin American universities from Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico, and five European universities from Finland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

Looking into the future: Learning services-based technological ecosystems

La gran distancia existente entre la tecnología y las metodologías docentes provoca que los nuevos avances tecnológicos no tengan fácil su integración en los contextos y prácticas metodológicas implantados, y que las tecnologías educativas maduras y los métodos educativos aplicados no respondan a las demandas de la sociedad ni al potencial transformador de la tecnología para la mejora del aprendizaje. Esta contribución plantea la necesidad de ofrecer un entorno tecnológico para el soporte de servicios de aprendizaje, el ecosistema educativo, que rompa con las limitaciones tecnológicas y de proceso de las actuales plataformas tecnológicas para conseguir una mejora de los procesos educativos. La propuesta de ecosistema educativo se concreta en 6 líneas de actuación: 1) arquitectura para la implantación de ecosistemas de servicios de aprendizaje; 2) toma de decisiones basadas en analíticas de aprendizaje; 3) sistemas de gestión de conocimiento adaptativos; 4) formación gamificada; 5) porfolios semánticos para la recogida de evidencias de aprendizaje; 6) metodologías educativas que hagan un uso efectivo de los avances tecnológicos en pro de la mejora del aprendizaje.The existing distance between technology and learning methods have two consequences: on the one hand, it makes the fit of new technological advances and existing educational methods and practices difficult; on the other hand, mature educational technologies and methods might not give an adequate answer to actual society needs and demands, and they may not fully use their transforming potential to improve learning processes. This study discusses the need for a new technological environment supporting learning services: the educational ecosystem. The educational ecosystems must be able to break the technological constraints of existing learning platforms and achieve an effective improvement of learning processes. Our proposal of educational ecosystems pivots around six specific lines of action: 1) an arquitecture that gives support to learning service-based ecosystems; 2) learning analytics for educational decision making; 3) adaptive knowledge systems; 4) gamifications; 5) semantic porfolios to collect learning evidences; 6) learning methods that make and effective use of technology for the improvement of learning processes

e-Learning quality assessment in higher education: A mapping study

Quality assessment is today a success factor and a guarantee in the implementation and development of countless initiatives, programs and strategies in a very wide variety of fields. For this reason, in an educational field in a constant transformation, the evaluation of the quality of each process, phase and tool must be understood as an essential and basic part in teaching, betting on the implementation of quality evaluation processes in the virtual environment and also trying to adapt reality to new learning environments. In the present moment, in a society in which everything has to be evaluated, the establishment of evaluation standards for new instruments and the standardization of accepted and validated processes will also make virtual teaching-learning environments more reliable and effective. This research proposes a mapping study with the aim to find out the situation in which the research on quality evaluation in e-Learning in higher education finds itself. The criteria used for the selection of publications are concise and the complete process carried out is reflected in each of its phases. The results allow us to describe the current reality in a temporal perspective and the state of the art, in order to address the potential future lines of research in the field of quality assessment in virtual environments

Un enfoque de informática de gestión para los estudios de Ingeniería Informática en el marco de Bolonia

La convergencia universitaria hacia un Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior supone cambios importantes en el tejido universitario en todos los países firmantes de la declaración de Bolonia. Las titulaciones de Ingeniería Informática en España figuran entre las que, presumiblemente, primero van sufrir las transformaciones necesarias. Por ello se están desarrollando diferentes estudios y propuestas dentro de un marco que, a fecha de hoy (abril de 2004), resulta todavía muy difuso. En este artículo se va a presentar una de estas propuestas, la cual se ha llevado a cabo entre la Universidad de Salamanca (España) y la Escuela Superior de Tecnología y Gestión de Bragança (Portugal) para definir un currículo de informática orientado hacia la informática de gestión y que cumpliese las directrices del marco de Bolonia.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por la Unión Europea en la convocatoria de proyectos INTERREG III A

The Neuro-Subject: A Living Entity with Learnability

In the context of an academic subject, students and teachers acquire knowledge and experience, but we must ensure that this experience will be shared and managed. In this way, the learning, acquired in the subject, remains in the subject. A proven way to manage the experience, which has been validated in previous works, is based on considering two dimensions: the conversion of individual knowledge into organizational and the use of a knowledge management system that allows classifying, organizing and finding knowledge based on ontologies and inferences between them. The primary objective of this research work is to join the two dimensions and apply an active method to manage the experience acquired by the teaching staff and students. The combination of the models RT-CICLO, as an active method, and ACCI 3.0 to transform individual and organizational knowledge can be applied so that organizational knowledge and learning are produced in a subject. In this work we have identified the actions in which the students create knowledge, as well as the type of knowledge that is created in each case. Organizational knowledge can be generated from each action, which can also be used to promote individual student learning. In the experience also have been acquired a high perception of usefulness on the part of students with regard to all types of organizational knowledge created