Introducing ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy through Analysis of Acetaminophen Drugs: Practical Lessons for Interdisciplinary and Progressive Learning for Undergraduate Students.

Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is a vibrational spectroscopic technique useful in chemical, pharmaceutical, and forensic sciences. It is essential to identify chemicals for reasons spanning from scientific research and academic practices to quality control in companies. However, in some university degrees, graduate students do not get the proficiency to optimize the experimental parameters to obtain the best IR spectra; to correlate the IR spectral bands with the molecular vibrations (chemical elucidation); to have some criteria for any substance identification (especially relevant in quality control to recognize counterfeit); and to apply chemometrics for comparing, visualizing, and classifying the IR spectra. This work presents an experimental laboratory practice for an introductory teaching of the IR instrumental conditions in the identification of substances based on visual spectra comparison and statistical analysis and matching. Then, the selected IR conditions are applied to different commercial drugs, in the solid state or insolution, mostly composed of acetaminophen. Finally, the students apply chemometrics analysis to the IR data. This practice was designed for the training in a chemistry subject for undergraduate students of the chemistry, pharmacy, or forensics degrees, among others related to science, medical, food, or technological sciences.Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Policiales (IUICP

Forensic intelligence-led prevention of drug-facilitated sexual assaults.

This work explores the potentially broader contribution of forensic science to preventive public health through the proactive view promoted by forensic intelligence. For that purpose, a new working framework is applied as a strategic tool that channelizes forensic intelligence in a more understandable and didactic way for decision-makers, guiding preventive crime processes. Concretely, the implementation of this operational framework focuses on preventing drug-facilitated sexual assaults in the nightlife context. Through a two-stage research scheme, the working framework is used as a study tool for understanding this violent phenomenon and as a strategic thinking and action platform for overcoming it. Forensic intelligence-guided actions significantly enhanced institutional and direct support facing this specific form of sexual violence. Awareness messages targeting potential assailants, witnesses, and victims reached more than half a thousand students from the university and pre-university education through a preventive intervention within the educational system. Moreover, the inter-professional dialogue between forensic science and other health, security, and education disciplines shows the broader proactive role of forensic science beyond the traditional retroactive view limited to courtrooms and intelligence-led policing. This study demonstrates as forensic intelligence becomes applicable for civilians, who participate as decision-makers in intelligence-led preventive processes, anticipating the need for intervention by police and judicial authorities.Ministerio de Sanidad (Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional sobre Drogas) e Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Policiales (UAH, IUICP

Guided weekly reflection papers: a strategy for Achieving academic goals

Rapid changes in innovative teaching need multidisciplinary efforts to accomplish a variety of goals through a collaborative tool which inspires and stimulates the students to learn and use the knowledge in a more a critical way. In this context, our team of lecturers concerned by educational innovation had carried out during three academic years a learning tool based on “Weekly Reflection Papers” (WRP). With the experience gained in this process we have implemented an essential modification in the procedure in order to improve the teaching-learning process. The goal of this communication is to show the development of the initial tool and how it has been changed until the actual proposal called Guided Weekly Reflection Papers” (GWRP)

Improving learning environment at different academic Levels throughout guided weekly reflection papers

A group of lecturers from different teaching areas at Alcalá University concern by Innovative Education had implemented during four academic years a learning tool based on “reflective weekly papers”. With the experience gained in this process we have carried out an essential modification in the procedure which provides the students the possibility of a more active and participative learning called Guided Weekly Reflective Papers. In this communication we present the adaptation of this educational method for the first time as a valuable strategy for improving the learning environment in secondary schools, as an extension of its implementation at the University level and as a contribution to the integral formation and meaningful learning of the secondary level students

An information literacy approach within the "Guided weekly reflection papers"

INTED 2015, 9 th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, March 2 nd-4 th, 2015-Madrid, SpainA group of lecturers from diverse areas of knowledge of the University of Alcalá have implemented an experience of teaching innovation based on “reflective diaries”. The students hand in to the lecturer every week their “Weekly Reflection Papers” (WRP), in which they schematically express the most important ideas related with the topic presented during the classes of the previous week. They must include their reflections about the aspects they found especially interesting. After having applied this tool for some academic years we introduced a modification called “Guided Weekly Reflection Papers” (GWRP), where the professors suggest a series of questions on which the students must apply the most significant concepts studied each week. This modification enhances student’s motivation, encourages them to achieve more significant and reflective knowledge and generates interest in emergent topics. However, we often detect that the information management needed to solve the proposed questions in the GWRP is not the most suitable one. Therefore our present work is aimed at helping students develop the necessary skills and acquire a searching criterion in the framework of the information literacy. The strategy was focussed on some important items for the acquisition of information competencies. In this communication we analyze the progress of the GWRP tool and we explore the response of students to the information literacy approach

Guided Weekly Reflection Papers

The experience gained by our team of educational innovation with the implementation of the “Weekly Reflection Papers” has led us to diversify and make more flexible the employed methodology. The modified tool, applied during the academic year 2010-2011, was called “Guided Weekly Reflection Papers”. The aim of this modification has been the development of certain abilities and skills of the students, with particular emphasis on their ability to integrate, review and apply knowledge in a critical and reflective way. The professors guide the student´s work through a series of questions on which the students must apply the most significant concepts studied each week, to prove the acquisition of such aptitudes and skills

Guided Weekly Reflection Papers

The experience gained by our team of educational innovation with the implementation of the “Weekly Reflection Papers” has led us to diversify and make more flexible the employed methodology. The modified tool, applied during the academic year 2010-2011, was called “Guided Weekly Reflection Papers”. The aim of this modification has been the development of certain abilities and skills of the students, with particular emphasis on their ability to integrate, review and apply knowledge in a critical and reflective way. The professors guide the student´s work through a series of questions on which the students must apply the most significant concepts studied each week, to prove the acquisition of such aptitudes and skills

Reflective practice applications: "Guided weekly refection papers" excented from Alcalá University (Spain) to the Montfort University (UK)

Edulearn16: 8th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies. Barcelona, 4th-6th of july, 2016-Barcelona, SpainKnowledge has to be developed firmly based on reflections and thoughts as much as evidence. Being conscious of this principle, our innovation teaching group from the University of Alcalá has developed a reflective pedagogical approach called Guided Weekly Reflection Papers (GWRP) and implemented it since 2007. In this approach students hand in to the lecturer their “weekly work”, in which they schematically express the most important ideas related with the topic presented during the classes, and their reflections and comments on those aspects which they found especially difficult or interesting. Moreover students have to apply the concepts developed during the week to solve some questions or problems proposed by the lecturers to find solutions to real life situations and to explore beyond the walls of the classroom to discover where in the world around them they can find application of the material presented by the lectures.This innovative pedagogical approach has deeply contributed to the development of the student learning process and consequently been reflected in our teaching practice. The outcomes of the GWRP activity do not depend upon how much students have been studying but upon the level of comprehension of the knowledge we have shared with them. Therefore this strategy is very useful to prove the efficiency and quality of our teaching practice which leads us to continuously improve our way of teaching. Over several years, we have shown our results both in internal meetings in our University and in International Conferences, our colleagues have been caught up by our enthusiasm, which promotes their involvement in our model. Thus, different academics and organizations have adopted our reflective pedagogic strategy. The most recent incorporation of this approach has been implemented by selected academic staff at De Montfort University (DMU), Leicester (United Kingdom). This versatile methodology is being tested in a new university educational environment using a student cohort with a different set of characteristics and academic context compared to previous cohorts. This communication will describe the adaptation of the GWRP to teaching in the Clinical Biochemistry module delivered as part of two different Bachelor degrees taught at DMU: Biomedical Science and Medical Science and the response of students enrolled in this programmes at DMU. The results of the GWRP implemented in new subjects by the teachers of the innovation group at the University of Alcalá (UAH) will be also analysed

Implementación crítica de la reflexión en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje

This communication describes the evolution of an educational innovation strategy, originally called Weekly Reflection Papers, aimed to modify the practical teaching and to go deeper in the process of teaching and learning in higher education. To do this, seven teachers of different subjects of the University of Alcalá have applied this tool to achieve the proposed objectives, essentially based on that students learn to reflect on their own way of learning. Our innovation group has introduced various modifications in this strategy over the years. One of the priorities today is to place a greater emphasis on reflection with what is intended, on the one hand, to teach students to develop their reflective ability and on the other hand it would be very useful for us to analyze in more depth, the educational possibilities that presents this part of the tool. This work includes surveys carried out at the beginning and at the end of each subject, as well as a guide for reflection.En esta comunicación se describe la evolución de una estrategia de innovación educativa, denominada originariamente Semanarios Reflexivos, encaminada a modificar la práctica docente y profundizar en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje en la educación universitaria. Para ello, siete profesores de diferentes asignaturas de la Universidad de Alcalá hemos aplicado esta herramienta para alcanzar los objetivos propuestos, que fundamentalmente se basan en que los alumnos aprendan a reflexionar sobre su propia manera de aprender. Nuestro grupo de innovación ha introducido diferentes modificaciones en dicha estrategia a lo largo de los años. En la actualidad una de las prioridades es hacer un mayor hincapié en la reflexión, con lo que se pretende, por una parte, enseñar a los estudiantes a desarrollar su capacidad reflexiva y, por otra, aprender nosotros mismos a analizar, con más profundidad, las posibilidades docentes que presenta esta parte de la herramienta. Este trabajo incluye unas encuestas que se realizan al principio y al final de cada asignatura, así como una guía para la reflexión

Difusión de los resultados de la experiencia "Semanarios reflexivos" a través del repositorio de la UAH e-Buah

EIDUVII 2013, Encuentro de Innovación en Docencia Universitaria, 6 y 7 de junio de 2013, Edificio Multidepartamental, Campus de GuadalajaraEl movimiento de acceso abierto a la producción científica (OPEN ACCESS) está adquiriendo cada vez mayor relevancia lo que se puede constatar entre otras evidencias por la existencia de diferentes directorios, como el internacional SHERPA/ROMEO (http://www.sherpa.ac.ak/about.html) o el español DULCINEA/MELIBEA (http://www.accesoabierto.net/dulcinea/). MELIBEA permite consultar las políticas de las instituciones nacionales e internacionales y las entidades financiadoras, mostrando si se trata de una “Recomendación” de la institución o un “Requisito o Mandato” de obligado cumplimiento, mientras que DULCINEA tiene como objetivo conocer las políticas editoriales de las revistas científicas españolas respecto al acceso a sus archivos, los derechos de copyright sobre los mismos y cómo estos pueden afectar a su posterior auto-archivo en repositorios institucionales o temáticos. La Universidad de Alcalá está intentando impulsar la utilización del repositorio institucional de la Biblioteca e-Buah mediante la publicación de la producción académica de toda la comunidad universitaria. Nuestro grupo de innovación educativa desea participar en esta dinámica, con la finalidad de divulgar mucho más ampliamente nuestros trabajos de investigación educativa previamente presentados en diferentes Congresos o Encuentros de Innovación Docente nacionales e internacionales desde 2008. Estos trabajos fundamentalmente describen la metodología de la estrategia educativa denominada Semanarios Reflexivos y desarrolla los beneficios de la reflexión en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. La utilización del repositorio ha permitido tener un contacto mayor con la Biblioteca y conocer servicios orientados al investigador, y a la vez proponer mejoras en la estructura del repositorio, en sus comunidades, subcomunidades y colecciones, como la de recoger los grupos de investigación transversales y multidisciplinares (en fase de estudio actualmente en la Biblioteca). Además, es de esperar que nuestra aportación a e-Buah, implique no solo que nuestras investigaciones consigan mayor accesibilidad, difusión, conservación digital, identificación estable y única, y un mayor impacto en nuestra universidad, sino que puedan servir de motor para que otros investigadores de la Universidad se animen y con la suma de todos lograr que la imagen e impacto de nuestra Institución sea mayor y redunde a su vez en el beneficio de toda la sociedad, al poner en libre acceso el conocimiento