Erubric for the assessment of skills and content in the external practices: legal aspects

The external practices is one of the most specific research topics in the field of university education (Raposo Rivas & Martinez-Figueira, 2013). Despite the external practices long history as a topic of research, there are still some important aspects worth researching, especially following the recent degree changes, which have lead to an increased importance of credits and presence in all degrees in Spain (Gallego & García, 2010), the need to study in the learning environments and collaboration between Company - University. Likewise, the boom in practices based on ICTs, such as digital portfolios, poses the need to prop up technological solutions and methods with rigorous research studies, especially due to wide popularity of ICTs in general. The supervision process in the external practices clearly requires communication and follow-up to be done remotely, by using ePortfolios (Barrett, 2006). In addition to competence-based assessment and the need for students to provide learning evidences, the supervision process in the external practices also poses the need to analyse students’ ability to carry out such processes (Falchikov, 2005; Jonsson, A. & Svingby, 2007; Reddy & Andrade, 2010), as well as the need to find out the best supervision methods to be used with eportfolios. Amongst the eportfolio’s elements, we find a tool for design, communication and competence-based assessment known as the eRubric. This project aims [EDU2013-41974-P][1] to consolidate a research line that has already been undertaken with other R+D+i, and which currently intends to expand to different researchers and Centres of Excellence in Spain and other countries [Harvard University –EEUU-; Colonia University –Germany-; Sined –México-; Universidad Federal do Paraná and Sta. Catalina –Brasil- y Stockholm University –Sweden-]. The previous project R+D+i [EDU2010-15432][2] was investigated on subjects with class attendance (Raposo Rivas; Cebrián de la Serna and Martínez-Figueira, 2013; Cebrián de la Serna; Serrano Angulo & Ruiz Torres, 2014), without the mediation of distance-learning. Such circumstances have therefore been exempt from the extra dimension that technology often gives human communication. In addition, no research studies have been conducted on the highly specific field of the external practices, nor on the supervision of distance-learning competences. In this context, teachers and students exchanged numerous documents which can benefit from legal issues such as data protection and image of the child, copyrights and / or the right of access to information for all people regardless of their abilities and specific educational needs. Distance learning, which represents a teaching method undoubtedly on the rise as a great technology mediator. eRubric evaluation falls within the concept of formative assessment; it is valuable for both the formal and non-formal education systems (vocational training, the unemployed, training of civil servants, etc.) both public and private companies.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. R+D+i project: Study of the Impact of federated eRubrics on the evaluation of external practices competences EDU2013-41974-P web: http://goo.gl/CN6ID

Sr isotope stratigraphy across the Paasivaara PGE reef of the Penikat intrusion, Northern Finland:insights into the genesis of reef-type PGE mineralization

Abstract. Layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions host the largest reserves of feasible PGE commodities. Worldwide rare in the geological record, these deposits are well-constrained in a few large igneous provinces. Despite extensive research on layered intrusions and related PGE ores, the models regarding the PGE ore-formation are diverse, involving both magmatic and hydrothermal processes, and the subject remains largely debatable. In Europe, research efforts around the Baltic Large Igneous Province (BLIP) has doubled due to the new geopolitical strategy of the European Union in their search for new sources of critical metals. Global politics have placed Finnish mafic-ultramafic layered intrusions in the spotlight. Penikat is a Paleoproterozoic 2.44 Ga layered intrusion part of the east-west trending Tornio-Näränkävaara belt in northern Finland. The exposed intrusion is 23 km long and 1.5 km to 3.5 km on the current erosional level. Based on seismic and gravimetric data, it extends to 2.5 km deep. The intrussion is split into five westward-dipping blocks: Sompujärvi, Kilkka, Yli-Penikka, Keski-Penikka, and Ala-Penikka. Traditionally, Penikat is divided into five megacyclic units (MCU I-MCU V), hosting three main PGE reef horizons: the Sompujärvi Reef (SJ), located to the basal part of MCU IV; the Ala-Penikka Reef (AP), occurring within the lower proportion of unit IV; and the Paasivaara Reef (PV), which defines the hanging wall contact from the MCU IV to the MCU V. The present study comprises 700 m of stratigraphy in the Ala-Penikka block and focuses on the Paasivaara reef (PV). This platinum-enriched reef appears at the Transition Zone (TZ), along the MCU IV-V boundary. To gain new insight into Penikat’s petrogenesis, we utilize fourteen thick section samples from historic drill cores, both intersecting the PV reef, and two additional samples made after hand specimens. The sections were reviewed using petrologic microscopy before subjecting them to geochemical analyses. From these sections, we obtained new in-situ Sr isotope data in plagioclase grains by using the LA-MC-ICP-MS laser ablation technique at the GTK facilities in Espoo, Finland. The procedure can track sub-grain scale heterogeneities from core to rim. As radiogenic ratios are rarely affected by melting or crystallization, subgrain analyses are a powerful tool for tracing the contributors in a magmatic system. In addition, EPMA was used to analyze the plagioclase composition, with dedicated attention to the anorthite content in the assayed grains, at the University of Oulu, Finland. The anorthite content analysis was then compared to the LA-MC-ICP-MS results to assess the magmatic differentiation undergone by the plagioclase crystals. The results support crystallization stability in most of MCU IV (Sr(i) ~ 0.7027 ± 0.0005) and MCU V (Sr(i) 0.7032 ± 0.0005 ). Nonetheless, data record a systematic, gradual increase in radiogenic Sr signature in the sparsely 38 m between MCU IV and V. In addition, rim to core distributions register more than a single Sr(i) signature at a subgrain scale in TZ samples. The variability in the Sr signature at the Transition Zone converges with a sharp An86 content spike at the PV reef boundary, arguing for a primitive magma contributor. The results confirm affinity between the SHMB type magma, related to plume magmatism, and the parental magma of Penikat. The Transition Zone would be a product of binary and asymmetric magma mixing, each with contrasting isotopic lineages and varying degrees of crustal contamination. The discussion supports magma ascension from a staging chamber as a likely origin of the PV reef, thus supporting the new magma pulse hypothesis. Finally, the present study is compared with previous Sr(i) stratigraphy in Bushveld, showing similarities between the UPZ-MZ transition and the Transition Zone in Penikat. The detection of similar Sr(i) may lead to new PGE discoveries in the future

Analysis of the pedagogical perspective of the MOOCs available in Portuguese

After an initial stage of exponential growth in MOOCs, a need has arisen of to address several different aspects of these innovations in order to understand and develop them from different perspectives, such as this one, with the analysis of pedagogical dimensions aimed at improving course design. This paper presents an updated review of the literature and proposes five research lines for an in-depth approach. This study is part of a broader research project1 and here analyses 356 MOOCs delivered in Portuguese by 16 different platforms. The research design is quantitative, non-experimental and transversal. An adaptation of the MOOC Educational and Interactive Indicators Instrument —INdiMOOC-EdI— was used in the data collection process. The reliability and internal consistency analysis of that adaptation for the whole sample resulted in a Cronbach alpha score of 0.731. The data obtained enable us to classify the existing MOOCs in Portuguese according to descriptive, formative, and interactive components. These different types correlate with the quality indices, being negative in the first dimension (descriptive) and positive in the second and third ones (formative and interactive).Funded by the call for R&D&i projects named: «Estudio del impacto de las erubricas federada en evaluación de las competencias en el practicum» (Study on the impact of federated eRubrics in the evaluation of the competences in the practicum). Plan Nacional de I+D+i de Excelencia (National R&D&i Excellence Plan) (2014-16) no. EDU2013-41974-

Prepulse inhibition modulation by contextual conditioning of dopaminergic activity

When a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with a drug, an association is established between them that can induce two different responses: either an opponent response that counteracts the effect of the drug, or a response thatis similar to thatinduced by the drug. In this paper, we focus on the analysis ofthe associations that can be established between the contextual cues and the administration of dopamine agonists or antagonists. Our hypothesis suggests that repeated administration of drugs that modulate dopaminergic activity in the presence of a specific context leads to the establishment of an association that subsequently results in a conditioned response to the context that is similar to that induced by the drug. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two experiments that revealed that contextual cues acquired the property to modulate pre-pulse inhibition by prior pairings of such context with the dopamine antagonist haloperidol (Experiment 1), and with the dopamine agonist d-amphetamine (Experiment 2). The implications of these results are discussed both at a theoretical level, and attending to the possibilities that could involve the use of context cues for the therapeutic administration of dopaminergic drugs.Junta de Andalucía SEJ-02618Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España PSI2012-3207

Technology to Improve the Assessment of Learning

The methodologies of assessment are one of the indicators of quality in teaching, to the point that the idea "tell me how you evaluate and I’ll tell you how you teach" is very accepted. To that we can add, and with what technology? When it is proposed that learning experiences have served to think and reflect on what we learn, learn about ourselves, self-regulate our learning ... Technologies have many functions and possibilities to improve these processes of diagnostic assessment, summative and formative, customize teaching, communicating and reflecting on what has been learned, making feedback more interactive and instantaneous, more motivating activities, easier and faster to manage evaluation data, essential in e-learning, b-learning and m-learning models. At the same time, these digital resources may have problems that we must also attend to. In summary, technologies are essential resources for the evaluation of learning. These are questions from this work: What technologies can we develop a formative assessment with? What emerging technologies are there to assessment?

Contextual control of flavor neophobia

The role of context in the retrieval of learned information has been widely analyzed in the associative learning domain. However, evidence about the effect of context on flavor memory retrieval is more limited. We have carried out four experiments with rats testing for possible interactions between neophobia habituation and the context in which flavors are presented, by manipulating prior experience with contexts. Our results point to the relevance of context familiarity for the establishment and recovery of a safe taste memory trace. More specifically, the use of the animals' home cages as experimental context favored neophobia habituation (Experiments 1A and 2), reduced dopamine levels induced by administration of the dopamine D1-like receptor antagonist SCH-23390 disrupted neophobia habituation when tested in presence of a new context (Experiment 1B), and testing in the animal's home cage increases the amount of flavor consumed, even when such flavor had a previous history of aversive conditioning (Experiment 3). We propose that exploring context without aversive consequences generates a safe memory trace of such context that becomes in the basis of increased flavor consumption

Temporal factors modulate haloperidol-induced conditioned catalepsy

Repeated pairings of a neutral context and the effects of haloperidol give rise to conditioned catalepsy when the context is subsequently presented in a drug-free test. In order to confirm whether this response is based on Pavlovian processes, we conducted two experiments involving two manipulations that affect conditioning intensity in classical conditioning procedures: time of joint exposure to the conditioned and the unconditioned stimulus, and the length of the inter-stimulus interval (ISI). The results revealed that both an increase in the length of context-drug pairings during conditioning and a reduced ISI between drug administration and context exposure increased conditioned catalepsy. These results are discussed in terms of the temporal peculiarities of those procedures that involve drugs as the unconditioned stimulus along with the role of Pavlovian conditioning in context-dependent catalepsy.Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2019-103982RBC42/AEI/10.13039/50110001103