El voluntariado TIC como forma de aprendizaje-servicio

El aprendizaje-servicio es una metodología educativa que combina el servicio comunitario con la adquisición de competencias y valores, y constituye un marco idóneo para devolver a la sociedad parte de su inversión en educación pública. Este artículo presenta el Programa UPC de Voluntariado TIC, que está en su segundo año de funcionamiento. El programa ha recibido una subvención del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona a través de la convocatoria de financiación del Programa de Educación para el Desarrollo 2016. En el programa han participado ya una docena de entidades y 28 voluntarios que han desarrollado 21 proyectos. Los resultados muestran que las entidades están en general satisfechas con los proyectos y con el trabajo de los voluntarios. Los voluntarios también valoran positivamente tanto el trabajo realizado como el aprendizaje obtenido a través de la realización de su proyecto.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

El Programa UPC de Voluntariado TIC como experiencia de aprendizaje-servicio para trabajar la competencia Sostenibilidad y Compromiso Social

El aprendizaje-servicio, una metodología educativa que combina la adquisición de competencias y valores con el servicio comunitario, es un marco idóneo para devolver a la sociedad parte de su inversión en educación pública. Este póster presenta el Programa UPC de Voluntariado TIC, cuya fase piloto se ha puesto en marcha durante el curso 2015-2016. Han participado 6 entidades con fines sociales y 13 estudiantes de grado de las ingenierías de informática y telecomunicaciones. El programa ha recibido una subvención del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona a través de la convocatoria de financiación del Programa de Educación para el Desarrollo 2015. Una vez establecidos los mecanismos de seguimiento y evaluación, el próximo objetivo es consolidar el programa durante el próximo curso, ampliar el número de entidades sociales colaboradoras y analizar su posible extensión a otras disciplinas de voluntariado tecnológico.Service-learning, an educational methodology that combines the acquisition of skills and values with community service, is an ideal framework to return to society part of their investment in public education. This poster presents the UPC’s ICT-volunteer program, whose pilot phase started the year 2015-2016. Six bodies for social purposes, and 13 undergraduate students of engineering in computing and telecommunications, have participated in this initiative. The program has received a grant from the Barcelona City Council through the call for funding of the Education for Development 2015. Once the mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the program have been established, the next goal is to consolidate it over the next year, increasing the number of partnerships with social organizations and analysing its possible extension to other fields of technological volunteering

Technological volunteering as an approach for service learning

Entities with social purposes perform an essential task in our Society. They are often obliged to work with insufficient budgets that do not allow them to develop their projects with the necessary guarantees. In particular, they require computers and support from ICT experts in order to be able to fulfil their objectives in a society as technological as ours, in which changes in technology occur at a dizzying speed. In September, 2015, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech launched an ICT volunteer program in the form of a pilot experience with students from the Schools of Informatics and Telecommunications. The program, an extra-curricular activity called Vol-ICT, is currently in its third edition. This program falls in a more ambitious one in which we aim to increase student retention by using Service Learning as a part of our university educational policy [1].Peer Reviewe

El voluntariado TIC como forma de aprendizaje-servicio

El aprendizaje-servicio es una metodología educativa que combina el servicio comunitario con la adquisición de competencias y valores, y constituye un marco idóneo para devolver a la sociedad parte de su inversión en educación pública. Este artículo presenta el Programa UPC de Voluntariado TIC, que está en su segundo año de funcionamiento. El programa ha recibido una subvención del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona a través de la convocatoria de financiación del Programa de Educación para el Desarrollo 2016. En el programa han participado ya una docena de entidades y 28 voluntarios que han desarrollado 21 proyectos. Los resultados muestran que las entidades están en general satisfechas con los proyectos y con el trabajo de los voluntarios. Los voluntarios también valoran positivamente tanto el trabajo realizado como el aprendizaje obtenido a través de la realización de su proyecto.Peer Reviewe

Technological volunteering as an approach for service learning

Entities with social purposes perform an essential task in our Society. They are often obliged to work with insufficient budgets that do not allow them to develop their projects with the necessary guarantees. In particular, they require computers and support from ICT experts in order to be able to fulfil their objectives in a society as technological as ours, in which changes in technology occur at a dizzying speed. In September, 2015, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech launched an ICT volunteer program in the form of a pilot experience with students from the Schools of Informatics and Telecommunications. The program, an extra-curricular activity called Vol-ICT, is currently in its third edition. This program falls in a more ambitious one in which we aim to increase student retention by using Service Learning as a part of our university educational policy [1].Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Weaving communities, the missing link for the social impact of universities: using network analysis to study the formation of communities at the UPC

Collaboration between and among organizations is one of the key elements in their sustainability and resiliency (Capra, 2002). One of the most effective ways to enhance collaboration, especially in those areas concerning social impact and social responsibility, as it is the promotion of SDGs, is through fostering collaborative communities with a shared purpose. The ultimate aim of this research is to explore if it is possible to generate such communities, make them sustainable and develop metrics to measure their practices. This paper presents two cases of community creation within the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC): the first one, focused on improving the university management, and the second one, on the cooperation for development activities. The description of both cases shows how the sustainability and effectivity of these communities can be studied through the lens of networks analysis and complexity. The first case presented is the UPC’s Nexus24 initiative. By creating this internal program in 2014, the UPC aims at “making collaborative work normal by 2024”, by overcoming organizational fragmentation and enhancing collaborative communities across the university and making it more adaptive, flexible and innovative. The potential is not only to change the culture, but the operating system through creating a complementary working structure to the formal one and achieving the status of community (Nexus24 activities are referred as N24A in the text). The second case is one of the main activities of the UPC’s Center for Development Cooperation (CCD). For 28 years the UPC, through the CCD, has promoted around 100 cooperation projects per year (referred as CP in the paper), resulting in thousands of people involved, including staff, teachers and students. Regarding social commitment of universities, the traditional approach has not paid enough attention to the quality and quantity of the relationships. Can these tools based on complex networks identify the necessary levers to upgrade the network to a community with a shared purpose?Postprint (published version

Technological volunteering as an approach for service learning

Entities with social purposes perform an essential task in our Society. They are often obliged to work with insufficient budgets that do not allow them to develop their projects with the necessary guarantees. In particular, they require computers and support from ICT experts in order to be able to fulfil their objectives in a society as technological as ours, in which changes in technology occur at a dizzying speed. In September, 2015, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech launched an ICT volunteer program in the form of a pilot experience with students from the Schools of Informatics and Telecommunications. The program, an extra-curricular activity called Vol-ICT, is currently in its third edition. This program falls in a more ambitious one in which we aim to increase student retention by using Service Learning as a part of our university educational policy [1].Peer Reviewe