Caracterização multivariante dos estilos de aprendizagem dos estudantes do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco

O processo Europeu de Convergência do Ensino Superior, determinado pelo processo de Bolonha, coloca o aluno no centro do processo de ensino-aprendizagem, focando os seus estudos nas competências que deve ter o recém-formado e potenciando a iniciativa e a aprendizagem autónoma do aluno. Essa mudança de paradigma educacional está ligada a uma mudança metodológica que reforça o papel ativo e o pensamento crítico do aluno. Para adquirir as competências o aluno deve usar o seu ou os seus estilos de aprendizagem predominantes que têm um caráter de predisposição para aprender de determinada forma. Neste sentido, no processo de ensino/aprendizagem, a análise dos estilos de aprendizagem assume um papel fundamental para saber como aprendem os alunos. Este estudo foi desenhado para avaliar os estilos de aprendizagem dos alunos das seis escolas de ensino superior do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco. É parte de uma tese de doutoramento em Estatística Multivariante Aplicada desenvolvida na Universidade de Salamanca (Silveira, P., Villardón, MP, Galindo, MP, 2013). Pretende-se, também, evidenciar o papel dos métodos fatoriais multivariantes na análise de dados que envolvem estruturas complexas de Covariação/Interação, com particular destaque para os métodos Biplot que nunca foram utilizados neste contexto. Para recolher a informação foi utilizado o questionário CHAEA (Questionário Honey-Alonso de Estilos de Aprendizagem criado por Alonso e Honey em 1995).Abstract The European Convergence Process in Higher Education, given by the Bologna process, puts the student as the core of the teaching-learning process, focusing his studies on skills that must have recently graduated, fostering initiative and independent student learning. This shift in educational paradigm is linked to a methodological change that strengthens critical thinking and active role of the student. To acquire skills, students should use their predominant learning styles that represent a pre-disposition to learn in a certain way. In this sense, in the teaching / learning process, analysis of learning styles plays a key role on how students learn. This study was designed to assess the learning styles of students from six schools of higher education in the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco. It is part of a doctoral thesis in Applied Multivariate Statistics developed at the University of Salamanca (Silveira, P., Villardón, MP, Galindo, MP, 2013). The aim is also to highlight the role of factorial multivariate methods in data analysis involving complex covariance/ interaction structures, with particular emphasis on Biplot methods that have never been used in this context. Was used the CHAEA questionnaire (Questionnaire Honey-Alonso Learning Styles created by Alonso and Honey in 1995) to collect information

Elements of the pedagogical design of MOOC «Statistics for researchers»

We present the constituent elements of the pedagogical design of MOOC «Statistics to researchers» from the University of Salamanca to the goal of detailing its pedagogical design and the results obtained. We start from four themes: (I) type of statistical learning, features and the propositional network for its representation; (II) capabilities of the virtual environment to enhance the transfer of knowledge; (III) materials as resources to learning; (IV) the analysis of the technological tools. A case study-based research methodology is adopted and used the questionnaire as an instrument. We present the results of implementation proving its success with a 30% completion rate.En este estudio se presentan los elementos constitutivos del diseño pedagógico del MOOC «Estadística para investigadores» de la Universidad de Salamanca. En su diseño partimos de cuatro ejes: (I) tipología del aprendizaje estadístico, características y la red proposicional para su representación; (II) capacidades del entorno virtual para potenciar la transferencia del conocimiento; (III) diseño de materiales como recursos de apoyo al aprendizaje; (IV) el análisis de las herramientas tecnológicas. Se adopta una metodología de investigación basada en estudio de caso y como instrumento de recogida de la información se utiliza un cuestionario de satisfacción. Se exponen los resultados de la implementación del MOOC que prueban el éxito alcanzado con una tasa de permanencia del 30%

Dimensional structure of the oral health-related quality of life in healthy Spanish workers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL) is conceived as a multidimensional construct. Here our aim was to investigate the dimensional structure of OHQoL as measured by the Spanish versions of the Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) and the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaires applied simultaneously.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We recruited a consecutive sample of 270 healthy Spanish workers visiting the Employment Risk Prevention Centre for a routine medical check-up. OHIP-14 was self-completed by participants but the OIDP was completed in face-to-face interviews. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed to identify the underlying dimensions of the OHQoL construct assessed by both instruments. This factorial structure was later confirmed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using several estimators of goodness of fit indices.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>EFA and the CFA identified and respectively confirmed a set of 3 underlying factors in both questionnaires that could be interpreted as functional limitation, pain-discomfort, and psychosocial impacts. The model achieved was seen to fit properly for both instruments, but the factorial structure was clearer for the OIDP.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results provide evidence for construct equivalence in the latent factors assessed by both OIDP and OHIP-14, suggesting that OHQoL is a three-dimensional construct. The prevalence of impact on these three factors was coherent between both indicators, pain-discomfort having the highest prevalence, followed by psycho-social impact, and functional limitation.</p

Una Alternativa al Algoritmo Chaid de Segmentación Basada en Entropía.

The CHAID (Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection) treebased segmentation technique has been found to be an effective approach for obtaining meaningful segments that are predictive of a K-category (nominal or ordinal) criterion variable. CHAID was designed to detect, in an automatic way, the  nteraction between several categorical or ordinal predictors in explaining a categorical response, but, this may not be true when Simpson’s paradox is present. This is due to the fact that CHAID is a forward selection algorithm based on the marginal counts. In this paper we propose a backwards elimination algorithm that starts with the full set of predictors (or full tree) and eliminates predictors progressively. The elimination procedure is based on Conditional Independence contrasts using the concept of entropy. The proposed procedure is compared to CHAID.La técnica de segmentación basada en árboles CHAID (Detección Automática de Interacción basada en el Chi Cuadrado, o Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection, por sus siglas en inglés) ha mostrado ser útil para obtener segmentos significativos que sean predictivos de una variable criterio de K categorías (nominal u ordinal).CHAID fue diseñado para detectar, de manera automática, la interacción entre  varios predictores categóricos u ordinales para explicar una respuesta categórica,  pero esto puede no ser cierto cuando se presenta la paradoja de Simpson. Esto se debe al hecho de que CHAID es un algoritmo de selección hacia adelante basado en conteos marginales. En este artículo proponemos un algoritmo de eliminación hacia atrás que empieza con el conjunto completo de predictores (o árbol completo) y elimina progresivamente predictores. El procedimiento de eliminación está basado en contrastes de independencia condicional usando el concepto de entropía. El procedimiento propuesto es comparado con CHAID

Multivariate Statistical Techniques: A new approach to Identify the commercial properties of mixtures of flours of lentinula edodes and cocoa pod husk

[ENG]Lentinula edodes is known to show high nutritional and organoleptic properties and can be mixed with different by-products in the production of new foods with important functional characteristics. Cocoa pod husk (CPH) is the main by-product in the cocoa industry and presents important bioactivities. In this research, two mixtures were applied based on Lentinula edodes mushroom flour from fifty different strains (strain 1 to strain 50) and cocoa pod husk flour (CPHF): 60% Lentinula edodes mushroom flour from each strain mixed with 40% CPHF (Mixture 1), and 80% Lentinula edodes mushroom flour from each strain mixed with 20% CPHF (Mixture 2). The parameters evaluated were moisture, proteins, fat, total dietary fiber (TDF), ash, carbohydrates, antioxidant capacity, antimicrobial activity, pH and water activity (aw). The multivariate statistical techniques evaluated those samples that exhibited the highest degree of correlation with the distinct chemical and commercial parameters, showing that sample 13 of both mixture flours (M1 and M2) obtained by the mushrooms of L. edodes (strain 13) with CPH indicated the higher significant of the parameters. In addition, the sensory test of the best flour (sample 13) was applied to 50 panelists, presenting the best sensory characteristics, such as color, aroma, texture and general acceptability

Comparative validity of the OIDP and OHIP-14 in describing the impact of oral health on quality of life in a cross-sectional study performed in Spanish adults

Objectives: We aimed to compare the utility and validity of two popular socio-dental indicators (OIDP and OHIP- 14) for describing the impact of oral conditions on quality of life applied simultaneously. Study design: We recruited a consecutive sample of 270 healthy Spanish workers visiting the Employment Risk Prevention Centre for a routine medical check-up. OHIP-14 was self-completed before the oral examination and the face to face interview of the OIDP was performed. Both instruments were compared by evaluating its reliability and its validity. Results and Conclusions: The standardised Cronbach alphas for OHIP-14 and OIDP were 0.89 and 0.74 respectively. OIDP showed lower face validity but higher content validity than OHIP-14. Both indicators showed high construct and criterion validity, since individuals perceiving need for dental treatment or having any complaint about their mouth obtained significantly higher total OIDP and OHIP scores than their counterparts. The prevalence of impacts was much higher using the OHIP (80.7%) than the OIDP (27.8%). © Medicina Oral S. L

Teoría de Respuesta al Ítem: un análisis sobre la estructura del instrumento VFQ-25 aplicado a la evaluación de la calidad de vida

La Teoría de Respuesta al Ítem (TRI) se constituye como una fundamentación probabilística para medir constructos latentes al entender que los ítems son las unidades básicas de medición dentro de un instrumento. Un reciente estudio sobre la evaluación del cambio en la Calidad de Vida de 218 pacientes miopes operados con cirugía de láser Excimer corneal, realizado en la ciudad de San José de Costa Rica, evidenció cómo los pacientes que se sometieron a este tipo de cirugía mejoraron significativamente su calidad de vida. Para la recolección de los datos se aplicó el instrumento NEI-VFQ-25 que consta de 25 ítems que miden la Calidad de Vida Relacionada con la Visión (CVRV), agrupados en 12 subescalas. El instrumento debe ser utilizado al menos dos veces en cada paciente y generalmente se utiliza 4 ó 5 veces a lo largo del tiempo para poder evaluar el verdadero cambio en la CVRV. Esto implica un tiempo largo de ejecución, por esta razón se plantea estudiar la capacidad informativa de cada ítem para conocer si es posible simplificar el instrumento sin pérdida de información. Se aplicó el análisis de la TRI utilizando el programa MULTILOG, que incluye las estimaciones de los parámetros utilizando el método de máxima verosimilitud y el modelo de respuestas graduadas, lo que permitió evidenciar la capacidad de información y el poder discriminante de cada ítem. El estudio ha puesto de manifiesto que es factible conseguir un instrumento más simple con la misma capacidad informativa

¿Garantiza el Ranking de Shanghai alto desempeño académico?

The Shanghai ranking (ARWU) has achieved such prestige that a good position on this list is associated with quality and reputation. The objective of this research is to analyze if the universities classified in ARWU show the best academic performance. Performance, Graduation and Dropout rates of Spanish universities students have been selected. A multivariate analysis was carried out using HJ-Biplot method, studying the behaviour with respect to these rates the universities that appear in the ranking. The results show that taking the top positions in the Shanghai Ranking does not guarantee the best results in Performance and Graduation rates. University quality must therefore be approached from a multidimensional perspective, depending on the strategy that each institution defines to respond to the different missions.El Ranking de Shanghai (ARWU) ha alcanzado tal prestigio que una buena posición en esta lista está asociada a calidad y reputación. El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar si las universidades clasificadas en ARWU muestran el mejor desempeño académico. Se han seleccionado las tasas de Rendimiento, Graduación y Abandono de los estudiantes de Grado de las universidades españolas. Se ha realizado un análisis multivariante a través del método HJ-Biplot, estudiando el comportamiento respecto a estas tasas de las universidades que aparecen en el ranking. Los resultados prueban que ocupar los primeros puestos en Shanghai no garantiza los mejores resultados en el desempeño académico. La calidad universitaria debe abordarse, por tanto, desde una perspectiva multidimensional, en función de la estrategia que cada institución se marque para dar respuesta a sus misiones

Mujeres en la universidad española: diferencias de género en el alumnado de grado

The first female registration at Spanish university takes place in the year 1872 when María Elena Maseras Ribera accesses the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Barcelona. Since then, the number of female students has been increasing and their access to different disciplines has varied according to the social circumstances, always having as reference the domestic model. This research identifies the specialties of higher education that do not present an equitable gender distribution. For their development, they have selected Bachelor's students Spanish universities in the last three academic courses. Results reveal statistically significant gender differences at some areas of study. Women presence Spanish universities is greater in careers considered by society according to its role in the family. Conversely, technical degrees –closer to male stereotypes-, to reflect a minority female participation.La primera matrícula femenina en la universidad española tiene lugar en el año 1872 cuando María Elena Maseras Ribera accede a la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Barcelona. Desde entonces, el número de alumnas ha ido en aumento y su acceso a diferentes disciplinas ha variado según las circunstancias sociales de cada época, siempre teniendo como referencia una formación que no las aparte del modelo doméstico.La presente investigación identifica las especialidades de la educación superior que no presentan una distribución de género equitativa. Para su desarrollo, se han seleccionado los alumnos de Grado matriculados en las universidades españolas en los tres últimos cursos académicos. Los resultados indican que existen diferencias de género estadísticamente significativas en algunos ámbitos de estudio. La mayor presencia de mujeres se circunscribe a carreras consideradas tradicionalmente por la sociedad acordes a su papel en el ámbito familiar. Por el contrario, las titulaciones relacionadas con la técnica –más cercanas a los estereotipos masculinos-, siguen reflejando en la actualidad una participación femenina minoritaria

Creación de minivideos docentes modulares (MDM) basados en las transparencias minimalistas (TM) despertando la actitud activa de los estudientes, a través de tablets y smartphones

Memoria ID-345. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2013-2014