Is undergraduate programme accreditation influenced by educational public policy quality indicators? An exploratory study of the Chilean Higher Education quality assurance system

In Chile, as well as in most of Latin America, public policies for higher education have recently adopted a focus on quality assurance and accreditation systems. Uncertainty, however, still exists in terms of the quality assurance consistency in the current Chilean accreditation system, especially in terms of the relation between public policy quality indicators for higher education and their relation to accreditation outcomes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to make a first explorative attempt to investigate the relationships between these indicators and the results of undergraduate programme accreditation. We hypothesised that the public policy quality indicators of first-year drop-out rate, employment at graduation and ratio of actual to expected time to graduation would be strongly correlated to undergraduate programme accreditation as well as largely explaining its accreditation-year variance. By means of correlation and multiple regression analyses, we found small-sized associations, being first-year drop-out the only significant predictor of programme accreditation, explaining a 9.4% of its variance. These results raise questions regarding the consistency between the aims of public policy for higher education and the current accreditation system. This study should be of value to policy makers, managers and curriculum developers in terms of this initial analysis of the consistency between quality indicators and the accreditation system. Further research is necessary to make a systematic and in-depth assessment of the impact of quality assurance mechanisms to provide better rationale for making important decisions such as when defining the characteristics of the accrediting institutions as well as for establishing effective ways to achieve the proposed public policy objectives

Atributos de una docencia de calidad en la educación superior: una revisión sistemática

a presente revisión analiza de forma sistemática los atributos de una docencia de calidad en la educación superior, extrayendo información sobre características y cualidades que constituyen una docencia de 'excelencia'. La búsqueda documental se llevó a cabo a través de la triangulación de diversas fuentes, identificando 25 artículos. Mediante un análisis temático, dos autores de forma independiente analizaron y codificaron los atributos de un docente de calidad, clasificándolos en tres competencias: las genéricas (características personales, actitudinales y comunicativas); las pedagógicas (estrategias de enseñanza-aprendizaje y de planificación-gestión); y las disciplinares. Se presentan sus implicancias y sus indicadores específicos. Las características identificadas son factibles de ser modificadas, aprendidas y entrenadas. Estudiantes y profesores resaltan la necesidad fundamental de prepararse para ser profesor universitario, teniendo presente el papel crucial que juegan las variables de tipo genéricas, pedagógicas y disciplinares, tanto en la interacción profesor-estudiante como en la facilitación del aprendizaje

Closing the gap between business undergraduate education and the organisational environment: A Chilean case study applying experiential learning theory

In response to the continuous changes in Latin American higher education and the increasing demands for better prepared professionals, the Learning Connected to the Organisational Environment method was introduced in the course of Marketing at one public University in Chile. This was aimed as an integrated approach to education, providing pedagogical and social value by connecting organisations and real challenges with the learning objectives. This paper describes its design, implementation and initial impact on students’ learning process. Results on the impact of the LCOE method show that students valued learning with this new initiative (n = 158) and showed higher performance and improved quality of their written reports, along with higher evaluations of the teaching staff compared to students in the same course learning with traditional methods (n = 158). Discussion is centred on the value of this initiative and on suggestions for transference and future research

Which conditions facilitate the effectiveness of large-group learning activities? A systematic review of research in higher education

Large-group activities have increased in higher education since 2000. Research focused on the possibility to have positive effects on students’ learning, regardless of the number of students by identifying facilitating factors. Hence, the achievement of learning results is used as a criterion of effectiveness. This review summarises the findings of research studies on conditions that determine the effectiveness of large-group learning activities in higher education contexts published from 1996 to 2016. The PRISMA declaration for conducting literature reviews was followed. Articles were searched through the ERIC, Web of Science, SCOPUS, SCIELO, and EBSCO databases, including additional sources. A total of 78 articles met the inclusion criteria and were selected for thematic analysis. These studies came from a wide range of disciplines, types of institutions, and locations. Five themes emerged as conditions that facilitate the effectiveness of large-group learning activities: (1) student–teacher and student–student interaction, (2) implementation of active learning strategies, (3) classroom management, (4) students’ motivation and commitment, and (5) the use of online teaching resources. The discussion is centred on the conditions by which large-group activities can be effective learning strategies in terms of student’s achievement of learning outcomes

A Social Platform for Fostering Ethical Education through Role-Playing

Nowadays the complexity of knowledge, the specialization of labor and the pervasiveness of ICT in human activity, lead individuals to frequently make complex decisions with ethical implications. The educational system has a fundamental role in preparing specialized human capital in every discipline, however, it also faces the challenge of educating individuals with ethical discernment capabilities and behavior. In this book chapter, we describe the design, implementation and validation of EthicApp-RP, a social platform aimed at higher education settings, for fostering reflection and moral reasoning around ethical cases through a role-playing activity. We present an application of EthicApp-RP involving a cohort of undergraduate business students (N = 85), based on a case in which students play political and public leadership roles in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. The results indicate that students and teachers acknowledge the learning environment’s capacity to stimulate reflection and argumentation around ethical issues, while providing all students with equal opportunities for participation. In addition, the tool offers high technical and pedagogical usability, based on the Systems Usability Scale and the Pedagogically Meaningful Learning Questionnaire. EthicApp-RP can contribute to the improvement of ethics education, especially in scientific and technological disciplines, wherein students are quantitatively inclined by nature, in spite that ethics, a humanistic subject often foreign to them, must live at the core of their preparation

APRENDIZAJE Y SERVICIO COMO PROMOTOR DEL DESARROLLO DE LA COMPETENCIA DE RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EN UNA FACULTAD DE ECONOMÍA Y NEGOCIOS

El enfoque metodológico de Aprendizaje-Servicio ha sido utilizado desde el año 2009 por la Facultad de Economía y Negocios de la Universidad de Chile, para propiciar, por una parte, la vinculación de la formación profesional de sus estudiantes con problemáticas y desafíos reales del entorno, y por otra parte, el desarrollo de la competencia de Responsabilidad Social. El artículo tiene como finalidad presentar los resultados comparativos entre la percepción inicial y final de los estudiantes, que participan en cursos con enfoque de Aprendizaje-Servicio, respecto a su desempeño esperado y real de la competencia. Entre los principales resultados destaca que, los ítems  del instrumento asociados a la recolección de información con socios comunitarios y la estimación de impactos económicos a pesar de mostrar una leve disminución esta no es estadísticamente significativa, el resto de los ítems presenta una leve disminución. Lo anterior, puede explicarse debido a que ciertos desempeños son mayormente abordados en el plan de formación, ratificando la necesidad de seguir fortaleciendo la institucionalización de la metodología, así como buscar nuevas formas y estrategias metodológicas para el desarrollo de la competencia de Responsabilidad Social en la formación de profesionales.

Service-Learning as a Means to Promote Development of Social Responsibility Competency in a Department of Economics and Business (English translation)

El enfoque metodológico de Aprendizaje-Servicio ha sido utilizado desde el año 2009 por la Facultad de Economía y Negocios de la Universidad de Chile, para propiciar, por una parte, la vinculación de la formación profesional de sus estudiantes con problemáticas y desafíos reales del entorno, y por otra parte, el desarrollo de la competencia de Responsabilidad Social. El artículo tiene como finalidad presentar los resultados comparativos entre la percepción inicial y final de los estudiantes, que participan en cursos con enfoque de Aprendizaje-Servicio, respecto a su desempeño esperado y real de la competencia. Entre los principales resultados destaca que, los ítems  del instrumento asociados a la recolección de información con socios comunitarios y la estimación de impactos económicos a pesar de mostrar una leve disminución esta no es estadísticamente significativa, el resto de los ítems presenta una leve disminución. Lo anterior, puede explicarse debido a que ciertos desempeños son mayormente abordados en el plan de formación, ratificando la necesidad de seguir fortaleciendo la institucionalización de la metodología, así como buscar nuevas formas y estrategias metodológicas para el desarrollo de la competencia de Responsabilidad Social en la formación de profesionales. Palabras Claves: Responsabilidad Social, Aprendizaje-Servicio, Competencias Genéricas, Educación Superior.