Metadata for describing learning scenarios under European Higher Education Area paradigm

In this paper we identify the requirements for creating formal descriptions of learning scenarios designed under the European Higher Education Area paradigm, using competences and learning activities as the basic pieces of the learning process, instead of contents and learning resources, pursuing personalization. Classical arrangements of content based courses are no longer enough to describe all the richness of this new learning process, where user profiles, competences and complex hierarchical itineraries need to be properly combined. We study the intersection with the current IMS Learning Design specification and the additional metadata required for describing such learning scenarios. This new approach involves the use of case based learning and collaborative learning in order to acquire and develop competences, following adaptive learning paths in two structured levels

Mobile technology to support coherent story telling across freely explored outdoor artworks

Museum professionals create exhibitions that tell stories about museum objects. The exhibits are usually arranged to reveal the relationships between them and to highlight the story being told. But sometimes objects are in fixed places and cannot be re-positioned. This paper presents a solution to the problem of how to tell conceptually coherent stories across a set of fixed artworks within the grounds of a museum and to reveal relationships between them. A study was conducted in which QR codes were used to provide access, through mobile devices, to online information about artworks. A notion of conceptual coherence and coverage of artworks was used to construct online story trails linking artworks to each other based on overlap of key story features such as setting, people and themes. Visitors were free at all times to follow their own path through the museum grounds and choose which objects they wanted to stop and engage with. The QR code trail was evaluated on an outdoor art trail at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Analytics of page access were used to identify how often visitors scanned QR codes and to what extent, once they had visited the online information about an artwork, they were likely to follow the story links

Adolescent Non-Suidical Self-injury: Analysis of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey

Self-injury is a significant issue with a variety of psychological, social, legal and ethical consequences and implications (Froeschle & Moyer, 2004; McAllister, 2003; Nock & Mendes, 2008; White Kress, Drouhard, & Costin, 2006). Self-injurious behavior is commonly associated with the cutting, bruising or burning of the skin. It also can include trichotillomania, interfering with wound healing and extreme nail biting (Klonsky & Olino, 2008; Zila & Kiselica, 2001). In assessing severity, it is important to note that self-inflicted wounds typically do not require any medical attention, as those who engage in self-injury will usually care for any open wounds in order to prevent infection (Walsh, 2006). The typical duration of a self-injurious act is usually less than 30 minutes, resulting in immediate relief from the emotional turmoil precipitating the behavior (Alderman, 1997; Gratz, 2007). It is difficult to estimate the prevalence of self-injury for many reasons. Nock (2009) noted that reports indicating increased estimates in this behavior derive from “anecdotal reports and estimates from small cross-sectional studies” (p. 81). Given the many ethical and legal ramifications involved in working with clients that self-injure, it is important to understand how self-injury typically manifests itself, how it affects differing populations based on gender and cultural differences, and the level of danger it truly represents to the person choosing to utilize it

Estudio bibliométrico de la evolución de la revista Enseñanza de las ciencias a partir de sus fuentes de información

Science learning research development in Spain can be bibliometrically analyzed using Enseñanza de las Ciencias as indicator, because of the incidence level of this journal in researchers with interest in scientific education. The references which are cited in the articles have been studied in order to analyze the main sources and the most productive authors, using the Bradford model. The evolution of the type of sources and articles which are cited during the period of time studied are considered