The virtual construction of the mind: the role of educational psychology

New virtual minds are populating our classrooms. The new occupants of our schools are technological natives: children and adolescents for whom the computer is a fundamental part of everyday life. For them, the interfaces used by ICTs – the language of communication, interaction and learning – are internalised to the point of becoming as embodied and natural as speech itself. This virtual construction of the mind is an unavoidable phenomenon. It brings with it a set of major risks if it is not systematically supported and supervised by educationalists. Because of their age, most educationalists are technological migrants who have had to make the jump from the culture of the printed word to the culture of digitalisation, but who at the same time bring an armoury of resources for managing information presented in textual form – the format that still predominates in ICTs. Without the aid of these resources the new generations may be overwhelmed by a barrage of information that is potentially valid and useful but may also be seriously manipulated, unreliable, or vacuous. This article explores ways in which education, and specifically edumatics (the use of computing inside the educational environment) can respond to the need to construct a virtual mind able to deal successfully with the challenges of the future: what we call a strategic virtual mind.New virtual minds are populating our classrooms. The new occupants of our schools are technological natives: children and adolescents for whom the computer is a fundamental part of everyday life. For them, the interfaces used by ICTs – the language of communication, interaction and learning – are internalised to the point of becoming as embodied and natural as speech itself. This virtual construction of the mind is an unavoidable phenomenon. It brings with it a set of major risks if it is not systematically supported and supervised by educationalists. Because of their age, most educationalists are technological migrants who have had to make the jump from the culture of the printed word to the culture of digitalisation, but who at the same time bring an armoury of resources for managing information presented in textual form – the format that still predominates in ICTs. Without the aid of these resources the new generations may be overwhelmed by a barrage of information that is potentially valid and useful but may also be seriously manipulated, unreliable, or vacuous. This article explores ways in which education, and specifically edumatics (the use of computing inside the educational environment) can respond to the need to construct a virtual mind able to deal successfully with the challenges of the future: what we call a strategic virtual mind

Strategic Teaching in a Virtual Context: A Study on Tutor Training in Continuing Education

Adult students who start a distance-studying program need to develop a strategic learning that allows them to adapt themselves to the demands of distance education and achieve their learning goals successfully. The tutor becomes a fundamental factor when it comes to facilitating these students’ adaptation process to distance studying as well as the development of their strategic learning. In this article it is presented a qualitative study on the training process of a group of tutors in strategic distance teaching and learning; it is also presented the analysis of the changes generated in them regarding conceptual and strategic knowledge, both in an academic (as students in the course) and a professional (as tutors) level. Results point out that those tutors who managed to develop higher levels as strategic learners during the training course, accordingly developed a bigger conceptual knowledge and a better performance as strategic tutors.Adult students who start a distance-studying program need to develop a strategic learning that allows them to adapt themselves to the demands of distance education and achieve their learning goals successfully. The tutor becomes a fundamental factor when it comes to facilitating these students’ adaptation process to distance studying as well as the development of their strategic learning. In this article it is presented a qualitative study on the training process of a group of tutors in strategic distance teaching and learning; it is also presented the analysis of the changes generated in them regarding conceptual and strategic knowledge, both in an academic (as students in the course) and a professional (as tutors) level. Results point out that those tutors who managed to develop higher levels as strategic learners during the training course, accordingly developed a bigger conceptual knowledge and a better performance as strategic tutors

Internet Search and Navigation Strategies Used by Experts and Beginners

This paper presents three pilot studies whose purpose was to analyse the way different users (experts and beginners) go about searching for specific information, both on the Internet in general and in a thematic web site in particular. It discusses the role of prior knowledge in achieving the search objectives, and highlights the differences in task completion due to the use of approaches of varying levels of strategic development

La construcción de conocimiento profesional docente. Análisis de un curso de formación sobre la enseñanza estratégica

The principal aim of the investigation that is presented in this article is to analyze some characteristics of the construction process of teachers' professional knowledge of learning strategies. For this reason, empirical information has been collected from the teaching and learning process. This process starts with the design of a course of continua1 training for teachers, followed by the development of a didactic sequence, and ending with the application in the teaching practice of the knowledge acquired by six teachers. The results should be interpreted as the beginning of a future articulation of a psychological model of teacher training coherent with professional environment. From this model we can understand the epistemological construction of professional knowledge.La investigación que se presenta en este articulo tiene como principal finalidad el análisis de algunas caracteristicas del proceso de construcción del conocimiento profesional docente sobre el tema de las estrategias de aprendizaje que se ha producido en el marco de un curso prototi$ico de ,formación permanente del profesorado. Para ello, se han ido recogiendo varias evidencias empiricas de todo el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, que se inicia con el diseño formativo del curso, prosigue con el desarrollo de la secuencia didáctica de la actividad formativa y finaliza con la aplicación a la practica docente, por parte de seis profesores, de 10s conocimientos adquiridos. Los resultados obtenidos deben tomarse como un punto de partida para la futura articulacibn de un modelopsicológico de formación del profesorado, coherente con el escenario profesional, del cua1 se derivan las exigencias de una determinada epistemologia de construcción de conocimiento docente

Peer-Practual: una tutoria entre iguals interprofessional als estudis de magisteri i psicopedagogia

Es presenten els resultats d’un projecte d’innovació didàctica consistent en la realització conjunta de pràctiques professionals entre estudiants de Magisteri d’educació Infantil i Educació Primària, i estudiants de Psicopedagogia. Aquests estudiants van treballar en parelles i van realitzar un conjunt d’activitats, pròpies de les seves futures funcions professionals, amb el suport del company. Concretament la pràctica va consistir en la planificació, desenvolupament i avaluació d’una unitat didàctica sobre un tema curricular. Mentre l’estudiant de Magisteri preparava els materials i activitats corresponents, la seva parella, l’estudiant de Psicopedagogia, l’assessorava en cada una de les fases d’instauració. Per afavorir aquesta dinàmica, els estudiants van comptar en diferents suports i instruments: - Els tutors de la universitat, corresponents a cadascun dels estudis implicats, - Una plataforma Moodle específicament organitzada per tal que els estudiants poguessin analitzar tot el procés conjuntament. En aquest espai podien utilitzar des de recursos per a la programació de la unitat, eines per realitzar un diari personal, un calendari d’activitats conjuntes o esquemes gràfics, fins a altres per editar vídeos gravats de les sessions de classe i per afavorir la seva comunicació. El projecte pretenia contribuir a millorar, tant algunes competències professionals relatives ambdós tipus d’estudiants, com modificar determinades concepcions i actituds entre mestres i psicopedagogs. Els resultats mostren que ambdós objectius van esser assolits amb escreix i que, a més d’aprendre determinades competències professionals, certs prejudicis i actituds sobre les dificultats i interès de treballar am altre, es van eliminar de manera contundent

Enseñando a enseñar en la universidad: la formación del profesorado basada en incidentes críticos

Los profesores universitarios, salvo muy honrosas excepciones, no sabemos enseñar. Ello no puede sorprendernos si tenemos en cuenta al menos tres realidades indiscutibles: nadie nos enseñó a enseñar nuestras disciplinas, en la carrera académica se valora mucho más la investigación que la docencia y muchos académicos, aun en pleno siglo XXI, consideran que enseñar tiene que ver más con una actividad artística (incluso recreativa) que científica. Por desgracia, tampoco las insuficientes iniciativas implementadas hasta el momento en formación del profesorado universitario han obtenido los resultados esperados. Modificar la forma de enseñar no consiste únicamente en aprender y utilizar nuevas técnicas y métodos; un cambio profundo y sostenible requiere un cambio en la propia identidad profesional docente. En esta obra se proponen sistemas de formación innovadores, basados en una acción integral sobre las concepciones, las estrategias y, muy especialmente, las emociones y sentimientos vinculados a la docencia. La utilización de incidentes críticos, situaciones con un fuerte impacto emocional que desestabilizan y obligan al docente a repensar su enseñanza, suponen una vía privilegiada para promover esos cambios. El lector encontrará aquí una explicación clara, contrastada con la investigación e ilustrada con ejemplos, de algunos de esos sistemas de formación