Comuna: diseño participativo como estrategia para fomentar la participación del espacio y la usabilidad del producto

The purpose of this study is to discuss the effects and results of following a participatory design methodology in the development of a project devised as a crime prevention and community engagement strategy for a marginalized neighborhood located in Nuevo León, México. Starting as a digital platform, the participatory design approach led to a series of improvements, including, but not limited to, the transformation of a public space.El objetivo de este estudio es mostrar los efectos y resultados del seguimiento de una metodología de diseño colaborativo en el desarrollo de un proyecto ideado para la prevención del crimen, y una estrategia de participación ciudadana para un vecindario marginado, ubicado en Nuevo León, México. El estudio colaborativo de diseño, que comenzó en una plataforma digital, obtuvo una serie de mejoras, incluyendo la transformación de un espacio público

The Curricular Practice of a Work-Competency Model for Adult Higher Education

The purpose of this research was to get to know the true curriculum of the Northwestern University’s Get Ahead, a special undergraduate program based on the work competencies model and aimed at adults already in the workforce. The goal was to back up the curricular improvement of an educational alternative unique of its kind in Sonora (Mexico). The methodology of Estevez and Fimbres (1998) was used for the formal curriculum analysis and its comparison with the real curriculum from the perspective of its protagonists: teachers and students. The curriculum’s internal and external sources were analyzed in order to define the instruments and variables, and to interpret the results. We concluded that the teachers showed that the teachers were more up to date than the students in regard to disciplinary topics. However, they lack adequate teaching strategies to make an impact on students’ learning process. Moreover, neither teachers nor students are familiar with the competence model, nor do teachers apply a diagnostic examination to determine their students’ competency at the beginning of the course. This indicates that the formal curriculum is distant from the real curriculum.</span