Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The family and education context has a great influence on young peoplein the society of the 21st century, with a need for media literacy in orderto critically and effectively connect with the media and their messages.Families, as well as teachers, must be competent with respect to media, tobe a personal, professional and social model for minors regarding how toreflexively and constructively gain access to information and knowledgethrough media. Therefore, the main goal of this investigation is aimed atdiscovering the present situation in relation to media competency in Spanish families and teachers. This study is classified as an I+D+I project, financed by the Spanish government. In order to give a response to the mentioned goal, descriptive statistical analyses have been carried out based on the answers of 905 teachers from different educational stages (Pre-school, Secondary and High School, and Professional Training) from ten Spanish provinces to a questionnaire designed and validated ad hoc, as a quantitative technique for collecting information. On the other hand, the results have been qualitatively analyzed by nine Focus Groups (FG) developed in nine Spanish provinces, in which a total of 51 mothers and fathers of young underage students had participated. The main results from the investigation reflect that teachers present a high degree of training in media competency and make pedagogical use of the media, while the families acknowledge and justify certain deficiencies in this respect. However, both groups have acquired a prosumer roll and reflect certain training demands and needs.

This work has been developed within the framework of a project ofeducational innovation aimed at adapting the University of Almeria to theEuropean Higher Education Area. Its general objective was to investigate the feasibility of applying 3D immersive environments for distance teaching and learning. In this sense, the use of the widely known platform Second Life has been evaluated with regards to efficiently complementing the traditional faceto-face learning method applied in the subject of Computer Aided Design, maintaining insofar as possible the feeling of belonging to a classroom for all the classmates involved.The study was conducted throughout three different phases. In the firstone, the procedure for experimental research was designed and planned. In the second stage, several working sessions focused on putting the proposed method into practice were carried out, later obtaining the opinion of the students through a specific questionnaire. Within the third phase, an adapted version of the well-known Kano’s model was applied to quantitatively assess student satisfaction with both the 3D immersive environment interface and the synchronous and distance learning method tested. Overall, the student response in relation to the theoretical component of the subject has been broadly positive, although they clearly preferred face-to-face teaching in the case of the purely practical component (CAD laboratory). The findings obtained in this study may be useful for teachers/researchers who are interested in the design of similar virtual classrooms. It can also help progress towards effective strategies for promoting the use of B-Learning experiences supported by 3D immersive environments.

The relationships between universities and the working world are keyelements in the higher education debate. This work analyzes the aspects thatexplain job placement for university graduates in Latin America, the linksbetween higher education and the labor market. At first, two close termsregarding this topic are examined, job placement and employability, to thencontinue with the description and validation of reports that have been thestarting point for the development of this kind of study on an internationallevel, with the objective of obtaining relevant aspects that provide guidelinesfor the subject matter for universities. This work uses the descriptivemethodology of content analysis in order to extract the most significantaspects, to systematize them, and to acquire a broad vision of what occurs inthis field on a higher education level in Latin America.

Introduction: Schools are making significant efforts to incorporate ICTsto their classrooms. However, integration requires structured projects thathave an impact not only on infrastructure and resources, but also on plansfor techno-pedagogical training, methodological innovation, leadership,management and coordination so that they can achieve their goal ofimprovement. This study aims therefore to analyze the characteristics ofprimary schools and secondary schools in the Community of Madrid, andthe level of ICT skills among teachers to identify their needs. To do so, this study will be theoretically framed in the UNESCO Standards Teacher Training in ICT. Methodology: In order to fulfill these intentions, we have applied a questionnaire that allows us to determine which are the characteristics of the centers that influence in the profile of teachers and their digital skills effectively, making the process of integration and pedagogical use of ICT more effective. Results: In this study it is evident that teachers still do not have the digital skills needed to work with ICTs in the schools that were analyzed.Conclusions: The results suggest that the key aspects that affect the process of implementation and integration of technologies in a school are training in digital skills, techno-pedagogical coordination, methodological application designed from the school curriculum as well as effective leadership that would create a climate of acceptance towards technology as an element of educational innovation. In addition, these schools must make a major effort, through a techno-pedagogical project of integration, to equip their classrooms with the appropriate resources and organization/coordination in order to incorporate innovative learning activities in the classrooms.

In this study, our aim is to prove that education alternatively stimulatesthe creation of employment and encourages innovation according to thecurrent technological revolution, according to the current necessities inthe cross-border territory. For this reason, four experiences are analyzedin this cross-border area, based on higher education in alternation to bothsides of the Pyrenees as experiences in tune with the triple helix model. The institutions of higher education involved are Universidad de Mondragon, Universidad de Vic-Universidad Central de Catalunya (Spain), la Escuela Universitaria de management de la Université de Pau (France) and École Superieure des Technologies Industrielles Avancées (ESTIA). Our findings suggest the elements that should have an alternating cross-border education model considering the common and diverging issues of the analysis of the four experiences and the relevance of using this educative innovation to improve employability and promote the market entry of the students along with the regional, social and economic development of the areas under study.

In this paper, we evaluate the design and implementation of the program of a mandatory subject of Structures in Architecture with problem-based learning (PBL). Active learning methods such as PBL adapt better to the new challenges of competence-based education than traditional methods. The experience reached a total of 324 students and 8 faculty members. It constitutes the first documented experience of large-scale PBL implementation in the discipline of Structures in Spain. The research includes a systematic evaluation of all stages of the program: design, process and results. We used a theory-based program evaluation model, following a mixed approach (quantitative and qualitative) for data collection and analysis. Students, faculty and multidisciplinary experts have participated in the evaluation through surveys (with open and closed questions) and focus groups. The evaluation criteria include adequacyand alignment of program components, implementation control, coverage,efficacy in achieving the course goals and students and faculty satisfaction.These criteria have been measured through 26 variables. The results show that the program has been effective for achieving most of its objectives. Especially remarkable are the advances made in academic performance and class attendance. The evaluation carried out us allowed to conclude that PBL adapts well to a practical approach of teaching structures, although some difficulties appeared in relation to the complexity of implementation of the method. The conclusions obtained on the performance of the program and its strengths and weaknesses could be useful in the extrapolation of the experience to similar contexts in the field of Architecture and Engineering.

University Social Responsibility (USR) is a new university managementpolicy that redefines the traditional scope and projection of social solidarity, introducing a global care approach for both administrative and academic impact in all university processes. USR demands to be transversely included by all university members in their everyday activities, it is imperative for them to understand what it is about so they are willing to become coresponsible in their day to day activities. This study begins to respond to the question: To what extent has the Latin American university community understood this new paradigm? This is an exploratory - descriptive type research with a quantitative approach making use of the survey technique which was administered to a sample of 740 participants (students, faculty, office personnel and principals) from 17 universities in seven Latin American countries; in order to grasp how university actors conceive USR, by selecting one of five given definitions. Results indicate several tendencies: first, the strictly assistance approach has diminished among the university community; secondly, preferences point directly to the participation perspective in local, regional and national development alongside with other actors and an approach derived from the ISO 26000 standard, which defines Social Responsibility as a management procedure of the organizational impact.It is concluded that this concept of impact management has already beenintroduced to the mind of the university community and it is overcoming the reductive vision of the social commitment only assumed from the voluntary engagement perspective, left aside from the academic and research curricula.Therefore, it is an invitation to construct a Latin American definition of USRbased on the participation of territorial development and the management of administrative and academic impact.

Recent studies reveal punctual advances in some of the classicalmalfunctions of the university learning assessment. Its development is linked to the construction of a new assessment paradigm, based on the European Higher Education Area and featured by five main improvement challenges: Sensitive continuity of the evaluation, Strategic orientation to learning, Tasks and instruments for competency development and accreditation, Transparency and deep understanding of the assessment criteria and Student participation. This paper contrasts the perception of these challenges in a sample of students and teachers involved in educational degrees. The inquiry was carried out by means of a questionnaire, based on rubrics which detail five acceptance and fulfilment levels in relation to each challenge. The results disclose that the five of them are considered important and there is no divergence in the acceptance declared by both teachers and students. The differences found in the confidence interval have a small effect and refer to the degree of compliance particularly noticed in three of the challenges.Students describe a significantly inferior fulfilment when addressing thetransparency in assessment criteria and the sensitive continuity, connected to the lower use of the formative function of the assessment. Students recognise that the assessment does not only come at the end, but they do not think it is developed in a sensitive and integrated way, as teaching staff state. They also acknowledge having information about the assessment criteria, but they reject the carrying out of tasks focused on explaining the same. Both sectors of the sample recognise insufficient achievement in relation to the student participation, although the average from the students’ answers is significantly inferior. These results suggest that despite the advances observed on its form, the assessment still represents a mainly certifying tool.

Development of the information and communication technologies has led to an increase in the use of Computer Based Assessment (CBA) in higher education. In the last decade, there has been a discussion on online versus traditional pen-and-paper exams. The aim of this study was to verify whether students have reserves about auto-scored online exams, and if that is the case, to determine the reasons. The study was performed in the context of a blended assessment in which 1200 students were enrolled on a first-year physics university course. Among them, 463 answered an anonymous survey, supplemented by information obtained from an open-ended question and from interviews with students. Three factors (labelled ‘F1-Learning,’ ‘F2-Use of Tool,’ and ‘F3-Assessment’) emerged from the quantitative analysis of the survey, and an additive scale was established. We found significant differences in the ‘F3-Assessment’ factor compared to the other two factors, indicating a lower acceptance of the tool for student assessment. It seems that even though students are used to computers, they have a lack of confidence in online exams. We carried out an in-depth survey on this topic in the form of an open-ended question and by interviewing a small group of 11 students to confer strength and nuance to the quantitative results of the survey. Although their comments were positive in general, especially on ease-of-use and on its usefulness in indicating the level achieved during the learning process, there was also some criticism of the clarity of questions and the strictness of the marking system. These two factors, among others, could have been the cause of the worse perception of F3-Assessment and the origin of the students’ reluctance towards online exams and automatic scoring.

Introduction: Labor insertion for young people is probably more difficultnowadays than it was a few decades ago in all productive sectors and inacademic education. A few decades ago, having a university degree was aguarantee of quick labor insertion, but nowadays, although having a university degree may somewhat alleviate the unemployment rate, it is still high among recent university graduates. In this paper, we show the differential profile of the companies who do hire recent graduates as compared to those who do not.Methodology: We worked with a sample of 1,325 employers from the business world of Catalonia, who were administered the questionnaire prepared adhoc during 2014. Results: The main results show that the more workers a company has, the higher the probability that they will hire recent graduates.Companies with a high percentage of graduated workers are more likely tohire recent graduates. Companies who are willing to work with Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia hire more than those who are not. And finally, the service sector hires more than construction or industry.Conclusions: In the present study we have shown a differential pattern between the companies that hire recent graduates or not, a very important aspect because this could help define university policies to facilitate the transition to the labor market.