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

A smartphone is a mobile device increasingly present in the academic activities that take place in universities, becoming a technological tool with great educational potential. The goal of this research is to analyze how students use their smartphones in university contexts, and how they evaluate the use of these mobile devices as educational tools. The research methodology used responds to an ex post facto, quantitative, transversal, correlational and descriptive design, with a sample of 252 university students of Social Education and Social Work of the Pablo de Olavide University (Seville, Spain). As a method for collecting data the questionnaire "Smartphone and university. Student's vision. SUOS" has been used. The research work provides outstanding conclusions for the field of study addressed, among the main results obtained, it is emphasized that the university students show a clear positive evaluation of the use of the smartphone as an educational tool in Higher Education, with the youngest students being those who use the smartphone the most at the university level. Also, numerous advantages stand out, such as the rapid search for information, access to content without spatial or temporal limitations, as well as its usefulness for academic management and organization and communication with other students, promoting the development of their learning. On the other hand, there are some negative aspects of the use of Smartphones in university contexts, such as dependency and stress that can lead to the misuse of this technology, or the negative impact that it can have on written communication.

The European Framework for Digitally Competent Educational Organisations (DigCompOrg) is the first pan-European model that guides educational institutions to digitize in a strategic way. The general objective of this research is to offer an overview of the scientific production that is based on this model and to identify the theoretical or practical focus of these studies. An exploratory study with a documentary analysis technique is presented, the method of which consists of a systematic review of the existing scientific literature published in relation to the DigCompOrg model from 2015 to 2020. For the search, the bibliometric databases Scopus, Web of Science and the scientific search engine Google Scholar were used. After eliminating duplications, a total of 231 works are analyzed, of which 28 make up the final sample after applying the eligibility criteria. The findings show that there is an annual increase in published works that refence the framework from the year of its appearance; however, few of them address it in their central approach. Its versatility in establishing a systemic self-assessment process stands out, although it could be adapted to the real educational context in which it is applied.

The current digital context has involved an intense digital literacy of all teachers, which has required a significant modification in conventional teacher profiles. In the case of teachers specializing in therapeutic pedagogy who work with students with special educational needs, has been a challenge. Such changes have required equipping new skills to transform information into knowledge, guide the teaching-learning process in a novel environment and generate a space for educational inclusion. The objective of this research is to identify the profiles of professionals specializing in Therapeutic Pedagogy in the educational field of Castilla-La in the use of ICT, from a cluster analysis of latent classes. The analysis has allowed five profiles that are the following: a) teachers enthusiastic with ICT, b) apathetic teachers before ICT, c) teachers disinterested in ICT, d) PRO-TIC teachers and, d) teachers critical of the use of ICT. The results obtained provide valuable information on the demographic, geographical, and attitudinal characteristics of the teaching staff specializing in Therapeutic Pedagogy, contributing to an improvement in the design of training activities and to a more efficient training planning that guarantees an effective use of ICT in the classrooms as instruments of inclusion of students with special educational needs.    

There is a growing interest in learning in Higher Education using flipped classroom and m-learning. This study constructs an original instrument to obtain information on the levels perceived by the students of the three presences of the Community of Inquiry model with these emerging methodologies. The instrument consists of 21 items, based on the instrument developed by Arbaugh et al. (2008), which were adapted to flipped classroom and m-learning. This instrument was distributed to 121 students from two different universities. Cochran's Q test was run to verify whether there was agreement between the opinions of five experts. Student t-test results for independent samples indicate similarity in the opinions of the two groups of students. Information analysis techniques, exploratory factor analysis, and reliability tests were also used to validate it. The analysis revealed three factors coinciding with cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence as proposed by the theoretical model. Cronbach's Alpha confirmed the reliability of the tool as a whole  and its several dimensions. The results indicate that it is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the levels perceived by the students of the three presences of the Community of Inquiry model when using flipped classroom and m-learning. 

Social skills and creativity are a key element in the lives of young people, because through these two constructs adolescents can establish positive social relationships and solving any conflict that comes their way. The methodology used for this research has been a systematic review of the literature by searching for documents in the Web of Science, Scopus and PsycINFO databases. For this, two searches have been carried out: a first to identify the sex differences between adolescents in relation to social skills using the descriptors social skills, gender and adolescents; and a second one to find out these sex differences in terms of creativity that has had the descriptors creativity, gender and adolescents. Considering the results obtained, it should be noted that most of the published studies indicate that there are significant differences between adolescents with respect to social skills, with girls being the ones who have the highest level of these social skills. On the other hand, regarding creativity, scientific evidence reveals that there are no differences that allow distinguishing this ability in one sex or another. In short, it has been proven that social skills and creativity enhance positive aspects in adolescents such as good academic performance and high self-esteem, so it is essential that educational institutions work on these skills.

Given the growing importance of technology and the media in society, media literacy is one of the main challenges in the world of education. This research aims to explore the media initiatives carried out at the Secondary Education in the province of Malaga. A total of 506 students and 18 teachers were selected —from 15 public secondary schools— by means of two non-probability samplings. The first group was given a questionnaire, while the second was subjected to an interview. The profile of the teaching staff is predominantly female of young or middle age, with a knowledge of media and technology acquired through self-tuition. The results reflect the prominence of audiovisual resources and the notable attention to areas related to language and technology, although the variables year and gender influence respectively. The use of media and —this research also pays attention to ICT— brings a series of benefits to teachers and students, such as increased motivation, empathy or the acquisition of key skills. These tools are an effective instrument to promote meaningful learning and optimize education, although deficiencies in teacher training in the field of educommunication and ICT and the lack of training programmes make it clear that media literacy in secondary education is still in its embryonic phase.

This study arises from the need to make visible the regional projects designed for ICT integration in Spanish educational centres. In order to synthesise the ICT projects designed by the different Spanish Autonomous Communities throughout history, a study based on the methodology of comparative education is proposed with the aim of characterising them, identifying similarities and divergences. An exhaustive search for information in the official bulletins of each community reveals the existence of 75 projects in the 17 communities, which are analysed in depth. The results show the most relevant characteristics of these projects, focusing on name, start and end dates, educational level targeted, and lines of action. Thus, a global vision of the evolution of these policies is obtained, showing the variety of regional initiatives. As aspects in common, the educational levels at which they are aimed and certain trends in the evolution of the lines of action are identified. Among the differences found, it is worth highlighting the variations in number, temporality, and priority in the lines of action. In short, it is difficult to establish a useful common national framework for the evaluation of regional ICT policies. The plurality of proposals is praised as an enriching basis for perspectives and experiences that can be used for improvement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted traditional education, generating stressors in basic education teachers. Therefore, the objective of this study was to adapt and validate the scale of teaching stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic for Peruvian teachers. It corresponds to a cross-sectional instrumental design study, in which 364 teachers from the Regional Directorate of Education Puno (DRE), Peru, of both sexes (women=224; 62%), between 28 and 60 years of age (M = 44, SD = 9.66) participated voluntarily. The instrument that was adapted was the scale of teaching stressors during the pandemic created for Argentine teachers, which was subjected to a process of cultural adaptation, expert judgment and pilot testing. To explore the internal structure, confirmatory factor analysis was applied. As results, all items received a favorable evaluation by the judges (Aiken's V >. 70); the CFA evidenced that the original model reports adequate fit indices (χ2 = 613.911; df = 199, p = .000; CFI = .964; TLI = .958; RMSEA = .076 and SRMR < .05), and reliability was acceptable for all factors (ω > .75). In conclusion, the ED-Cov19 reports evidence of content-based validity, internal structure and reliability; therefore, it can be applied in research to assess teaching stressors in Peruvian basic education teachers.

Teacher professional development is introduced by internship experiences as part of initial teacher education. Recently, the pandemic’s emergence has modified these experiences, thus, little is known about the COVID-19’s influence on the professional performance and the mentoring relationships. Therefore, this study analyses the perceptions of nine preservice teachers from University Loyola Andalucía toward their professional development through internship facing the pandemic. A qualitative design through multiple case study is conducted to explore expectations and conclusions on the professional performance and the mentoring relationships, as both dimensions are essential to modulate the learning process during the internship. Semi-structured interviews (pre-internship and post-intership) and a focus group session (during the internship) were selected to collect the information. The qualitative software Atlas.ti was used to analyse the information from an inductive-deductive approach. Findings show that participants expected to strengthen their professional performance by improving their teaching strategies and their professional identity. Moreover, they expected to find a weakened mentoring relationship due to COVID-19. After internship, the pandemic’s impact does not seem to be significant on either professional performance or the mentoring, the latter being considered a reflection axis. Conclusions propose, firstly, to reflect on factors really influenced by unpredictable and unstable issues through internship; secondly, to reconsider the cornerstones of professional development, professional performance and mentoring relationships in these contexts.

The school management and leadership field, in addition to generating new knowledge, creates new spaces for reflection around these issues and the educational context. Therefore, the work presented seeks to answer this research question: What are the trends in scientific production around school leadership and management? The objectives of the study are, on the one hand, to describe the scientific production on these topics and, on the other, to analyze their trends. A quantitative methodology was followed, systematizing the process based on the verification guidelines of the PRISMA 2020 statement for the work with the bibliographic material identified in the Scopus database; as well as other qualitative one for a subsequent descriptive documentary analysis of the results obtained. Regarding the findings, in the foreground, it is identified that the countries with the highest Spanish-speaking scientific productivity around these issues are, firstly, Spain and, secondly, Chile. Also, the research trend around school leadership and direction is fundamentally oriented to recording the experience, meaning and the actor’s perception, which is why the qualitative approach primarily characterizes this type of study. Likewise it is also underlined the need to continue advancing in the construction of the field of leadership and school management based on theoretical constructs that connect the experience of reality.