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

The progress of technology applied to the field of education is allowing its integration in the development of academic activities in higher education, specifically, the smartphone is positioning itself as a technological tool with great educational potential. This research presents a descriptive analysis of the perception of 525 university students from three regional multidisciplinary faculties of the UNAN-Managua (Nicaragua) on the importance, knowledge, and use of smartphones in the teaching-learning processes, the benefits and difficulties of the introduction of these technological devices as useful tools in higher education contexts, as well as issues related to training needs in this regard. The research methodology is quantitative and a short version of the instrument "Smartphone and University Questionnaire. Student Perspective. SUQS" is used in order to collect data. Among the main results, it is worth mentioning that most of the students participating in this study indicate having experienced some kind of educational practice where the teacher has introduced the smartphone in class in a didactic way, giving relevant importance to the use of the smartphone for various academic activities, valuing positively that teachers use this device during the development of their teaching and demanding training for the improvement of competences in this area. In any case, there are significant differences in the results obtained among students from the three faculties in different items, as well as among students from different careers or taking into account their place of origin.

There are various factors which influence instructors’ and students’ experiences in an online or remote learning environment in higher education. These factors may be altered either positively or negatively as a result of an implementation experience of online learning. This risk is even more evident in scenarios such as the sanitary emergency resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, when instructors suddenly had to adjust their learning environments into an online modality without enough time for preparation. This study aims at exploring how university faculty beliefs and their conceptions about en online teaching change after implementing a remote learning experience in the context of the sanitary emergency in a Colombian higher education institution. For this purpose, a pretest - posttest survey design was used to identify how instructors’ self-efficacy, their attitudes towards a reflective practice, their perceptions of institutional support, and their conceptions about online learning changed after completed the academic semester in remote modality; and the extent to which the instructors’ experience affects these changes. The results from this study suggest that the remote education experience increased the instructors’ self-efficacy and decreased their perceptions about institutional support. Likewise, the instructors’ experience in the remote learning environment had an effect on how their conceptions about technology-based assessments changed in this process.

The global pandemic caused by COVID-19, has boosted the integration of online learning in Higher Education settings (HE), and traditional universities have been forced to adapt to hybrid learning systems. Digital Transformation is a process that must be carried out by universities and requires substantial and strategic changes in all of its processes. This work presents the case of a university created and developed fully online. The experiences of this university can be useful for other institutions that need to follow a similar path. The presented research was developed in the framework of a European project: "Empower Competences for Onlife Learning in HE'' (ECOLHE), developed by a consortium of institutions from several European countries. This research applies several data gathering tools such as in-depth interviews with academic government, focus groups involving teachers-researchers, teachers-tutors and administrative staff and an online survey administered to students. In this work, visions on the elements and difficulties of a digital university are presented: technology must be a way for the improvement of teaching, research, and knowledge sharing, and the change from a traditional face-to-face setting to an online or hybrid system doesn’t consist in only applying digital technologies. In addition, we present some lessons learnt that are useful for the implementation of digital transformation in HE institutions.

Competency assessment in Higher Education is one of the biggest challenges which universities face nowadays. This paper shows the evolution of a transversal methodological proposal in an online master's program, for the development and evaluation of the students' self-regulation capacity through a self-assessment strategy based on a dialogue with the teachers. This evolution, the result of the continuous evaluation of the proposal implementation, entails changes both in the initial methodological approach as well as in the integration of technology as a facilitator of the process. Based on the concept of student-centered design, a longitudinal study is suggested over three academic years in which the opinion and perception of the program's students and teachers are systematically collected. In particular, and through an analysis of aspects for improvement emerging in each of the three phases, a set of decisions are identified to the original design that has finally led to the creation and integration of an ad hoc tool for the support of competencies self-assessment and to self-regulation in a virtual environment. The conclusions of this study highlight the importance of thinking about solutions in an integral way, including scaffolding activities for student self-reflection, teacher training in competency-based learning and evaluation, and development or integration of appropriate tools for the support of these processes. Based on the concept of student-centered design, we propose a longitudinal study over three academic years in which the opinion and perception of the program's students and faculty is systematically collected. Specifically, and through an analysis of aspects for improvement emerging in each of the three phases, we identify a set of decisions to the original design that has finally led to the creation and integration of an ad hoc tool for the support of competencies self-assessment and to self-regulation in a virtual environment.

Digital inclusion, understood from a pedagogical perspective, is to improve teaching-learning processes by making them more accessible to all students using digital technologies. However, despite its relevance, we can observe that neither the academic regulations nor the different specialised frameworks specify how to apply it in the classroom. In order to address this problem, we present a competence-based evaluation process (related to digital inclusion) carried out during a training experience using the service-learning teaching methodology, in which university students, practising early childhood and primary school teachers and teaching staff from the Rovira i Virgili University participated. The results, which were obtained by means of a questionnaire constructed from the COMDID standard and the analysis of the evidence of learning provided by the students, show how the students overvalue themselves in the self-assessments, while the university teaching staff give them a lower score in each of the five descriptors analysed. In conclusion, it was found that competency-based assessment processes involving different assessors are more complex to implement but are more objective as they involve different points of view that would not be possible with a single point of view. Furthermore, it was found that the digital resources most used by students to present their evidence of learning were the least difficult for teachers to assess, and conversely.

The flipped classroom is a methodology recognised for its positive impact on the self-regulation of learning and academic performance. There is extensive literature that demonstrates its potential for educational flexibility, including the adaptation to online and blended modes of delivery that utilize digital technology successfully. There is, however, little evidence which proves that a unique flipped classroom design can be adjusted to different teaching modes without affecting student satisfaction and learning outcomes. In this research, we analyse eight cases of flipped classroom implementation during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 academic years in the Faculty of Education Sciences at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. According to the findings, students who seem to have a stronger perception of self-regulated learning development and technology appropriation also have higher perception of academic performance, although they do not achieve better results. There are no significant variations in pedagogical design satisfaction or learning outcomes depending on teaching modality. However, the study did find that the most flexible teaching modes, such as intermittent face-to-face and hybrid teaching, offered more benefits to students in terms of academic performance and self-regulated learning. The main conclusion is that flipped classroom is a flexible methodology that can be adapted to different teaching modes while maintaining student satisfaction and learning outcomes.

Universities have adapted some of their procedures according to the approach to curriculum, education and knowledge in the digital era. The appropriation of social media environments for the purpose of innovation in pedagogical practice is one of these scenarios. This study aims to determine research positions on the uses of YouTube as a pedagogical tool in Ibero-American higher education, through a critical literature review. The analysis has been carried out considering the bibliographic information of the articles, the populations considered in the studies, the theoretical-methodological information and the educational use of the platform. The results show an increase in the number of studies carried out as a result of the Pandemic, with a predominance of experiences in undergraduate studies. The generation of YouTube video catalogs as part of teaching-learning practices, together with content production, reinforcement, and learning assessment, the latter worked with predictive technology models and artificial tracking software, stand out as purposes of use. The use of YouTube as an innovative tool requires overcoming self-perceptions and critically considering its potential, the necessary literacy, teacher training and aspects related to the gap in the capacity for didactic use. The value of this platform as a methodological tool for innovation is evident, as well as the road ahead for universities and educators to increase its effectiveness and relevance in the development and stimulation of innovative practices.

Microlearning (ML) as a training strategy has been used in different areas due to the format it offers based on short-duration contents arranged in a learning path adaptable to each position, role, or particular need. Taking these characteristics into consideration, this paper identifies the main advantages and disadvantages of the use of ML, the design characteristics that prevail in the development of learning contents with this format, and the areas of knowledge in which it has had greatest impact. For this, literature was systematically reviewed using a protocol which covers research published between 2018 and 2021, identified through Scopus and Web of Science. The data collected was subject to a filtering process with a content analysis according to selection criteria and the research questions. It is concluded that some of the main advantages of the ML are: (i) it provides an agile strategy for professional training, (ii) it is useful in the development of introductory or basic topics, and (iii) it can reduce the cognitive load. The main disadvantage is its limited contribution to the development of more complex topics or skills, and the lack of peer interaction strategies. In respect of the studies analyzed, it was found that the areas of knowledge that have explored ML to a greater extent have been health, education, and engineering (computer science). Finally, regarding the design characteristics that prevail in the development of ML content, we highlight a structure based on introduction, microcontent, and questions, placing great importance on educational videos.

Higher education institutions face the permanent commitment to train and accompany teachers in a markedly digital context that implies continuous cultural adaptation and a commitment to innovation in teaching processes. Collaborative work constitutes a consolidated presence in virtual classrooms that still constitutes a great challenge to teachers and students. This article presents a study regarding the tasks and teaching roles in collaborative work in virtual environments, identifying its typology and their relevance, conferred by students. The research was carried out with 104 students in 5 undergraduate subjects that developed online collaborative work. The study used a quantitative approach based on the survey method with descriptive and multivariate analyses. Students have rated as very important each of the teaching tasks proposed for the development of collaborative work, highlighting those with a social and personal component. The results obtained have led to identify a total of seven key roles that a university teacher should develop when implementing online collaborative work: pedagogical, assessor, social, technological, facilitator/mediator, organizer/manager and personal. Although not all reached the same ratings, the high scores obtained outstand the need for specific teacher training to assume the demands of online teaching and, more specifically, to face the implementation of collaborative learning proposals in virtual environments.

Gamification introduces game mechanics into organizational contexts to improve impacts, outcomes, or staff engagement in an identified area of focus. This action research explores the potential of gamification as a system for the sharing of pedagogic practice in an international secondary school. The study investigates whether a gamified approach can address the identified drawbacks of more traditional out of workplace, leader driven continuing professional development (CPD) workshops by offering an alternative that spreads pedagogic practice through a school. The study uses a 6-week activity encouraging teachers to create, develop, and share their pedagogical practice through live demonstration with an observing peer for critical feedback. Each part of this process scored points to create the gamified elements. The study gained data through fourteen participants, all teachers at the school with a mixture of experience. Participant perceptions on the impact of the gamified process in its success in fostering the sharing of pedagogic practice, fostering collaboration, and acting as an alternative to traditional CPD were gained through the completion of pre-gamification and post-gamification surveys. The findings show positive support for the use of gamification in a school context for increasing pedagogical sharing, enhancing individual teacher’s confidence in their depth and use of different strategies, and that gamification can provide a positive professional development vehicle for schools. It identifies new avenues for further research in the use of gamification for school CPD, and whether gamification should be used to support or replace more traditional CPD practices in schools.