Research Outputs
Pre-service teachers' skills and perceptions about the use of virtual learning environments to improve teaching and learning
This paper explores data retrieved from Educational Immersive Virtual Worlds to describe pre-service teachers’ skills and perceptions about the simulation tasks. This project had 10 participants who were immersed for 3 years in the Technology and Pedagogical Models in Immersive Worlds island, a multi-user virtual environment in Second Life and Open Simulator. In this project, we evaluated how three-dimensional virtual environments can facilitate the achievement of teaching and learning processes. Based on quantitative and qualitative methodologies, two data collection instruments were applied. Through observation grids and personal log books, professional performance of the 18 pedagogical challenges implemented was collected. The statistical analysis shows that the students improved their technology skills and educational aspects about good practices in classes, regardless of the type of platform used. The analysis through Constant Comparing Method reported a positive assessment of the use of virtual environments, especially about the use of teaching strategies. Main conclusions regarding the pedagogical context reflect the importance of peer assessment on teaching performance, as well as the complexity of role-plays as intellectual challenges to enhance pre-service teachers’ skills. The main difficulties identified during the development of the activities were technical in nature, reporting hardware and connectivity issues.
The intercultural dialog in the shape of testimony between woman
Dans cet article, on explore les caractéristiques assumées par les personnes qui participent au pacte communicatif sous forme de témoignage, en recherchant à la fois, au sein du sujet de la subalternité dans le postmodernisme, le problème éthique de la représentation des marginaux et celui de l’énonciation. L’examen du rôle appartenant à l’intellectuel qui parle pour remplacer l’autre, soulève la question suivante : est-il légitime que la voix du subalterne soit représentée par le discours d’un étranger ? Cela amène la deuxième question : quelle est la responsabilité de l’intellectuel dans la construction du sujet subalterne du postmodernisme?
The TPACK model to prepare and evaluate lesson plans. An experience with pre-service teachers using social networks and digital resources
It is essential to understand and manage technology for pre-service teachers in order to propose methodological, educational and assessment strategies that allow them to innovate and respond adequately to the demands of the educational system. The objective is to identify the elements that pre-service teachers use in learning situations for the production of digital educational resources created to teach using social networks through the TPACK rubric. This research was developed focused on a quantitative methodology and a descriptive design. The sample was formed by 32 pre-service teachers who attend an Information and Communication Technology Course in 2014, at the Faculty of Education, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción. Main results obtained from the analysis of three educational resources (blog, Prezi and cartoons) indicate that they possess a low level of integration of curricular objectives and technologies; however, results show that students have a high level to select the technological resources in the design of didactic activities. It can be concluded that incorporation of the TPACK model, positively helps pre-service students to know how to integrate the teaching resources in an innovative way. It enables the achievement of an adequate articulation of technology in teaching and learning.
Innovación docente a través de la metodología flipped classroom: Percepción de docentes y estudiantes de educación secundaria
La metodología de enseñanza – aprendizaje Flipped Classroom constituye una propuesta pedagógica que fomenta un estilo de aprendizaje de mayor protagonismo del estudiante, porque previamente pone a su disposición los contenidos a fin de que en la sesión presencial se utilicen estrategias de asimilación mediante el trabajo colaborativo y cooperativo. Esta investigación de enfoque cualitativo, presenta el diseño e implementación de esta metodología en un establecimiento educativo en Chile. El objetivo general es conocer la percepción de los docentes y estudiantes de secundaria acerca del proceso de innovación docente a través de la clase invertida. Se utilizó un diseño de investigación bajo el modelo de Teoría Fundamentada. Los resultados obtenidos a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas, dan cuenta de que la metodología fomenta la interacción del estudiante con las TIC como soporte y apoyo para la preparación de la clase, genera diversos escenarios de aprendizaje que aumentan la motivación y las altas expectativas en los estudiantes y docentes que participaron de la experiencia.
The new pyramid of needs for the digital citizen: A transition towards smart human cities
This article analyzes the cultural transition towards postmodernity or a knowledge society and its impact on the changing needs of cities. This transition is characterized by a growing diversification of the use of technologies in most of the economic, political, educational, social,and cultural activities of different human groups. The concept of smart cities emerges, in which the roles and behaviors of citizens are redefined in physical spaces and in their interactions, as well as the function of institutions and interpersonal relationships. Emerging models of social and cultural behavior are required to analyze and systematize these realities, to understand how to increase effectiveness in action, and to rethink education and new ways of teaching and learning.All these processes are based on phenomena of innovation and management, mediated by technology.We proposed an analysis of the new digital skills of these individuals. The elements that shape the reformulation of roles and reference models, as well as an analysis of the postmodern cultural changes and the formation of a holistic, human-community-technology vision, are based on a new pyramid of training needs in which technologies are placed at the service of people’s development,organizations, society, and culture.
Quality assurance for postgraduate programs: Design of a model applied on a University in Chile
The quality of Education in Chile is a controversial topic that has been in the public debate in the last several years. To ensure quality in graduate programs, accreditation is compulsory. The current article presents a model to improve the process of self-regulation. The main objective was to design a Model of Quality Assurance for Postgraduate Programs in order to constitute a theoretical, mathematical, and informatics reference that would optimize the processes of self-regulation, self-evaluation, and accreditation of master and doctorate programs from the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Chile. This descriptive research is based on a mixed methods approach. The proposal was intended through theoretical and empirical references related to the accreditation systems. The analysis process was conducted with key informants, and the informatics instrument was created and validated through expert judgment. After the analysis, the model was optimized considering the expert’s suggestions. As a result of the optimization process, a matrix of eight dimensions was obtained and it is available online in order to be used by the heads of postgraduate programs. Finally, a model with four main stages was achieved in order to install a self-regulation and a self-evaluated culture that leads to accreditation as evidence of the quality of postgraduate programs.
ICT resources to improve learning in higher education
This article seeks to provide a view on the process of curricular integration of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) in higher education, throughout the submission of proposals of how to use some of these resources, with practical examples of its implementation in the learning process of students in subjects from the Initial Teacher Training and Geological Civil Engineering major at the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción in Chile. Furthermore, the innovative and educational experiences mediated by ICT, described in this paper, allow us to visualize the important role that institutions of higher education play, not only in the training of future professionals making an emphasis on the digital skills necessary for their development in the XXI century, but also as suitable spaces for development and ongoing training of teachers with innovative methodological strategies that facilitate and enhance the educational process.
Sociological importance and validation of a questionnaire for the sustainability of personal learning environments (PLE) in 8th grade students of the Biobio Region in Chile
Contemporary society is going through a cultural transition that leads to new conceptions about the ways in which human beings organize socially and communicate. This process of deep social and cultural transformations is characterized by a technological disruption, in which virtuality forms a new dimension that behaves as an extension of human intelligence. This new form of human interaction impacts on the social imagination, demanding one to rethink social and educational paradigms for the two-dimensional citizen. In this context, this research article describes the sociological importance and the process of social adaptation of users to a personal learning environment (PLE). It includes the validation process of an instrument for the study of the PLE of 8th grade students belonging to 15 schools in the Biobío Region of Chile. A PLE is a frame of reference that can help to understand how two-dimensional citizens socially adapt and influence the sustainability of local and global systems. The validation method for this instrument considered four stages: i) Expert judgment: considering the opinions of six educators and experts in information and communication technologies (ICT); ii) a pilot test: that included a non-probabilistic sample of 472 subjects; iii) a principal components analysis (PCA); and iv) a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The Questionnaire on Work Habits and Learning for Professional Futures and the Context Questionnaire SIMCE TIC were used as a reference. When performing a psychometric analysis, a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.89 was obtained. This confirms that the adaptation of the instrument is good. The results of the dimensional analysis help us define a structure for the new instrument considering three components that explain 55% of the total variance. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed adjustment indexes that support the theoretical model proposed for the PLE study. In conclusion, the instrument was composed of three latent variables: Open self-regulated learning (OSRL) with eight questions, information management (IM) with four questions, and creation and transfer of knowledge (CTK) with four questions
A pedagogical model to develop teaching skills. The collaborative learning experience in the Immersive Virtual World TYMMI
The initial training of quality teachers is seen as a key to improving the learning outcomes of students in Chile. The TYMMI project is one of the initiatives being developed to provide a space for simulation for teaching practices in immersive virtual environments in Second Life and Open Sim. Initial Teachers Training belong to the School of Education at the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, participated during 2014 in the implementation of challenges, based on a pedagogical model and teaching strategies such as role play and problem-based learning. Through direct observation and blogs, the results show that participants have an important domain in the pedagogical and technological interaction. Despite the perception of the technical difficulties of using platforms, students emphasize that the experience has been supportive along their teaching practices, and it has allowed them to reinforce subject content, which poses a very motivating intellectual and technological challenge.
Intercultural Talent Management Model: Virtual communities to promote collaborative learning in indigenous contexts. Teachers’ and students’ perceptions
The strong connection between technologies and globalization has made the phenomenon of interculturality increase at a global level. The aim was to determine the perception of teachers and students in the use of a Model of Talent Management for interculturality. A virtual learning environment (VLE) was used to link teachers and students of 5 schools in disadvantaged context of Chile through collaborative learning. The research is interpretive and positivist based on qualitative method approach, with quantitative contributions. Results show that talents of the students contribute to the formation of cultural identity that gives uniqueness to the human group to which they belong and the perception of teachers is that the phenomena of acculturation, enculturation and transculturation processes occur in learning linked to the management of the talents of students in intercultural contexts. With respect to the proposed model, trends indicate that it is possible to diagnose and promote talent through collaborative learning and intercultural dialogue. As for technology, it could be argued that it has reshaped relations between different cultures.