Hacia una educación virtual de calidad, pero con equidad y pertinencia

Hacia una educación virtual de calidad, pero con equidad y pertinencia

José Silvio

Es deseable lograr una alta calidad en la educación virtual y a distancia, y su mejoramiento permanente, pero más aún es hacerlo procurando que esa educación alcance la mayor equidad y pertinencia social. Este trabajo intenta aportar algunas propuestas para lograr este objetivo. El artículo se inicia con consideraciones sobre cada uno de los conceptos por separado: su definición, significación e implicaciones para la educación virtual y a distancia. Como evidencias empíricas, se describen las iniciativas existentes en América Latina para desarrollar criterios, indicadores, medidas y metodologías con el objetivo de evaluar la calidad de la educación a distancia y su acreditación, en el marco del desarrollo de los sistemas de educación superior en su conjunto, así como investigaciones en esa región sobre sistemas de evaluación y acreditación de la calidad de la educación superior virtual. Igualmente, se comenta la ausencia de proyectos similares para evaluar la equidad y la pertinencia, y relacionarla con la calidad. Finalmente, a manera de síntesis, se analizan las interrelaciones entre las dimensiones mencionadas y se formulan propuestas con miras a evaluar la educación a distancia en cuanto a su calidad, equidad y pertinencia, y las relaciones entre estas dimensiones de manera integrada y sinérgica.

Palabras clave
educación virtual, educación a distancia, calidad de la educación, equidad en la educación, pertinencia de la educación

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La evaluación por competencias en la educación superior

La evaluación por competencias en la educación superior

Mª Elena Cano García Universitat de Barcelona

En el marco del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES), el presente artículo plantea la necesidad de generar un cambio en los procesos evaluativos, y no sólo en los diseños o en las propuestas metodológicas, para favorecer el desarrollo de las competencias específicas y transversales de cada titulación. Para ello se parte de la conceptualización de las competencias, se analizan las implicaciones que este nuevo enfoque genera sobre el trabajo del profesorado en general y sobre la docencia en particular y se señalan las características que debiera tener una evaluación de los aprendizajes por competencias.

Palabras clave: Competencias, evaluación, educación superior.

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METODOLOGÍA DE LA ENSEÑANZA BASADA EN COMPETENCIAS

METODOLOGÍA DE LA ENSEÑANZA BASADA EN COMPETENCIAS

Jesús Martín Cepeda Dovala
Universidad Autónoma del Noreste, México

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FORMACIÓN POR COMPETENCIAS EN EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR. UNA APROXIMACIÓN CONCEPTUAL A PROPÓSITO DEL CASO COLOMBIANO

FORMACIÓN POR COMPETENCIAS EN EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR. UNA APROXIMACIÓN CONCEPTUAL A PROPÓSITO DEL CASO COLOMBIANO

Walter Alfredo Salas Zapata
Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia

Ante la implementación de los exámenes de estado en Colombia para evaluar la calidad de la educación superior, el tema de las competencias toma una relevancia particular. Naturalmente se podría pensar que una evaluación por competencias necesariamente se deriva de un modelo de formación por competencias, pero ese no ha sido el caso colombiano, lo que ha obligado a académicos y pedagogos a repensar la educación de los estudiantes bajo un modelo de formación por competencias. En esa reflexión alrededor de las competencias surgen preguntas como ¿qué tipo de sujeto estamos formando?, ¿cómo trasciende un modelo de formación por competencias el proceso de aprendizaje?, ¿qué implicaciones conlleva la implementación de un modelo de formación por competencias? y ¿es éste un modelo ideal y a la vez factual?, si el fin es lograr la formación de un mejor sujeto para la sociedad ¿Cuál es el aporte de las competencias a dicha formación? He aquí una aproximación conceptual al modelo de formación por competencias, que si bien no da respuesta a todas las preguntas que se derivan de este tema, se constituye en un insumo generador de inquietudes en torno al tema.

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New competencies in democratic communication? Blogs, agenda setting and political participation

New competencies in democratic communication?
Blogs, agenda setting and political participation

Deva Woodly

Contrary to initial predictions Internet-mediated forms of communication have not become mediums of mass communication. Traditional media still reach far more people than even the most popular websites. Still, there is evidence that blogs in particular help mobilize opinions, and set the agenda for political elites such as journalists and politicians, while providing interested citizens with a new technology of knowledge as well as a surprisingly effective way to participate in politics. This study focuses on how the presence of blogs has altered the structure of political communication.

Keywords Political communication · Blogs · Democracy · Discourse · Agenda setting

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The road to self-efficacy: a discussion of generic training in mental health competencies for educational professionals

The road to self-efficacy: a discussion of generic training in mental health competencies for educational
professionals

Dave Finney*
Calderdale Child & Family Mental Health Team,
Laura Mitchell Health Centre,
Halifax, UK

This discussion aims to consider the value of training educational professionals in mental health competencies. Primary Mental Health Workers working in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service have traditionally used a consultation model when working with schools. In this article I consider moving the emphasis away from consultancy work, instead putting training at the cornerstone of improving mental health in schools. I believe that local practices using consultation can create a ‘dependency’ culture, inhibiting the development of self-efficacy in those involved in pastoral care in educational settings. Instead, an alternative method of improving confidence and self-efficacy amongst educational practitioners is by delivering a comprehensive training course, which aims to provide a range of competencies in mental health. Training, which provides skills in low-level therapeutic approaches for pupils and students, in conjunction with a broad understanding of mental illness and mental health issues, could be a highly effective method of responding to the maxim ‘mental health is everyone’s business’.

Keywords: Training; mental health; competencies; self-efficacy

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Development of Generic Competencies: Impact of a Mixed Teaching Approach on Students’ Perceptions

Development of Generic Competencies:
Impact of a Mixed Teaching Approach on Students’ Perceptions

ANNE FORTIN and MICHE`LE LEGAULT

Accounting education in recent years has emphasized the need for developing generic competencies and, to this end, has advocated various pedagogies other than the traditional lecture format. The Universite´ du Que´bec a` Trois-Rivie`res (Canada) started an award-winning program, Vire, Tuelle & Associates (VTA), which uses a mixed teaching approach to develop students’ generic competencies in preparation for the Chartered Accountant designation. This questionnaire-based study asked students to rate this approach at the end of their training in the mock firm (VTA) and while they were trainees in an accounting firm. It also asked the office supervisors to assess their trainees’ competency levels during the training period. It was found that the mixed approach program significantly enhanced the development/improvement of all 32 generic competencies investigated. After a few months’ work as CA trainees, students had not substantially changed their views of the usefulness of VTA activities for the development of their competencies. Students’ perceptions of some benefits of the mixed approach differed significantly according to accounting work experience and prior academic performance. The office supervisors generally viewed the UQTR trainees as being highly competent or excellent. This study provides educators, schools and professional accounting bodies with feedback on the mixed approach to
help them develop similar programs.

KEY WORDS: CA candidates’ competency map, mixed teaching approach, perceived usefulness, pervasive or generic competencies, students’ perceptions, supervisors’ perceptions

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Fun for all = digital competence for all?

Fun for all = digital competence for all?

Helen Jøsok Gansmo

Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture, Norwegian University of Science and
Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) seem to be ever more important in all spheres of life and have taken a central place in studies of learning. Yet, research on ICT and gender over the last 15 years suggests that more analysis is required of the interplay between gendered perceptions of ICTs and the educational applications of ICTs. In particular, there are a number of recurring problems related to gender when the boundaries between ICTs used in school and for leisure are blurred. This short article aims to challenge researchers of ICT and learning to focus on the gendering of ICT in terms of its masculine/feminine and leisure/educational oppositions.

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Students’ personal professional theories in competence-based vocational education

Students’ personal professional theories in competence-based vocational education: the construction of personal knowledge through internalisation and socialisation

H. Schaapa,
E. de Bruijna,
M.F. Van der Schaafa and P.A. Kirschnerb

Utrecht University,
Utrecht, the Netherlands;
University of the Netherlands,
DL Heerlen, the Netherlands

Competence-based vocational education is based on a constructivist learning paradigm, where the development of students’ personal professional knowledge is emphasised. However, there is a lack of insight into how students construct their own professional knowledge and what the content and nature of personal professional knowledge is. This article elaborates the concept Personal Professional Theory (PPT): a personal knowledge base in which professional knowledge and beliefs are internalised. PPTs are built upon a combination of declarative and procedural knowledge and are stored in the long-term memory. Furthermore, knowledge in PPTs refers to compiled knowledge which can be specified and applied to different professional situations. These PPTs develop through an interrelated process of internalisation and socialisation, in which students grow into the existing body of shared knowledge and collective norms, values and beliefs of professionals of an occupational domain. It is concluded that the elaboration of PPTs can be used to stimulate and monitor personal professional knowledge development in vocational education, but further research into the content and nature of PPTs is required.

Keywords: personal professional theories; knowledge and beliefs; declarative and procedural knowledge; personal knowledge development; internalisation and socialisation

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What kind of intercultural competence will contribute to students’ future job employability?

What kind of intercultural competence will contribute to students’ future job employability?

Dominic Busch

This paper explores the potential benefits of education about intercultural issues for improving a student’s future job employability. From the perspective of discourse theory, both job employability and intercultural competence as job qualifications may be taken as discursive constructions. This paper delineates understandings of these concepts from the perspective of several social groups concerned, such as European politics, research on human resource management, students and graduates as well as employers. Considering mechanisms from discourse theory, this paper pleads for a growing awareness of constructivist processes involved as a sound basis for an adequate form of intercultural competence enhancing people’s employability.

Keywords: employability; intercultural competence; discourse analysis; social construction

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Relationship between kindergarten children’s language ability and social competence

Relationship between kindergarten children’s language ability and social competence

Adelina Q. Longoria,
Melanie C. Page,
Laura Hubbs-Tait and Shelia M. Kennison
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA

The research investigated the hypothesis that teachers’ ratings of kindergarten children’s receptive and expressive language ability would be related to children’s social competence. Teachers’ ratings of social competence were obtained for a sample of 116 kindergarten children. Social competence was measured using the California Preschool Social Competency Scale (CPSCS)—a widely used scale containing 30 items related to both verbal and nonverbal aspects of social competence. Children’s language ability was measured using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) and the McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities. The results confirmed the hypothesis, showing that there was a significant positive relationship between children’s verbal ability and teachers’ ratings of social competence. We also found that verbal aspects of social competence, such as using the names of others, were more strongly related to verbal ability than nonverbal aspects of social competence, such as using equipment safely. Implications for early childhood care are also discussed.

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ACCESO Y PERMANENCIA EN UNA EDUCACIÓN DE CALIDAD. LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS COMPETENCIAS BÁSICAS. LA LECTURA

ACCESO Y PERMANENCIA EN UNA EDUCACIÓN DE CALIDAD. LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS COMPETENCIAS BÁSICAS. LA LECTURA

La preocupación por la calidad de la educación ha ido surgiendo de manera paulatina cada vez con más fuerza en los discursos políticos, y en forma paralela al desarrollo de la meta de una educación para todos, comúnmente fijada por los países de la región iberoamericana. Extender la escolarización obligatoria, mejorar el acceso y conseguir la permanencia de los alumnos en el sistema educativo, han sido las metas más perseguidas por la mayoría de los países, y son posiblemente los objetivos más ambiciosos que el proyecto Metas Educativas 2021 se plantea. Concretamente, se establece como meta lograr doce años de educación formal para todos los alumnos. Además de ser un fin en sí mismo, puede considerarse el medio para lograr el desarrollo económico, social y cultural de la región.

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La construction de la competence professionnelle et sa mesure : le cas des futurs enseignants formes dans les IUFM

La construction de la competence professionnelle et sa mesure : le cas des futurs enseignants formes dans les IUFM

Philippe LOSEGO

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Les competences pratiques font-elles partie du capital culturel ?

Les competences pratiques font-elles partie du capital culturel ?

Jorg BLASIUS
Juirgen FRIEDRICHS

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LE MODELE DE L'ACQUISITION DES COMPETENCES ET LA FORMATION DES PERSONNES AGEES

LE MODELE DE L'ACQUISITION DES COMPETENCES ET LA FORMATION DES PERSONNES AGEES

ADELE CHENE

Abstract - The training of the elderly is at present strongly influenced by the com- petence acquisition model that currently prevails in pedagogical culture. The author of this article examines and illustrates this model in its original form and its current direction. She then addresses the question of whether it is appropriate to retain this model for training elderly people.

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Deriving Competencies: Consensus Versus Model Building

Deriving Competencies: Consensus Versus Model Building

WALTER DICK,
KELLY WATSON,
and ROGER KAUFMAN

Florida State University

An increasing number of edu- cational projects are being de- voted to the identification of competencies or skills that are re- quired by some particular occu- pational or learner group. This phenomenon appears to have emerged from interest in in- creased program effectiveness and the development of performance- based teacher education programs of the early 1970s, as well as from the applications of "systematic ap- proaches" to the design and de- velopment of learning programs (e.g., Branson et al., 1975; Corri- gan et al., 1975; Dick & Carey, 1978). The development of sys- tem(s) approaches and compe- tency-based programs is highly interrelated, with the compe- tency-based programs being spe- cific examples of the application of systematic approaches.

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Competencies for Educational Research and Evaluation'

Competencies for Educational Research and Evaluation

BLAINE R. WORTHEN
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory

Popham (1974) has summarized the training activities of the American Educational Research As- sociation during the past decade. As part of its activity, the Task Force on Research Training carried out a series of three USOE-supported ac- tivities to identify specific skills and knowledge desirable for personnel involved in educational research, evaluation, and related activities.

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What are the Essential Generic Teaching Competencies?

What are the Essential Generic Teaching Competencies?

Peter F. Oliva
Florida International University

Kenneth T. Henson
Texas A&M University

Continuing efforts have been made over the years to describe the attitudes of an effective teacher, to delineate the teaching act, or to identify the skills which able teachers must possess. The presumption is that once the necessary skills have been identified, training programs may be established by the profes- sional education institutions so that preservice teachers may achieve these skills.

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The role of students' personality characteristics

The role of students' personality characteristics, self-perceived competence and learning conceptions in the acquisition and development of social communicative competence: A longitudinal study

W.E.A. BAKX, J.M.M VAN DER SANDEN, K. SIJTSMA , M.A. CROON & Y.J.M. VERMETTEN

An important purpose of higher social work education is to guide students to acquire and develop social-communicative competencies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role students' personality characteristics, self-perceived communica? tive competence and learning conceptions play in the acquisition and development of social-communicative competencies. We designed and tested a hypothetical model on the student-related variables - self-perceived communicative competence, learning conceptions and reported learning activities regarding communication - in relation to performance scores. We were interested in developmental trends in the above mentioned variables. We also wanted to gain insight into the relationships among the variables. The study was set up according to a longitudinal, within-subjects design in order to study intra-individual changes. One-hundred and twenty-three first-year social-work students participated in this study. Many changes were found in students characteristics, reported deployed learning activities and study results during their first academic year. Except for confidence in "showing sympathy", which was already relatively high at the beginning of the study, all scores on aspects of students' self-perceived social-commu? nicative competence increased. Assessment scores on comparable communication tests also increased significantly. Extraversion and emotional stability were the only two personality characteristics, which seemed rather stable. Agreeableness decreased while autonomy increased continuously during the first academic year. It seemed to be pos? sible to set up a model, which may serve as a starting point for further research into the development of social-communicative competence.

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Teachers Personalities and Teaching Competencies

Teachers Personalities and Teaching Competencies

FRED T. TYLER
University of California

Successful teachers are little less than paragons if one is to judge from recent discussions and from reports of empirical observations and experimental research dealing with teachers' personalities. One writer lists nineteen desirable qualities, including integrity, maturity, dominance, and diligence. Another investigator catalogues twenty- nine attributes, such as introversion, vitality, punctuality, and per- sistence. A third researcher tabulates only six traits, but among them is competence in computing with two-digit numbers. A fourth author reports that "speed of tapping" and "right and left hand coordination" (supposedly measures of temperament) distinguish effective from non-effective teachers. Another writer thinks that intelligence is im- portant but maintains that we cannot prove that fact. Effective teach- ers, one states, are peppy and popular, with pleasing voices. One other example: a teacher should have magnetism, self-control, and enthusiasm. A complete listing would contain a finite number of attributes, but the number seems to be approaching infinity as a limit.

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