Abstract

The importance of teamwork as a core capacity in the new university curricula is beyond all doubt. It is therefore crucial to know what cooperative learning is and how efficient it is for teams of students that use it. Thus, the aim of this paper is to operationalise the concept of cooperative learning and to study its consequences on both the individual learning of the members of a team and on the overall performance achieved by the team as a whole. Structural equation models were used on a sample of 319 students in a marketing subject at a Spanish public university. The results obtained show that students learn better in subjects in which cooperative learning is applied, and the teams performance also improves. We therefore fully endorse fostering its use in the classroom. Lastly, several new lines of research are proposed to complete current knowledge about cooperative learning.

Abstract

Los cursos MOOC se han entendido como la última evolución del aprendizaje en red, y desde su nacimiento en 2008 se han puesto en práctica en un buen número de universidades. A pesar del éxito social de estas propuestas, tanto el diseño del aprendizaje como la eficacia de sus resultados han sido puestos en duda. Actualmente la mayoría de las publicaciones se centran más en discutir su potencial para ofrecer educación de calidad en todo el mundo a gran escala que en la medición rigurosa de los resultados de aprendizaje. El presente trabajo muestra los resultados de una investigación centrada en el diseño pedagógico de un curso MOOC cooperativo y su influencia en la motivación y en los resultados académicos obtenidos. El diseño se ha validado a través de un estudio Delphi y la variable «motivación» se ha controlado a través de un instrumento estandarizado (Instructional Materials Motivation Survey, IMMS). El rendimiento académico se ha evaluado a través de evidencias de aprendizaje. Se defiende que el diseño, definido por una utilización intensiva de redes sociales y realización de actividades por parte de los estudiantes en sus Entornos Personales de Aprendizaje, influye en el rendimiento, y es la satisfacción con la percepción del diseño la variable que media en dicha relación. Los resultados académicos obtenidos y la motivación de los estudiantes avalan la utilización de cursos MOOC cooperativos en estudios universitarios.

Abstract

In this paper we analyze ICT integration in higher education institutions focusing on the leadership practices of ICT policies, a research field that has not received much attention in higher education studies. An empirical study was carried out using a distributed leadership approach to analyze such practice in higher education institutions in Colombia, a country where a national ICT policy has steered and promoted ICT policy plans. In particular, the inquiry attempted to understand how the leadership of ICT is distributed in different higher education environments. Through a multiple case study, that included semi-structured interviews with leaders and team members, focus groups with professors, document analysis and a survey applied to faculty members ICT leadership practices and their implications were investigated. The results indicate a set of struggles that leaders have to cope with when deploying an ICT policy plan, for instance, coping with a lack of institutional regulations, and fostering educational change despite reluctance. Indeed, ICT leadership is a challenging and underexplored practice in higher education. This paper is a systematic attempt to demonstrate this statement and its implications. These findings are of particular relevance for the work of policy makers, ICT coordinators and leaders in higher education around the world.

Abstract

The discourse stating that the profound changes in ICT of the last decade have also radically altered the way our students learn, and that they can all now be considered digital natives, is increasingly prevalent. However, this paper argues that these changes are not as immediate, automatic or beneficial as the dominant political and technological discourse on the benefits of ICT would have us believe, and that they give rise to many different situations that characterize university teaching and learning practice. Using the ratings of three Likert questionnaires on information processing and communication in three different environments (Moodle, Tuenti and the classroom itself), and applying multivariate techniques (factor analysis and cluster analysis), we have found four clusters: pro-ICT students, anti-ICT students, listless student and neutral student. The presence of such segments of students allows us to conclude that, although computers are nowadays taken for granted in Higher Education classrooms, we are perhaps overestimating both the real impact of ICT on teaching and students’ digital competencies, and that this false perception of reality benefits technology vendors but not methodological and pedagogic innovation, which can only be achieved through the necessary reflection on education matters from educational principles.

Abstract

The digital transformation of the university is linked to the integration of technology tools and digital resources to all areas of the organization: management, academic offerings, learning processes, research, and communication. This transformation is an obligation, but also an opportunity, not only to the university, but also to the its library, which can seize the opportunity to lead the process.

Abstract

The massive online open course (mooc) has had a great impact in the landscape of higher education. Analysts say the MOOCs will have a disruptive effect on universities and teaching practice. Universitieswill be forced to change. The psychopedagogical substrate of the moocs is the “flipped education” model in which learning takes place from discussions with fellow students and teachers. We analyze the impact of moocs in university libraries.

Abstract

Moocs (massive open online courses) are a powerful innovation within the global knowledge system. This report describes and presents their key features, challenges that must be overcome for their implementation and good outcomes, and opportunities posed to information and communication professionals and scholars. A selection of existing courses of potential interest to librarians and information specialists is offered.

Abstract

The internet has become the main source where information can be located, which has facilitated certain university student practices, plagiarism and cyber-plagiarism in particular. Academic plagiarism and related dishonest practices result in the incorporation, although unevenly, of legal, educational, and anti-plagiarism software, etc., on websites in an increasing number of Spanish university libraries. This can be a strategic decisión if considered within the framework of the new EHEA teaching methods, which require that students produce a large number of academic papers, and the growing implementation in the Spanish universities of informational skills.