Abstract

This research aims to analyze the level of use of technology by university teachers. We are interested by the frequency of their use in designing the teaching-learning process. The research questions were: what types of learning activities which include are designed by university teachers? What types of technologies do teachers use in the design of their instruction? What is the level of use of digital technologies in the learning designs? To respond to these issues, we designed an inventory of activities of learning technologies at the university which was completed by 941 Andalusian teachers. We have identified the type and frequency of use of technology by university lecturers in their different fields at the same time as studying learning activities that predominate in their learning designs. The results, first of all, reveal a poor integration of ICT in the teaching-learning processes which are, essentially, the teacher-centered learning activities. Secondly, we have identified four profiles which differentiate between d teachers depending on their level of use of ICT. The profile comprising an increased number of teachers makes making reference to the rare use of technology. There are teachers who use technology sparingly, and this is a very small range.

Abstract

The learning environment at the university stage which provides the Bologna Declaration has long indicated the need for major changes, among others, in the teaching methodology and teaching resources used by the university teachers. With this work, we aim to demonstrate some of the results achieved from the implementation of a National Research Project that has been carried out by four Spanish Universities. The objectives of the project aim to describe, through an exploratory study, the methodological situation in which our universities are highlighting their strengths and weaknesses based on the premises of the European Higher Education to suggest some strategies in order to facilitate the necessary adaptation. The methodology followed by implementing a questionnaire focused on concrete analysis of the dimension of the Information Technologies and Communication Technologies (ICT) reflects the view of university teachers and through the analysis of results allows confirming the need for adaptation by the universities for the implementation, with guarantees of the mentioned education reform. This article also presents several conclusions and suggestions for educational improvement focused on teaching and methodological training in the use of teaching tools that can promote the suggestions provided by the European Higher Education using ICT, as for example those offered by Web 2.0.

Abstract

This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the experience of educational innovation in the configuration of a social learning network in a subject for the Education degree course at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). This innovation is based on the premise of student-centered teaching (independent learning, self-regulated, authentic and breaking boundaries between formal and informal areas) enriched with collaborative activities. The study aims to analyze the intensity and relevance of the student´s contributions in this collaborative framework. We used learning analytics tools with two types of techniques: social network analysis (SNA) and information extraction, to measure the intensity, centrality and relevance of collaboration among students. The results obtained allow us to confirm: 1) The consistency and coherence between the pedagogical approach and the option of using a social network in university education; 2) A dense network with a high level of interaction, a moderate degree of centrality and a low centralization index (structure moves away from star), with a group with the capacity to influence the rest (degree of betweenness); 3) High level of relevance to the content analyzed; 4) The usefulness of learning analytics techniques to guide teacher decision-making.