Almetrics: measuring the influence of the media on the social impact of research

Social media is changing the way we interact, present ideas and information and judge the quality of content and contributions. In recent years there have been hundreds of platforms to freely share all kinds of information and connect across networks. These new tools generate activity statistics and interactions among users such as mentions, retweets, conversations, comments on blogs or Facebook; managers references showing popularity ratings of more references shared by other researchers or repositories that generate statistics of visits or downloads of articles. This paper analyzes that have meaning and implications altmetrics, what are its advantages and critical platforms (Almetric.com, ImpactStory, Plos altmetrics, PlumX), reports progress and benefits for authors, publishers and librarians. It concluded that the value of alternative metrics as a complementary tool citation analysis is evident, although it is suggested that you should dig deeper into this issue to unravel the meaning and the potential value of these indicators to assess their potential.

Las expectativas de los estudiantes y la calidad del servicio ofertado por la universidad de Sevilla

En este artículo se presenta un análisis diferencial de las expectativas de los estudiantes de la Universidad de Sevilla (España), en función de las ramas del conocimiento, agrupadas en las dimensiones personal, universidad, curricular y docencia. Las aportaciones han sido recogidas en un cuestionario aplicado a 1082 estudiantes de las áreas de humanidades, bio-sanitaria, económica-jurídica y científico-técnica, a través de un análisis de la varianza para la comparación de medias (asumiendo varianzas iguales y pruebas de Scheffé y Tukey). Se han contrastado los valores medios de cada rama, con el fin de determinar si las diferencias observadas resultan estadísticamente significativas. Los resultados obtenidos ponen de manifiesto que la dimensión personal y la de universidad son valoradas de forma similar en las cuatro ramas del conocimiento; en cambio en la dimensión curricular, las expectativas son más favorables para la rama bio-sanitaria y, en la docencia para la rama de humanidades. En definitiva, los resultados presentan las fortalezas y las debilidades en las dimensiones consideradas y permiten extraer conclusiones de las que derivan indicadores de interés para la mejora de la comunidad universitaria.

La carpeta de aprendizaje y la evaluación entre iguales de los estudiantes. Resultados de una innovación docente en los estudios universitarios de las artes

Students reflect more on their learning in course subjects when they participate in managing their teaching–learning environment. As a form of guided participation, peer assessment serves the following purposes: (a) it improves the student’s understanding of previously established learning objectives; (b) it is a powerful metacognitive tool; (c) it transfers to the student part of the responsibility for assessing learning, which means deciding which learning activities are important and choosing the degree of effort a course subject will require; (d) it emphasizes the collective aspect of the nature of knowledge; and (e) the educational benefits derived from peer assessment clearly justify the efforts required to implement activities. This paper reports on the relative merits of a learning portfolio compiled during fine arts-related studies in which peer assessment played an important role. The researchers analyzed the student work load and the final marks students received for compulsory art subjects. They conclude that the use of a closed learning portfolio with a well-structured, sequential and analytical design can have a positive effect on student learning and that, although implementing peer assessment may be complex and students need to become familiar with it, its use is not only feasible but recommendable.

Utilizing ICT to prevent loneliness and social isolation of the elderly. A literature review

Ageing of the population is a worldwide phenomenon. Numerous ICT-based solutions have been developed for elderly care but mainly connected to the physiological and nursing aspects in services for the elderly. Social work is a profession that should pay attention to the comprehensive wellbeing and social needs of the elderly. Many people experience loneliness and depression in their old age, either as a result of living alone or due to a lack of close family ties and reduced connections with their culture of origin, which results in an inability to participate actively in community activities (Singh & Misra, 2009). Participation in society would enhance the quality of life. With the development of information technology, the use of technology in social work practice has risen dramatically. The aim of this literature review is to map out the state of the art of knowledge about the usage of ICT in elderly care and to figure out research-based knowledge about the usability of ICT for the prevention of loneliness and social isolation of elderly people. The data for the current research comes from the core collection of the Web of Science and the data searching was performed using Boolean? The searching resulted in 216 published English articles. After going through the topics and abstracts, 34 articles were selected for the data analysis that is based on a multi approach framework. The analysis of the research approach is categorized according to some aspects of using ICT by older adults from the adoption of ICT to the impact of usage, and the social services for them. This literature review focused on the function of communication by excluding the applications that mainly relate to physical nursing. The results show that the so-called ‘digital divide’ still exists, but the older adults have the willingness to learn and utilise ICT in daily life, especially for communication. The data shows that the usage of ICT can prevent the loneliness and social isolation of older adults, and they are eager for technical support in using ICT. The results of data analysis on theoretical frames and concepts show that this research field applies different theoretical frames from various scientific fields, while a social work approach is lacking. However, a synergic frame of applied theories will be suggested from the perspective of social work.