Knowledge spirals, situational leadership and informal learning applied on b-learning methodology

The methodology “b-learning” is a new teaching scenario and it requires the creation, adaptation and application of new learning tools searching the assimilation of new collaborative competences. In this context, it is well known the knowledge spirals, the situational leadership and the informal learning. The knowledge spirals is a basic concept of the knowledge procedure and they are based on that the knowledge increases when a cycle of 4 phases is repeated successively.1) The knowledge is created (for instance, to have an idea); 2) The knowledge is decoded into a format to be easily transmitted; 3) The knowledge is modified to be easily comprehensive and it is used; 4) New knowledge is created. This new knowledge improves the previous one (step 1). Each cycle shows a step of a spiral staircase: by going up the staircase, more knowledge is created. On the other hand, the situational leadership is based on that each person has a maturity degree to develop a specific task and this maturity increases with the experience. Therefore, the teacher (leader) has to adapt the teaching style to the student (subordinate) requirements and in this way, the professional and personal development of the student will increase quickly by improving the results and satisfaction. This educational strategy, finally combined with the informal learning, and in particular the zone of proximal development, and using a learning content management system own in our University, gets a successful and well-evaluated learning activity in Master subjects focused on the collaborative activity of preparation and oral exhibition of short and specific topics affine to these subjects. Therefore, the teacher has a relevant and consultant role of the selected topic and his function is to guide and supervise the work, incorporating many times the previous works done in other courses, as a research tutor or more experienced student. Then, in this work, we show the academic results, grade of interactivity developed in these collaborative tasks, statistics and the satisfaction grade shown by our post-graduate students.

Retinal microglia are activated by systemic fungal infection

Purpose: To determine whether systemic fungal infection could cause activation of retinal microglia and therefore could be potentially harmful for patients with retinal degenerative diseases. Methods: Activation of retinal microglia was measured in a model of sublethal invasive candidiasis in C57BL/6J mice by (i) confocal immunofluorescence and (ii) flow cytometry analysis, using anti-CD11b, anti-Iba1, anti-MHCII and anti-CD45 antibodies. Results: Systemic fungal infection causes activation of retinal microglia, with phenotypic changes in morphology, surface markers expression, and microglial re-location in retinal layers. Conclusions: As an excessive or prolonged microglial activation may lead to chronic inflammation with severe pathological side effects, causing or worsening the course of retinal dystrophies, a systemic infection may represent a risk factor to be considered in patients with ocular neurodegenerative diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.

Aprender conociendo a las personas usuarias de los servicios

Se presentan tres experiencias de innovación docente realizadas en la asignatura de Iniciación a las Habilidades Profesionales, primer curso del Grado en Trabajo Social, Universidad de Alicante. Objetivos: 1) Implicar en la docencia a las personas usuarias de los servicios, considerándolos expertos por su experiencia personal con Trabajadores Sociales y con la sociedad en general. 2) Proporcionar un contexto de aprendizaje que permita conocer, comprender y aprender a comunicarse profesionalmente con personas usuarias de servicios. Metodología: Aprendizaje significativo basado en la interacción con personas usuarias de los servicios con tres modalidades: a) Diseño conjunto de actividades de enseñanza-aprendizaje entre una entidad social y el profesorado de la asignatura Iniciación a las Habilidades Profesionales del Grado en Trabajo Social de la Universidad de Alicante; b) Diseño con enfoque multidisciplinar (profesorado de Trabajo Social con el profesorado de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y Deporte) y la entidad social; c) Diseño internacional con participación de las universidades Queen’s University, Belfast (Northern Ireland) (coordinadora del proyecto) junto con las universidades de Ljubljana (Slovenia) y Alicante. Los resultados proporcionan evidencias sobre la pertinencia de la colaboración docente de personas expertas por su experiencia y de la utilización de una metodología docente basada en el aprendizaje significativo para la adquisición de competencias.

The Pliocene Mediterranean infilling of the Messinian Erosional Surface: New biostratigraphic data based on calcareous nannofossils (Bajo Segura Basin, SE Spain)

The Bajo Segura Basin (eastern Betic Cordillera) is a Mediterranean marginal basin where the Messinian Erosional Surface (MES), formed during the Messinian Salinity Crisis sea-level fall, is well developed. Overlying this major discontinuity the lower Pliocene transgressive sediments record the reflooding of the Mediterranean and the return to an open marine environment, the continental shelf being rebuilt after the Messinian erosion. The stratigraphic and biostratigraphic study of six sections allows two transgressive-regressive sequences filling the MES to be distinguished, correlated with the previously distinguished Mediterranean offshore seismic units. Ten calcareous nannofossil bioevents have been identified. The lower sequence can be dated according to nannofossil biozones NN12 to NN14 and the upper sequence by NN15 to NN16. The boundary between both lower Pliocene sedimentary sequences occur after the first common occurrence (FCO) of Discoaster asymmetricus found in the uppermost sediments of the lower sequence and before the first occurrence (FO) of Discoaster tamalis in the lowermost part of the upper sequence. Thus this sequence boundary can be estimated at between 4.1 and 4.0Ma ago.

Teaching as a fractal: from experience to model

The aim of this work is to improve students’ learning by designing a teaching model that seeks to increase student motivation to acquire new knowledge. To design the model, the methodology is based on the study of the students’ opinion on several aspects we think importantly affect the quality of teaching (such as the overcrowded classrooms, time intended for the subject or type of classroom where classes are taught), and on our experience when performing several experimental activities in the classroom (for instance, peer reviews and oral presentations). Besides the feedback from the students, it is essential to rely on the experience and reflections of lecturers who have been teaching the subject several years. This way we could detect several key aspects that, in our opinion, must be considered when designing a teaching proposal: motivation, assessment, progressiveness and autonomy. As a result we have obtained a teaching model based on instructional design as well as on the principles of fractal geometry, in the sense that different levels of abstraction for the various training activities are presented and the activities are self-similar, that is, they are decomposed again and again. At each level, an activity decomposes into a lower level tasks and their corresponding evaluation. With this model the immediate feedback and the student motivation are encouraged. We are convinced that a greater motivation will suppose an increase in the student’s working time and in their performance. Although the study has been done on a subject, the results are fully generalizable to other subjects.

Machine learning techniques for automatic opinion detection in non-traditional textual genres

This paper presents a preliminary study in which Machine Learning experiments applied to Opinion Mining in blogs have been carried out. We created and annotated a blog corpus in Spanish using EmotiBlog. We evaluated the utility of the features labelled firstly carrying out experiments with combinations of them and secondly using the feature selection techniques, we also deal with several problems, such as the noisy character of the input texts, the small size of the training set, the granularity of the annotation scheme and the language object of our study, Spanish, with less resource than English. We obtained promising results considering that it is a preliminary study.

Inclusion of immersive virtual learning environments and visual control systems to support the learning of students with Asperger syndrome

This paper presents the use of immersive virtual reality systems in the educational intervention with Asperger students. The starting points of this study are features of these students' cognitive style that requires an explicit teaching style supported by visual aids and highly structured environments. The proposed immersive virtual reality system, not only to assess the student's behavior and progress, but also is able to adapt itself to the student's specific needs. Additionally, the immersive reality system is equipped with sensors that can determine certain behaviors of the students. This paper determines the possible inclusion of immersive virtual reality as a support tool and learning strategy in these particular students' intervention. With this objective two task protocols have been defined with which the behavior and interaction situations performed by participant students are recorded. The conclusions from this study talks in favor of the inclusion of these virtual immersive environments as a support tool in the educational intervention of Asperger syndrome students as their social competences and executive functions have improved.

Teaching-learning process of historical heritage: a Journey as a beginning, path and end

The implantation of new university degrees within the European Higher Education Area implies the need of innovative methodologies in teaching and learning to improve the skills and competencies of students and to answer the growing needs that society continuously demands to heritage management experts. The present work shows an application of the teaching methodology proposed during the international workshop entitled “I International Planning Preservation Workshop. Learning from Al Andalus”, which included the participation of the University of Alicante and Granada, Università Politecnico di Milano and Hunter College City University of New York; where we tried to dissolve traditional boundaries derived of interuniversity cooperation programs. The main objective of the workshop was to discuss and debate the role of urban Historical Centers within the Global Heritage by the integrated work through multidisciplinary teams and the creation of a permanent international working group between these universities to both teach and research. The methodology of this workshop was very participatory and considered the idea of a new learning process generated by "a journey experience." A trip from global to local (from the big city to the small village) but also a trip from the local (historical) part of a big city to the global dimension of contemporary historical villages identified by the students through a system of exhibition panels in affinity groups, specific projects proposed by lecturers and teachers or the generation of publications in various areas (texts, photographs, videos, etc.). So, the participation of the students in this multidisciplinary meeting has enhanced their capacity for self-criticism in several disciplines and has promoted their ability to perform learning and research strategies in an autonomous way. As a result, it has been established a permanent international work structure for the development of projects of the Historical City. This relationship has generated the publication of several books whose contents have reflected the conclusions developed in the workshop and several teaching proposals shared between those institutions. All these aspects have generated a new way of understanding the teaching process through a journey, in order to study the representative role of university in the historical heritage and to make students (from planning, heritage management, architecture, geography, sociology, history or engineering areas) be compromised on searching strategies for sustainable development in the Contemporary City.

An Architecture by means of Anthropology. Beyond learning the tools of social science

Los arquitectos y urbanistas tienen una larga tradición en el aprendizaje de las herramientas de las ciencias sociales, especialmente las que les permiten analizar y describir mejor los entornos y las personas para las que trabajan. Esto ha llevado a los arquitectos a desarrollar mejores herramientas de observación y descripción del ámbito social y no sólo el material. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las veces este acercamiento interdisciplinar ha identificado las ciencias sociales, especialmente la antropología, con la etnografía. Este artículo parte de la crítica a esta identificación hecha por el antropólogo Tim Ingold y se centra en lo que él propone como el método central de la antropología, la observación participante. Para después revisar varias propuestas actuales de científicos sociales que tratan de desarrollar una disciplina no representacional y orientada al futuro, un objetivo más cercano al de la arquitectura. El artículo intenta imaginar cómo esta práctica transdisciplinar podría desarrollarse.