The framework for specifying, reusing and implementing educational settings. Level 1 & 2 integrated

This file includes the ontology of patterns of educational settings adapted to a given organization as part of a formal framework for specifying, reusing and implementing educational settings. It includes a description of such an ontology.

L'ensenyament universitari del segle XXI : més enllà del paper

Durant les últimes dècades, en un context en què impera la influència de les TIC, el model de l'ensenyament universitari ha canviat radicalment. Paral·lelament, els rols de l'estudiant i del professor també s'han vist modificats: l'estudiant ha deixat de ser un lector passiu per convertir-se en un lector que participa activament en el procés d'aprenentatge, aportant material complementari i en diferents suports a la informació que li arriba. Neix, així, el concepte de lectura augmentada. La Universitat Oberta de Catalunya és un exemple de la tendència de futur de l'ensenyament universitari, en què l'estudiant pren les regnes de l'aprenentatge i les institucions educatives s'adapten a les noves necessitats de l'usuari afavorint la flexibilitat, la mobilitat i les eines tecnològiques imprescindibles per a aquest nou model d'ensenyament.

L'ensenyament universitari del segle XXI : més enllà del paper

La Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) és un exemple de la tendència de futur de l'ensenyament universitari, en què l'estudiant pren les regnes de l'aprenenetatge i les institucions educatives s'adapten a les noves necessitats de l'usuari afavorint la flexibilitat, la mobilitat i les eines tecnològiques imprescindibles per a aquest nou model d'enseyament.

Adaption of Courses and Learning Environment to the User Context in dotLRN

The explosive growth of Internet during the last years has been reflected in the ever-increasing amount of the diversity and heterogeneity of user preferences, types and features of devices and access networks. Usually the heterogeneity in the context of the users which request Web contents is not taken into account by the servers that deliver them implying that these contents will not always suit their needs. In the particular case of e-learning platforms this issue is especially critical due to the fact that it puts at stake the knowledge acquired by their users. In the following paper we present a system that aims to provide the dotLRN e-learning platform with the capability to adapt to its users context. By integrating dotLRN with a multi-agent hypermedia system, online courses being undertaken by students as well as their learning environment are adapted in real time

Trajectòries d'èxit de joves immigrants a l'ensenyament superior i al món professional

L’educació dels immigrants és un tema prioritari a les agendes polítiques de molts països de la OCDE. En molts casos, els governs s’han preocupat especialment de la seva integració al món del treball però creix l’interès en els seus resultats al sistema educatiu i en la revisió de les polítiques adreçades a respondre a les seves necessitats educatives i formatives. La majoria d’aquests estudis es situen a l’esfera de l’educació infantil, primària, secundaria i formació professional, per això resulta pràcticament impossible trobar estudis que analitzin el baix percentatge d’accés d’estudiants immigrants extracomunitaris a la universitat (al voltant de 3,3% en el cas de Catalunya); que contribueixin a entendre els factors que configuren les trajectòries d’èxit escolar i d’integració laboral dels estudiants immigrants que accedeixen i completen els estudis universitaris; que puguin donar pautes per desenvolupar polítiques educatives que millorin els resultats d’aprenentatge dels estudiants immigrants; i que puguin servir com a mirall i incentiu per a altres persones immigrants i, perquè no, també del país. Aquest projecte ha estudiat el conjunt d’elements que condicionen l’accés dels joves immigrants als estudis universitaris, i a l’estatus laboral que els hauria de possibilitar la seva formació universitària. L’estudi ha consistit en una metaanàlisi dels documents existents sobre el tema i en la realització de 8 narratives biogràfiques; quatre de persones cursant diferents estudis a les universitats catalanes i quatre que ja s’han incorporat al món del professional. Aquestes narratives venen acompanyades de 8 vídeos que exploren noves maneres de visibilització d’aquesta població i es transformen en una pràctica d’autoria. Aquest material visual pot servir com a recurs educatiu, en la mida que pugui ser un mirall i un incentiu per a altres persones immigrants i del país. Finalment, presenta un seguit de recomanacions per als responsables de les polítiques i dels centres educatius.

Anàlisi de la comunicació família-escola-serveis socio-educatius com a eina per a millorar l'èxit escolar. La situació de les famílies migrades a Catalunya: determinació de necessitats i propostes d'actuació

L’èxit escolar i personal dels nens i nenes escolaritzats en les primeres etapes de l’ensenyament obligatori passa per l’entesa de les seves famílies amb el professorat de les escoles a les que van i pel suport que els ofereixi l’entorn social en que estan immersos. Per entendre’s uns i altres els cal establir vies de comunicació eficients que permetin arribar al coneixement i al treball mutu. El projecte ACOFES (Anàlisi de la Comunicació Família-Escola-Serveis socio-educatius) ha buscat respostes a aquesta qüestió al voltant de cinc eixos: 1.Com es comuniquen els tres agents educatius que intervenen en l’èxit escolar: famílies, professorat i serveis socioeducatius municipals; 2.Quines són les vies de comunicació que fan servir i quina la seva eficàcia; 3.Què pensen les famílies, què necessiten a què es poden o volen comprometre’s respecte a l’escola i a l’educació dels seus fills i filles; 4.Què pensa el professorat de la comunicació amb les famílies, què necessiten com a professionals i a què pot o vol comprometre’s; 5.Quins són aquells factors que poden influir de forma més rellevant en la millora de les possibilitats d’èxit de tot l’alumnat fent, en darrer lloc, noves propostes d’intervenció en particular per ajudar a solventar les necessitats específiques de l’alumnat procedent d’altres cultures que s’escolaritzen a Catalunya.

Economic crisis and recovery: changes in second birth rates within occupational classes and educational groups

This study assesses the decline in second birth rates for men and women across different skill levels in transitional Russia. Changes within educational groups and occupational classes are observed over three distinct time periods: the Soviet era, economic crisis, and economic recovery. The most remarkable finding is the similarity in the extent second birth rates declined within educational groups and occupational classes during the economic crisis. Although further decline occurred in the recovery period, more variation emerged across groups.

Assessment and reuse of contents in the competence-based educational platform InterMediActor

This paper describes a failure alert system and a methodology for content reuse in a new instructional design system called InterMediActor (IMA). IMA provides an environment for instructional content design, production and reuse, and for students’ evaluation based in content specification through a hierarchical structure of competences. The student assessment process and information extraction process for content reuse are explained.

Hierachy-based methodology for producing educational contents with maximal reutilization

Computer based training or distance education are facing dramatic changes withthe advent of standardization efforts, some of them concentrating in maximal reuse.This is of paramount importance for a sustainable -cost affordable- production ofeducational materials. Reuse in itself should not be a goal, though, since manymethodological aspects might be lost. In this paper we propose two contentproduction approaches for the InterMediActor platform under a competence-basedmethodology: either a bottom-up approach where content is designed from scratchor a top-down methodology where existing material can be gradually adapted tofulfil requisites to be used with maximal flexibility into InterMediActor.

The impact of women's educational and economic resources on fertility: Spanish birth cohorts 1901-1950

In this chapter we portray the effects of female education and professional achievement on fertility decline in Spain over the period 1920-1980 (birth cohorts of 1901-1950).A longitudinal econometric approach is used to test the hypothesis that the effects of women’s education in the revaluing of their time had a very significant influence on fertility decline. Although in the historical context presented here improvements in schooling were on a modest scale, they were continuous (with the interruption of the Civil War) and had a significant impact in shaping a model of low fertility in Spain. We also stress the relevance of this result in a context such as the Spanish for which liberal values were absent, fertility control practices were forbidden, and labour force participation of women was politically and socially constrained.

The Sociology of educational mismatch

This paper studies the theoretical relationships between core research lines of sociology such as intergenerational mobility, class structure, cultural capital and educational mismatches. By educational mismatch we mean two things. Firstly an individual can be horizontally mismatched whereby their field of study is inadequate for the job. Another direction of educational mismatch is the so called vertical mismatch where worker possesses more/less education than the job requires resulting in over-/under-education. While analyzing the educational mismatches I keep present the conclusions of Rational Action Theory on individuals’ rational choices in their educational careers. I arrive to conclusions where the influences between educational mismatches and social classes are bidirectional and one can establish fairly clear theoretical links between class of origins and likelihood of being educationally mismatched.

Parental investments in children: how bargaining and educational homogamy affect time allocation

This study examines parental time investment in their children, distinguishing between developmental and non-developmental care. Our analyses centre on three influential determinants: educational background, marital homogamy, and spouses' relative bargaining power. We find that the emphasis on quality care time is correlated with parents' education, and that marital homogamy reduces couple specialization, but only among the highly educated. In line with earlier research, we identify gendered parental behaviour. The presence of boys is an important condition for fathers' time dedication, but primarly among lower educated fathers. To the extent that parental stimulation is decisive for child outcomes, our findings suggest the persistence of important inequalities. This emerges through our special attention to behavioural differences across the educational distribution among households.

What lies behind the devaluation of educational credentials?

Applying fixed-effects models to EULFS data on Spain from 1998 to2006, the paper explores the effects of educational expansion on theoccupational returns to education across different levels of education.We build an indicator of the positional value of education, based on theidea that the value of a given educational credential partly depends onthe percentage of labour market entrants who have reached that level atthe time when individuals enter the labour market -- it is higher whenfewer individuals have reached it, lower otherwise. Our analysis for theSpanish case shows that the decrease in the occupational returns toeducation goes in parallel with the decrease in the positional value ofeducation, but this devaluation of credentials has been stronger ingeneral education (e.g., in humanities or social sciences universitydegrees, or in upper secondary general education) than in specializededucation (e.g., in technical fields in the university, or in uppervocational training). We argue that the reason for this is most likely thatgeneral education provides a more diffuse signal of candidates’ skillsthan specialized education. We also find that this devaluation ofcredentials has been stronger in fields accessed by women in largernumbers in last decades.

Educational policy in Spain - a federal illusion?

Education and health policy are two of the public policies, which in Spain have been assigned to the Autonomous Communities (AC). This transfer of powers could be considered a proof for the strong “self-rule” of the AC, which in turn shows that Spain could be classified as a federal state. In the following analysis the authors in some parts disagree with that conclusion, showing that considering the education area Spain is “heavy at the top”. Due to the state’s exclusive power to regulate the basic conditions guaranteeing the equality of all Spanish citizens, the important and final decisions are taken at the center through the framework legislation. The AC play a minor role in the legislation process, they have to adopt the center decisions. De-centralization and extension of the framework legislation are highly connected: The central state reacted with strong framework legislation to the stages of the educational decentralization process. In addition, the concentration of important framing powers within the central state does not make educational reforms more infrequent. However, such reforms are the results of a competition between the parties, and not between the AC or between the AC and the central state