E-publishing development and changes in the scholarly communication system

New and alternative scientific publishing business models is a reality driven mostly by the information and communication technologies, by the movements towards the recovery of control of the scientific communication activities by the academic community, and by the open access approaches. The hybrid business model, mixing open and toll-access is a reality and they will probably co-exist with respective trade-offs. This essay discusses the changes driven by the epublishing and the impacts on the scholarly communication system stakeholders' interrelationships (publishers-researchers, publishers-libraries and publishers-users interrelationships), and the changes on the scientific publishing business models, followed by a discussion of possible evolving business models. Whatever the model which evolves and dominates, a huge cultural change in authors' and institutions publishing practices will be necessary in order to make the open access happen and to consolidate the right business models for the traditional publishers. External changes such as policies, rewarding systems and institutions mandates should also happen in order to sustain the whole changing scenario.

Brain Injury Quick Guide: Information and Resources for Teachers and School Staff, July 2013

The Brain Injury Quick Guide was developed as a resource tool for educators and school staff. Functional challenges (including social, physical, communication, and cognitive) are common following brain injury. This booklet serves as a resource outlining common challenges students may face in the classroom as well as strategies for addressing these challenges. Case studies outlining common challenges with possible strategies are provided with suggestions for IEP/504 plan accommodations. Basic brain anatomy and brain injury statistics are also reviewed.

Cyberadministration : un tremplin pour les pays émergents : illustration à travers un exemple, constats et perspectives

Nous assistons actuellement à une diffusion, à l'échelle planétaire, des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (TIC) même si elle se fait à des rythmes différents selon les nations (voire entre les régions d'un même pays) créant ainsi un fossé dit « numérique », en sus des multiples inégalités déjà présentes. Cette révolution informatique et technologique engendre de nombreux changements dans les rapports sociaux et permet de nombreuses applications destinées à simplifier la vie quotidienne de tout un chacun. Amine Bekkouche se penche sur la problématique de la cyberadministration comme conséquence importante des TIC, à l'instar du commerce électronique. Il présente, d'abord, une synthèse des principaux concepts de la cyberadministration ainsi qu'un panorama de la situation mondiale en ce domaine. Par la suite, il appréhende la cyberadministration dans la perspective des pays émergents, notamment, à travers l'illustration d'un pays en développement représentatif. Il propose alors des solutions concrètes qui prennent comme point de départ le secteur éducatif pour permettre une « alphabétisation informatique » de la société afin de contribuer justement à réduire le fossé numérique. Il élargit, ensuite, ces propositions à d'autres domaines et formule des recommandations facilitant leur mise en oeuvre. Il conclut, enfin, sur des perspectives qui pourraient constituer autant de pistes de recherches futures et permettre l'élaboration de projets de développement, à travers l'appropriation de ces TIC, pour améliorer la condition de l'administré, et plus globalement, du citoyen. - We are currently witnessing a distribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on a global scale. Yet, this distribution is carried out in different rhythms within each nation (and even among regions in a given country), which creates a "digital" gap, in addition to multiple inequalities already present. This computing and technological revolution engenders many changes in social relationships and permits numerous applications that are destined to simplify our lives. Amine Bekkouche takes a closer look at the issue of e-government as an important consequence of ICTs, following the example of electronic commerce. First, he presents a synthesis of the main concepts in e- government as well as a panoramic view of the global situation in this domain. Subsequently, he studies e-government in view of emerging countries, in particular through the illustration of a country in representative development. Then, he offers concrete solutions, which take the education sector as their starting point, to allow for a "computed digitalisation" of society that contribute to reduce the digital gap. Thereafter, he broadens these proposals to other domains and formulates recommendations that help their implementation. Finally, he concludes with perspectives that may constitute further research tracks and enable the elaboration of development projects, through the appropriation of ICTs, in order to improve the condition of the administered, and more generally, that of the citizen.

Challenges and opportunities for science journalists in adopting new technologies: the case of Spain = Retos y oportunidades para los periodistas científicos en la adopción de las nuevas tecnologías: el caso de España

This paper analyses the adoption of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) by Spanish journalists specialising in science. Applying an ethnographic research model, this study was based on a wide sample of professionals, aiming to evaluate the extent by which science journalists have adopted the new media and changed the way they use information sources. In addition, interviewees were asked whether in their opinion the Web 2.0 has had an impact on the quality of the news. The integration of formats certainly implies a few issues for today’s newsrooms. Finally, with the purpose of improving the practice of science information dissemination, the authors put forward a few proposals, namely: Increasing the training of Spanish science journalists in the field of new technologies; Emphasising the accuracy of the information and the validation of sources; Rethinking the mandates and the tasks of information professionals.

Catalogación y valoración de las webquests desde el área de educación física y el tratamiento de temáticas transversales

Gears of the current millennium have been activated by the hit entry into the information society that has generated a whole range of social and educational changes, it is difficult to stay out of their influence, such as: the dizzying presence of new technologies (NNTT) and the entrenchment of a crisis of values. Physical education has been affected by this avalanche of developments that have sparked the birth of original teaching and learning tools that can be applied in the classroom. In this sense, WebQuests have been configured as a unifying and educational activities that allow addressing the treatment of specific thematic area that we are dealing with the work of certain cross¿cutting. But how do you know what product we have before us, what is its effectiveness? What criteria will allow us to classify it as a fit and capable of being applied in our particular educational context? To clarify these and other issues that any teacher could arise before the election of a multimedia educational materials, our particular object of study has a double claim on the one hand, developing two tools: the card catalog and the heading of Valuation of WebQuests and secondly, to apply these tools in order to find out / determine the degree of quality of a sample of WebQuests. In this article sets forth, in summary form, the various stages of what our research has gone since the establishment of a synthesized theoretical basis, via the definition of the basic guidelines for the design of the exhibition and research results and ending with The list of the ideas and proposals arising from thework.

La Gestión de la Información Personal en usuarios intensivos de las TIC

Se presenta un modelo de análisis del comportamiento informacional global de un colectivo de individuos (estudiantes de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) que tienen una percepción positiva sobre el uso de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación y que realizan un uso intensivo de las mismas.A partir de una aproximación cualitativa, mediante 24 entrevistas y un posterior análisis del contenido, se identifican cuatro perfiles distintos de gestión de la información personal (reactivo, pasivo, exhaustivo y proactivo) en base a diez variables subyacentes (acceso, gestión y usos de la información, competenciasinformacionales, perfil cognitivo, actitud, percepción de las TIC, ámbito académico, profesional y de la vida diaria) y se ponen derelieve las diferencias de comportamiento informacional dependiendo del ámbito en el que se encuentren. La identificación de los perfiles es un estadio básico del diseño centrado en los usuarios que facilita la realización de intervenciones específicas para cada tipo de usuario, respetando requerimientos de herramientasy procesos para que puedan desarrollar su comportamiento informacional de forma eficiente y eficaz.

Mobiilien päätelaitteiden käyttö opiskelun apuvälineenä

Kiinnostus mobiiliteknologiaa kohtion tällä hetkellä suuri ja erilaisten mobiililaitteiden ja tekniikoiden nopea kehitys on herättänyt kiinnostuksen myös mobiilioppimiseen. Diplomityössä esitetään mitä mobiililaitteita, langattomia tiedonsiirtotekniikoitaja mobiilipalveluita on tällä hetkellä käytettävissä opiskelun, opetuksen ja oppimisen avuksi. Työssä tutkitaan mitä mobiilioppiminen merkitsee käytännössä ja tuodaan esille mobiilioppimisen mahdollisuuksia ja ongelmia sekä ihmisten suhtautumista verkko- ja mobiilioppimiseen. Lisäksi työssä tutustutaan käytännön esimerkein siihen, miten laitteita on mahdollista käyttää hyväksi opiskelussa ja opetuksessa sekä tutkitaan mobiilioppimisen nykytilannetta ja pohditaan sentulevaisuutta. Mobiilit teknologiat tarjoavat parhaassa tapauksessa ajasta ja paikasta riippumattoman oppimisen lisäksi monia muita uusia mahdollisuuksia. Erilaisia mobiililaitteita, ja langattomia tekniikoita on jo tällä hetkellä paljon käytettävissä, mutta niiden käyttö koulutuksessa on kuitenkin vielä varsin harvinaista, sillä mobiilioppimiseen liittyy vielä paljon varsinkinkäytettävyyteen ja sopivien laitteiden puutteeseen liittyviä ongelmia.

The effect of information and communication technology on global paper consumption

The objective of this thesis is to find out how information and communication technology affects the global consumption of printing and writing papers. Another objective is to find out, whether there are differences between paper grades in these effects. The empirical analysis is conducted by linear regression analysis using three sets of country-level panel data from 1990-2006. Data set of newsprint contains 95 countries, data set of uncoated woodfree paper 61 countries and data set of coated mechanical paper 42 countries. The material is based on paper consumption data of RISI’s Industry Statistics Database and on the information and communication technology data of GMID-database. Results indicate that number of Internet users has statistically significant negative effect on the consumption of newsprint and on the consumption of coated mechanical paper and number of mobile telephone users has positive effect on the consumptions of these papers. Results also indicate that information and communication technologies have only small effect on consumption of uncoated woodfree paper or no significant effect at all, but these results are more uncertain to some extent.

Using a blog to create and support a Community of Inquiry in Secondary Education

Understanding how blogs can support collaborative learning is a vital concern for researchers and teachers. This paper explores how blogs may be used to support Secondary Education students’ collaborative interaction and how such an interaction process can promote the creation of a Community of Inquiry to enhance critical thinking and meaningful learning. We designed, implemented and evaluated a science case-based project in which fifteen secondary students participated. Students worked in the science blogging project during 4 months. We asked students to be collaboratively engaged in purposeful critical discourse and reflection in their blogs in order to solve collectively science challenges and construct meaning about topics related to Astronomy and Space Sciences. Through student comments posted in the blog, our findings showed that the blog environment afforded the construction of a Community of Inquiry and therefore the creation of an effective online collaborative learning community. In student blog comments, the three presences for collaborative learning took place: cognitive, social, and teaching presence. Moreover, our research found a positive correlation among the three presences –cognitive, social and teaching– of the Community of Inquiry model with the level of learning obtained by the students. We discuss a series of issues that instructors should consider when blogs are incorporated into teaching and learning. We claim that embedded scaffolds to help students to argue and reason their comments in the blog are required to foster blog-supported collaborative learning.

Wiki-supported collaborative learning in primary education. How a dialogic space is created for thinking together

This paper explores how wikis may be used to support primary education students’ collaborative interaction and how such an interaction process can be characterised. The overall aim of this study is to analyse the collaborative processes of students working together in a wiki environment, in order to see how primary students can actively create a shared context for learning in the wiki. Educational literature has already reported that wikis may support collaborative knowledge-construction processes, but in our study we claim that a dialogic perspective is needed to accomplish this. Students must develop an intersubjective orientation towards each others’ perspectives, to co-construct knowledge about a topic. For this purpose, our project utilised a ‘Thinking Together’ approach to help students develop an intersubjective orientation towards one another and to support the creation of a ‘dialogic space’ to co-construct new understanding in a wiki science project. The students’ asynchronous interaction process in a primary classroom -- which led to the creation of a science text in the wiki -- was analysed and characterised, using a dialogic approach to the study of CSCL practices. Our results illustrate how the Thinking Together approach became embedded within the wiki environment and in the students’ collaborative processes. We argue that a dialogic approach for examining interaction can be used to help design more effective pedagogic approaches related to the use of wikis in education and to equip learners with the competences they need to participate in the global knowledge-construction era.

Impacts des technologies de l'information sur les modes de coordination à travers quatre études en systèmes d'information

L'évolution de l'environnement économique, des chaînes de valeur et des modèles d'affaires des organisations augmentent l'importance de la coordination, qui peut être définie comme la gestion des interdépendances entre des tâches réalisées par des acteurs différents et concourants à un objectif commun. De nombreux moyens sont mis en oeuvre au sein des organisations pour gérer ces interdépendances. A cet égard, les activités de coordination bénéficient massivement de l'appui des technologies de l'information et de communication (TIC) qui sont désormais disséminées, intégrées et connectées sous de multiples formes tant dans l'environnement privé que professionnel. Dans ce travail, nous avons investigué la question de recherche suivante : comment l'ubiquité et l'interconnec- tivité des TIC modifient-elles les modes de coordination ? A travers quatre études en systèmes d'information conduites selon une méthodologie design science, nous avons traité cette question à deux niveaux : celui de l'alignement stratégique entre les affaires et les systèmes d'information, où la coordination porte sur les interdépendances entre les activités ; et celui de la réalisation des activités, où la coordination porte sur les interdépendances des interactions individuelles. Au niveau stratégique, nous observons que l'ubiquité et l'interconnectivité permettent de transposer des mécanismes de coordination d'un domaine à un autre. En facilitant différentes formes de coprésence et de visibilité, elles augmentent aussi la proximité dans les situations de coordination asynchrone ou distante. Au niveau des activités, les TIC présentent un très fort potentiel de participation et de proximité pour les acteurs. De telles technologies leur donnent la possibilité d'établir les responsabilités, d'améliorer leur compréhension commune et de prévoir le déroulement et l'intégration des tâches. La contribution principale qui émerge de ces quatre études est que les praticiens peuvent utiliser l'ubiquité et l'interconnectivité des TIC pour permettre aux individus de communi-quer et d'ajuster leurs actions pour définir, atteindre et redéfinir les objectifs du travail commun. -- The evolution of the economic environment and of the value chains and business models of organizations increases the importance of coordination, which can be defined as the management of interdependences between tasks carried out by different actors and con-tributing to a common goal. In organizations, a considerable number of means are put into action in order to manage such interdependencies. In this regard, information and communication technologies (ICT), whose various forms are nowadays disseminated, integrated and connected in both private and professional environments, offer important support to coordination activities. In this work, we have investigated the following research question: how do the ubiquity and the interconnectivity of ICT modify coordination mechanisms? Throughout four information systems studies conducted according to a design science methodology, we have looked into this question at two different levels: the one of strategic alignment between business and information systems strategy, where coordination is about interdependencies between activities; and the one of tasks, where coordination is about interdependencies between individual interactions. At the strategic level, we observe that ubiquity and interconnectivity allow for transposing coordination mechanisms from one field to another. By facilitating various forms of copresence and visibility, they also increase proximity in asynchronous or distant coordination situations. At the tasks level, ICTs offer the actors a very high potential for participation and proximity. Such technologies make it possible to establish accountability, improve common understanding and anticipate the unfolding and integration of tasks. The main contribution emerging from these four studies is that practitioners can use the ubiquity and interconnectivity of ICT in order to allow individuals to communicate and adjust their actions to define, reach and redefine the goals of common work.

Los enfoques de aprendizaje en estudiantes universitarios Catalanes mediante el approaches and study skills inventory for students (ASSIST) = Learning Approaches of Catalan University Students Measured with the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST)

The aim of this study is to measure the psychometric properties of a Catalan translation of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST), and to analyse the different learning styles used by university students, considering the influence of gender and type of studies. The instrument was administered to 834 students at the University of Girona. The results showed that most students interviewed had a deep approach to learning, although the analysis by gender showed that females tended to use a more strategic approach, while males used a deep approach predominantly. As to whether the type of studies influenced learning styles, a prevalence of deep approach was found among Science and Technology students, while a more strategic approach was found among Humanities and Education students

Learning 2.0 : concepts and experiences

E-learning arises in all educative contexts and levels with the use of information and communication technologies and massive access to internet connected computers. On the other hand, the fast development of social networking tools and web 2.0 technologies are producing an evolution of e-learning towards what is called a learning 2.0 paradigm. In this short paper weshall present the main technologies and pedagogical issues related to that new way of learning and how we can use them to improve the acquisition of competences and new knowledge.

eLab, a Personal Learning Environment for the Green Open Innovation Platform

Open Innovation is a relatively new concept which involves a change of paradigm in the R+D+i processes of companies whose aim is to create new technologies or new processes. If to this change, we add the need for innovation in the new green and sustainability economy, and we set out to create a collaborative platform with a learning space where this can happen, we will be facing an overwhelming challenge which requires the application of intelligent programming technologies and languages at the service of education.The aim of the Green IDI (Green Open Innovation) ¿ Economic development and job creation vector in SMEs, based on the environment and sustainability project is to create a platform where companies and individual researchers can perform open innovation processes in the field of sustainability and the environment.The Green IDI (Green Open Innovation) project is funded under the program INNPACTO by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain and is being developed through a consortium formed by the following institutions: GRUPO ICA; COMPARTIA; GRUPO INTERCOM; CETAQUA and the Instituto de Investigación en Inteligencia Artificial (IIIA) from Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). Also the consortium include FUNDACIÓ PRIVADA BARCELONA DIGITAL; PIMEC and UNIVERSITAT OBERTA DE CATALUNYA (UOC).Sustainability and positive action for the environment are considered the principle vector of economic development for companies. As Nicolás Scoli says (2007) ¿in short, preventing unnecessary consumption and the efficient consumption of resources means producing greater wealth with less. Both effects lead to reduced pollution linked to production and consumption¿.The Spanish Sustainable Development Strategy (EEDS) plan defends consumption and sustainable production linked to social and economic development by adhering to the commitment not to endanger ecosystems and abolishing the idea that economic growth is directly proportional to the deterioration of the environment.Uniting the Open Innovation and New Green Economy concepts leads to the "Green Open Innovation¿ Platform creation project.This article analyses the concept of open innovation and defines the importance of the new green and sustainable economy. Lastly, it proposes the creation of eLab. The eLab is defined as an Open Green Innovation Platform personal and collaborative education space which is fed by the interactions of users and which enables innovation processes based on new green economy concepts to be carried out.The creation of a personal learning environment such as eLab on the Green Open Innovation Platform meets the need to offer a collaborative space where platform users can improve their skills regarding the environment and sustainability based on collaborative synergies through Information and Communication Technologies.

Las redes de innovación docente de la Universitat de Girona : la perspectiva de los coordinadores

In 2009 the University of Girona (Spain) created four interest groups on teaching innovation. The objective of the project is that lecturers with an interest in teaching innovation can exchange their points of view and learn from one another, so University teaching is improved as a result. There are four such groups: “Problem based learning (ABP)”, “Cooperative learning”, “Evaluation”, and “Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Teaching”. The coordinators of the groups or networks, as they are also called, are chosen on a free basis by its members. This paper presents their point of view as regards the current activity of encouragement of interest in higher education and they elaborate on the main difficulties involved. The implications of the interdisciplinary work are explored, as well as the challenges of an initiative of this kind. The evolution of the ongoing work is reviewed, taking into account the context of a changing University, the lack of previous experience regarding projects of this kind, the asynchronous communication among the participants, and the necessity of a flexible approach in organizational matters