A holistic experience in the integrated learning of specialized English and content in Engineering degrees

This paper aims to outline a theory-based Content and Language Integrated Learning course and to establish the rationale for adopting a holistic approach to the teaching of languages in tertiary education. Our work focuses on the interdependence between Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), in particular regarding the learning of English within the framework of Telecommunications Engineering. The study first analyses the diverse components of the instructional approach and the extent to which this approach interrelates with technologies within the context of what we have defined as a holistic experience, since it also aims to develop a set of generic competences or transferable skills. Second, an example of a course project framed in this holistic approach is described in order to exemplify the specific actions suggested for learner autonomy and CLIL. The approach provides both an adequate framework as well as the conditions needed to carry out a lifelong learning experience within our context, a Spanish School of Engineering. In addition to specialized language and content, the approach integrates the learning of skills and capacities required by the new plans that have been established following the Bologna Declaration in 1999.

Large-scale assessment of language proficiency: theoretical and pedagogical reflections on the use of multiple-choice tests

The new requirement placed on students in tertiary settings in Spain to demonstrate a B1 or a B2 proficiency level of English, in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL), has led most Spanish universities to develop a program of certification or accreditation of the required level. The first part of this paper aims to provide a rationale for the type of test that has been developed at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid for the accreditation of a B2 level, a multiple choice version, and to describe how it was constructed and validated. Then, in the second part of the paper, the results from its application to 924 students enrolled in different degree courses at a variety of schools and faculties at the university are analyzed based on a final test version item analysis. To conclude, some theoretical as well as practical conclusions about testing grammar that affect the teaching and learning process are drawn. RESUMEN. Las nuevas exigencias sobre niveles de competencia B1 y B2 en inglés según el Marco Común Europeo de Referencia para las Lenguas (MCERL) que se imponen sobre los estudiantes de grado y posgrado han llevado a la mayoría de las universidades españolas a desarrollar programas de acreditación o de certificación de estos niveles. La primera parte de este trabajo trata sobre las razones que fundamentan la elección de un tipo concreto de examen para la acreditación del nivel B2 de lengua inglesa en la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Se trata de un test de opción múltiple y en esta parte del trabajo se describe cómo fue diseñado y validado. En la segunda parte, se analizan los resultados de la aplicación del test a gran escala a un total de 924 estudiantes matriculados en varias escuelas y Facultades de la Universidad. Para terminar, se apuntan una serie de conclusiones teóricas y prácticas sobre la evaluación de la gramática y de qué modo influye en los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje.

The educational learning lifecycle and the cloud computing

Currently, student dropout rates are a matter of concern among universities. Many research studies, aimed at discovering the causes, have been carried out. However, few solutions, that could serve all students and related problems, have been proposed so far. One such problem is caused by the lack of the "knowledge chain educational links" that occurs when students move onto higher studies without mastering their basic studies. Most regulated studies imparted at universities are designed so that some basic subjects serve as support for other, more complicated, subjects, thus forming a complicated knowledge network. When a link in this chain fails, student frustration occurs as it prevents him from fully understanding the following educational links. In this proposal we try to mitigate these disasters that stem, for the most part, the student?s frustration beyond his college stay. On one hand, we make a dissertation on the student?s learning process, which we divide into a series of phases that amount to what we call the "learning lifecycle." Also, we analyze at what stage the action by the stakeholders involved in this scenario: teachers and students; is most important. On the other hand, we consider that Information and Communication Technologies ICT, such as Cloud Computing, can help develop new ways, allowing for the teaching of higher education, while easing and facilitating the student?s learning process. But, methods and processes need to be defined as to direct the use of such technologies; in the teaching process in general, and within higher education in particular; in order to achieve optimum results. Our methodology integrates, as another actor, the ICT into the "Learning Lifecycle". We stimulate students to stop being merely spectators of their own education, and encourage them to take an active part in their training process. To do this, we offer a set of useful tools to determine not only academic failure causes, (for self assessment), but also to remedy these failures (with corrective actions); "discovered the causes it is easier to determine solutions?. We believe this study will be useful for both students and teachers. Students learn from their own experience and improve their learning process, while obtaining all of the "knowledge chain educational links? required in their studies. We stand by the motto "Studying to learn instead of studying to pass". Teachers will also be benefited by detecting where and how to strengthen their teaching proposals. All of this will also result in decreasing dropout rates.

Constellations and the unsupervised learning of graphs

In this paper, we propose a novel method for the unsupervised clustering of graphs in the context of the constellation approach to object recognition. Such method is an EM central clustering algorithm which builds prototypical graphs on the basis of fast matching with graph transformations. Our experiments, both with random graphs and in realistic situations (visual localization), show that our prototypes improve the set median graphs and also the prototypes derived from our previous incremental method. We also discuss how the method scales with a growing number of images.

Development and psychometric testing of the clinical learning environment, supervision and nurse teacher evaluation scale (CLES+T): The Spanish version

Background: The Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher scale is a reliable and valid instrument to evaluate the quality of the clinical learning process in international nursing education contexts. Objectives: This paper reports the development and psychometric testing of the Spanish version of the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher scale. Design: Cross-sectional validation study of the scale. Setting: 10 public and private hospitals in the Alicante area, and the Faculty of Health Sciences (University of Alicante, Spain). Participants: 370 student nurses on clinical placement (January 2011–March 2012). Methods: The Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher scale was translated using the modified direct translation method. Statistical analyses were performed using PASW Statistics 18 and AMOS 18.0.0 software. A multivariate analysis was conducted in order to assess construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to evaluate instrument reliability. Results: An exploratory factorial analysis identified the five dimensions from the original version, and explained 66.4% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the factor structure of the Spanish version of the instrument. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the scale was .95, ranging from .80 to .97 for the subscales. Conclusion: This version of the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher scale instrument showed acceptable psychometric properties for use as an assessment scale in Spanish-speaking countries.

Continuous Off-the-Job Training in East Germany After Unification: Preliminary Results of an Evaluation of the Effects for Individual Workers, CES Germany & Europe Working Papers, No. 05.9, 19 July, 1995

Retraining the labor force to match the demands of a modem economy is seen as an important task during the transition process from a centrally-planned to a market economy. This need was particularly pressing in East Germany, because the transition process has proceeded much faster than in the rest of Eastern Europe. Therefore, substantial resources have been devoted to this purpose. This paper analyzes the impact of continuous off-the-job training in East Germany from the point of view of individuals who were part of the labor force before German unification in 1990. It tries to answer questions about the average gains from participating in a specific type of training. Typical outcomes considered to measure those gains are income, employment status, job security, and expected future changes in job position. The methodology used for the evaluation is the potential outcome approach to causality. This approach has received considerable attention in the statistical literature over the last fifteen years and it has recently been rediscovered by the econometric literature as well. It is adapted to allow for important permanent and transitory shocks, such as unemployment, which influence the decision to participate in the training as well as future labor market outcomes. The empirical part is based on the first four waves of the Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP)-East (1990-1993). This panel data set has the advantage that the fourth wave contains a special survey on continuous training and that it allows keeping track of individual behavior on a monthly, respectively yearly, basis. The econometric analysis focuses on off-the-job training courses that began after unification and were completed not later than in early 1993. Although it is obviously too early to evaluate the long-term implications, the results suggest that there are no positive effects in the short run.

Tri-level study: modification. Task 4: final report on the relationships between driver characteristics and accident causation.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

[Commentary on the Old Testament]

[v.1] Genesis, 1841--[v.2] Exodus [1813?]--[v.4] Numbers, 1841--[v.5] Deuteronomy, 1841--[v.6-7] Joshua, Judges, 1842--[v.9-10] I&II Samuel [1805]--[v.11-12] I&II Kings, 1843--[v.18] Job, 1844--[v.19] Psalms, 1843--[v.20] Proverbs, 1844--

A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments /

I. Old Testament (Genesis-Esther: R. Jamieson. Job-Malachi: A. R. Fausset).--II. New Testament (Matthew-Romans: D. Brown. 1 Corinthians-Revelation: A. R. Fausset)

A political lecture upon the "influence of slavery on the Constitution and Union," delivered at the request of the citizens of Brooklyn,

Mode of access: Internet.

Notes on the manufacture of sugar in the island of Cuba,

Mode of access: Internet.

Sir William Temple's essays on ancient & modern learning and on poetry;

Mode of access: Internet.

A treatise on the diseases of infancy and childhood /

Mode of access: Internet.