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

Una pràctica de simulació de cas: la resolució de problemes i el procés diagnòstic

En aquest article presentem una experiència docent dins de l’àmbit de la Psicologia del Pensament. Es tracta d’una activitat d’aprenentatge basat en problemes en la qual els estudiants han de reflexionar sobre com determinats continguts de l’assignatura, els de resolució de problemes, estan fortament relacionats amb la seva futura pràctica professional i amb el desenvolupament del seu aprenentatge des de psicòlegs novells a psicòlegs experts. En este artículo presentamos una experiencia docente en el ámbito de la Psicología del Pensamiento. Se trata de una actividad de aprendizaje basado en problemas en la que los estudiantes han de reflexionar sobre cómo determinados contenidos de la asignatura, los de resolución de problemas, estan fuertemente relacionados con su futura práctica profesional y con el desarrollo de su aprendizaje desde psicólogos novatos a psicólogos expertos

La promoción del pensamiento crítico en el Aprendizaje Basado en Problemas (ABP). Un análisis a partir de los instrumentos de medición

[spa] La literatura científica sobre el Aprendizaje Basado en Problemas (ABP) ha dedicado una atención creciente a la cuestión del pensamiento crítico a lo largo de las dos últimas décadas. Los trabajos de investigación que se han llevado a cabo en los distintos contextos disciplinares de la educación superior presentan definiciones e instrumentos de medición del pensamiento crítico dispares. El presente artículo parte de dicha apreciación y trata de revisar sistemáticamente los mencionados trabajos con un doble objetivo: por un lado, esbozar una clasificación de los instrumentos de medición del pensamiento crítico de estudiantes de ABP y, por el otro, mostrar una panorámica de las evidencias hasta ahora obtenidas; todo ello con la finalidad de animar a profesores, estudiosos y autoridades académicas a seguir avanzando en esta línea de investigación. [eng] Critical thinking has received growing attention from scientific literature on Problem-Based Learning (PBL)during the last two decades. The research carried out in different disciplinary contexts of higher education presents disparate definitions and measuring instruments of critical thinking. This article aims to review systematically the mentioned literature with a dual purpose: on the one hand, to outline a classification of instruments measuring PBL students' critical thinking, on the other, to show an overview of the evidence so far obtained; all of this with the ultimate purpose of encouraging teachers, scholars and academical authorities to proceed further in this line of research.

El aprendizaje basado en problemas como estrategia para el cambio metodológico en los trabajos de laboratorio

The Problem Based Learning (PBL) can be used as a strategy for methodological change in conventional learning environments. In this paper, the integration of laboratory work in PBL grounded activities during an introductory organic chemistry course is described. The most decisive issues of their implementation are discussed. The results show how this methodology favours the laboratory work contextualization in subject-matter and promotes the Science-Technology-Society-Environment relationships. Besides, it contributes to competence development like planning and organization skills, information search and selection, cooperative work, etc., the same way as the tutorial action improvement.

Aprendizagem baseada em problemas: uma experiência no ensino de química toxicológica

This article describes a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) experience that taught organophosphorus pesticides chemistry, its human health effects and acetylcholinesterase assay to secondary students. The teaching process was based on a real intoxication case and ended with students' activities report presentation. The apparent lack of teacher reference and inexistence of a curriculum based on a strict textbook in which PBL is based on leads inexperienced students to insecurity and the idea that teachers are not doing there jobs. One way to minimize this situation is to use real cases in other to interest students as stakeholders of central problem solution.

Alterações em medicamentos mal acondicionados: uma estratégia para desenvolver habilidades investigativas, comunicação científica e interdisciplinaridade nas aulas de química

The chemist must master a number of abilities. These include a solid knowledge of theory and the capacity to devise theoretical problems. The chemist is also expected to solve problems. In order to improve these abilities, this work aimed to evaluate several tools, such as the use of contextualization, problem-based learning and the interdisciplinary approach. In the methodology developed, undergraduate students had to investigate and propose a hypothesis, suggesting how physical changes took place in inappropriately stored drugs. The interdisciplinary approach is achieved by connecting public interest, chemistry, biology and pharmacology concepts. The tools can improve these abilities required for a well-prepared chemist.

Ammatillisen osaamisen tukeminen muuttuvissa toimintaympäristöissä : tutkimus ikääntyvien työntekijöiden näkökulmasta

The purpose of the study was to describe the experiences of received support of aging employees and their work related self-image in changing working environments. Firstly, theaim was to discover how the support from organisations and leaders was verified. Secondly, the aim was to get answers how employees experienced themselves as workers and as learners in the current work context. Thirdly, the aim was to compare different knowledge information stages and company cultures and how they have influenced the experiences of professional competence development among aging employees. In addition the education- and career backgrounds were investigated to gain more understanding of their role in experiencing support and relation to the occupational self-image. The theoretical frame of reference of this researchis multidisciplinary. The theoretical part focuses on the meaning of work for human being from a sociological, late-modern perspective. On the other hand it examines the ageing process from a physiological and also from a perspective of age discrimination and life control. The occupational selfimage and the strength of motivation has an effect on learning in working life which is crucial and firmpart individual trajectories. According to the theoretical review company culture, leadership and especially the managers' role as a creator of a learning atmosphere are increasingly critical for aging adults' learning when the role of informal work-based learning is increasing. The empirical data was collected with aquestionnaire and interviews, which were carried out in May to October 2001. The data consists of 263 respondents of which further eight persons were interviewed. All respondents were over the age of 45 and represented all levels of their organisations in an IT-technology firm and a chemical industry plant. The central findings in this research show that the aging adults have experienced that theemployers do care about the development of their occupational skills. On the other hand there are fewer concrete activities to reveal this support. There is anobvious disproportion between the expressed aims and the realisation of the activities. Signs of age discrimination are few. The style of management has becomemore supporting for self directed activities which are seen to support adults learning. Higher education and individual activity to seek possibilities to learnwere encouraging the development of occupational skills. Age itself was not a crucial aspect when comparing the experiences among younger (45-54 years) and older (55-64 years) groups. Job satisfaction and professional self esteem seemed tobe considerably strong. The individual characteristics were more important elements in developing occupational skills than the age. The degree of anxiety at work was low. In addition among the older group the strong feeling of coherence and the occupational self image were significant for supporting the professional competence. The motivation to learn was also stable. Among the seniors there was some slight evidence of declining motivation. In the IT-firm the support was experienced stronger for aging employees than in the chemical industry plant. Thosewho had experienced support in the chemical industry plant had higher educational background than the others. In IT-firm they also experienced more support from the manager than in the chemical industry plant. The results show that it is more likely that the differences are caused mostly by the stage of information intensity and the character of company culture which is determined by the activities. IT-business demands constantly accommodation to changes and the chemical industry plant which is representing more traditional business field, where the atmosphere of learning is determined by the traditions of company culture, the changes are carried out slowly.

Lärande som text : en dramapedagogiskt förankrad läsning av det kroppsliga, rumsliga och retoriska i kunskapsbildande processer

My presupposition, that learning at some level deals with life praxis, is expressed in four metaphors: space, time, fable and figure. Relations between learning,knowledge building and meaning making are linked to the concept of personal knowledge. I present a two part study of learning as text in a drama pedagogical rooted reading where learning is framed as the ongoing event, and knowledge, as the product of previous processes, is framed as culturally formed utterances. A frame analysis model is constructed as a topological guide for relations between the two concepts learning and knowledge. It visualises an aesthetic understanding, rooted in drama pedagogical comprehension. Insight and perception are linked in an inner relationship that is neither external nor identical. This understanding expresses the movement "in between" connecting asymmetrical and nonlinear features of human endeavour and societal issues. The performability of bodily and oral participation in the learning event in a socio-cultural setting is analysed as a dialogised text. In an ethnographical case study I have gathered material with an interest for the particular. The empirical material is based on three problem based learning situations in a Polytechnic setting. The act of transformation in the polyphony of the event is considered as a turning point in the narrative employment. Negotiation and figuration in the situation form patterns of the space for improvisation (flow) and tensions at the boundaries (thresholds) which imply the logical structure of transformation. Learning as a dialogised text of "yes" and "no", of structure and play for the improvised, interrelate in that movement. It is related to both the syntagmic and the paradigmatic forms of thinking. In the philosophical study, forms of understanding are linked to the logical structure of transformation as a cultural issue. The classical rhetorical concepts of Logos, Pathos, Ethos and Mythos are connected to the multidimensional rationality of the human being. In the Aristotelian form of knowledge, phronesis,a logic structure of inquiry is recognised. The shifting of perspectives between approaches, the construction of knowledge as context and the human project of meaning making as a subtext, illuminates multiple layers of the learning text. In an argumentation that post-modern apprehension of knowledge, emphasising contextual and situational values, has an empowering impact on learning, I find pedagogical benefits. The dialogical perspective has opened lenses that manage to hold in aesthetic doubling the individual action of inquiry and the stage with its cultural tools in a three dimensional reading.

Images of imagination : an aesthetic approach to education

Visual art practice has generally been described as a lonely affair, thinking about what an artist has experienced in the outside world. This study is an inquiry into a visual art practice of another kind: the relational one. The research purpose is twofold. The first purpose is to shed light on a visual artist’s conceptions of art, education and scholarship. The second purpose is to by reasoning on imagination and a rhizomatic formation interpret the relations created between art, multimodality and literacy learning as an aesthetic approach to education. By inquiry into a specific collaborated long-term art practice, the study conveys how the meaning making elements of an arts based learning practice gradually transform an artist’s and a teacher’s concepts of art education to an aesthetic approach to education. In the art practice examined the typical Finnish rye bread and a poem have represented a cultural theme that has been elaborated through art conventions. The poem and the rye bread have in the art practice been articulated as cultural representations of as well as symbolic projections on the Swedishspeaking minority culture in Finland. The study connects art informed inquiry to a hermeneutic research rationale where the research reasoning is generated through a rhizomatic alliance between empiric data and theories. The reasoning is constructed as an interpretation pattern that expands throughout the study. The study arguments that the rhizome as an aesthetic formation can be appropriate to refer to when articulating arts based meaning making and when creating arts based educational strategies, dialogues, aesthetic learning and multimodal literacy in education. The study investigates an aesthetic approach to research in education, which means that the art practice surveyed is interpreted through articulation appropriate to poetic aspects of art, education and research.

Yrityspelin Kehittäminen Ongelmalähtöisen Oppimisen Välineeksi

Työn tavoitteena on luoda poikkileikkaus ongelmalähtöiseen pedagogiikkaan ja erityisesti sen käyttömahdollisuuksiin Yrityspeli-kurssin opettamisessa oppimislähtöisen opetustavan tukena. Toisena tavoitteena on kurssin pelisovelluksen dokumentointi käyttökelpoiseksi viiteteokseksi. Lopuksi työssä tutkitaan sovelluksen keskeisten parametrien ja pelistrategioiden vaikutusta kysyntään. Ongelmalähtöistä oppimista on tutkittu lähinnä kirjallisuuteen perustuen ja täydennetty tietämystä haastattelututkimuksella. Sovelluksen rakenne on havainnoitu käyttämällä sovellusta. Sovelluksen kriittisiä ominaisuuksia on saatu selville ajamalla sovellusta tarkoitusta varten valikoidulla numeerisella aineistolla. Ongelmalähtöinen pedagogiikka osoittautui soveltuvin osin hyväksi opetusmenetelmäksi Yrityspeli-kurssilla mallintamisen ja käytännön ongelmanratkaisutaitojen kehittämisessä. Kurssin pelisovellus näyttäisi toimivan luotettavasti, tosin se ei ole rakenteeltaan erityisen joustava. Sovelluksen keskeisistä parametreista hinnan vaikutus kysyntään on huomattavasti markkinointipanosta suurempi. Testien mukaan pelissä on mahdollista pärjätä niin kustannusjohtajan kuin hintadifferoijankin strategialla.

Tutkivan oppimisen ja ongelmalähtöisen oppimisen hyödyntäminen tuotantotalouden opetuksessa

Työn tavoitteena on esittää erilaisia mahdollisuuksia tutkivan oppimisen hyödyntämiseen tuotantotalouden koulutusohjelmassa. Työssä esitetään näiden opetusfilosofioiden perusperiaatteet. Lisäksi tutkitaan tutkivan oppimisen tuottamia hyötyjä koulutusohjelmalle, opiskelijoille ja tuleville työnantajille. Mukaan on otettu muissa yliopistossa hyödynnettyjä tapoja, mutta myös kehitetty erityisesti tuotantotalouden erityispiirteet huomioivia sovellettuja menetelmiä. Lisäksi tarkastellaan tuotantotalouden koulutusohjelmassa tuotettua ongelmalähtöiseen opiskeluun perustuvaa kurssia ”Toimitusketjun johtamisen teoriatyöpaja”. Työssä esitetään myös suunnitelma uusimuotoiselle, tutkivaan oppimiseen nojautuvalle ”Kandidaatintyö- ja seminaari” –kurssille. Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa perehdytään oppimisen ja muistin toiminnan perusteisiin. Tämän jälkeen esitellään näille periaatteille rakentuneiden tutkivan oppimisen ja ongelmalähtöisen oppimisen lähestymistavat ja menetelmät opetuksessa. Teorian pohjalta esitetään konkreettisia ideoita tutkivan oppimisen hyödyntämiseen opetuksessa. Tutkimuksen kahdesta case –tapauksesta ensimmäisessä esitetään, miten opiskelijat kokevat ongelmiin perustuvalla kurssilla opiskelun. Toinen case esittää, kuinka uusimuotoinen Kandidaatintyö- ja seminaari –kurssi on luotu ja miten se tukee taitoja, joita he tulevat tarvitsemaan myöhemmissä opinnoissaan ja työelämässä.

Socially Competent Leadership - predictors, impacts and skilling in engineering

Earlier management studies have found a relationship between managerial qualities and subordinate impacts, but the effect of managers‘ social competence on leader perceptions has not been solidly established. To fill the related research gap, the present work embarks on a quantitative empirical effort to identify predictors of successful leadership. In particular, this study investigates relationships between perceived leader behavior and three selfreport instruments used to measure managerial capability: 1) the WOPI Work Personality Inventory, 2) Raven‘s general intelligence scale, and 3) the Emotive Communication Scale (ECS). This work complements previous research by resorting to both self-reports and other-reports: the results acquired from the managerial sample are compared to subordinate perceptions as measured through the ECS other-report and the WOPI360 multi-source appraisal. The quantitative research is comprised of a sample of 8o superiors and 354 subordinates operating in eight Finnish organizations. The strongest predictive value emerged from the ECS self- and other-reports and certain personality dimensions. In contrast, supervisors‘ logical intelligence did not correlate with leadership perceived as socially competent by subordinates. 16 of the superiors rated as most socially competent by their subordinates were selected for case analysis. Their qualitative narratives evidence the role of life history and post-traumatic growth in developing managerial skills. The results contribute to leadership theory in four ways. First, the ECS self-report devised for this research offers a reliable scale for predicting socially competent leader ability. Second, the work identifies dimensions of personality and emotive skills that can be considered predictors of managerial ability and benefited from in leader recruitment and career planning. Third, the Emotive Communication Model delineated on the basis of the empirical data allows for a systematic design and planning of communication and leadership education. Fourth, this workfurthers understanding of personal growth strategies and the role of life history in leader development and training. Finally, this research advances educational leadership by conceptualizing and operationalizing effective managerial communications. The Emotive Communication Model devised directs the pedagogic attention in engineering to assertion, emotional availability and inspiration skills. The proposed methodology addresses classroom management strategies drawing from problem-based learning, student empowerment, collaborative learning, and so-called socially competent teachership founded on teacher immediacy and perceived caring, all constituting strategies moving away from student compliance and teacher modelling. The ultimate educational objective embraces the development of individual engineers and organizational leaders that not only possess traditional analytical and technical expertise and substantive knowledge but are intelligent also creatively, practically, and socially.

Sähkösuodattimen mahdollisuudet sisäilman parantajana

Diplomityön tavoitteena oli selvittää, kuinka sähkösuodattimella voidaan vaikuttaa sisäilman laatuun ja kuinka kilpailukykyinen vaihtoehto pienkiinteistöissä sähkösuodatin on perinteisiin kuitusuodattimiin verrattuna. Teoriaosassa tarkasteltiin, kuinka ilman hengitettävät hiukkaset muodostuvat ja miten ne vaikuttavat sisäilman laatuun sekä ihmisten terveyteen. Tarkasteltiin hiukkasten koon, lukumäärän, massan ja pinta-alan yhteyksiä niiden terveysvaikutuksiin. Ultrapienet hiukkaset ovat terveydelle haitallisimpia, koska hiukkasten lukumäärä ja pinta-ala lisäävät terveyshaittoja enemmän kuin hiukkasten massa. Tutkittiin pienkiinteistöjen ilmanvaihtoratkaisuja ja erilaisia tuloilmanpuhdistus-menetelmiä. Soveltavassa osassa tarkasteltiin sähkösuodattimen toimintaa ja sen mahdollisuuksia sisäilman parantajana verrattuna perinteisiin kuitusuodattimiin. Tehtiin sähkösuodattimen ja kuitusuodattimen välinen elinkaarikustannusvertailu keskisuurelle omakotitalolle. Kirjallisuuden ja tutkimushavaintojen perusteella sähkösuodattimen suurin etu muihin suodattimiin verrattuna on sen kyky poistaa kaiken kokoisia, myös ultrapieniä, hengitettäviä hiukkasia ja siten tehokkaasti vähentää hengitettävien hiukkasten lukumäärää ja pinta-alaa. Tällä voi olla vaikutusta yleisten terveyshaittojen ja ympäristöherkkyyden ennaltaehkäisemisessä. Ympäristöherkkyyteen sairastuneiden oireiluun sähkösuodatin voi tuottaa helpotusta kotioloissa ja siirrettävän ilmanpuhdistimen avulla myös työpaikoilla. Elinkaarikustannusvertailun perusteella selvisi, että sähkösuodatin on kalliimmasta hinnastaan huolimatta kokonaiskustannuksiltaan selvästi edullisempi vaihtoehto kuin kuitusuodattimet. Sähkösuodattimen haasteena on uuden teknologian lanseeraaminen pientalorakentamiseen. Pienrakennusten tuloilman puhdistusmenetelmien kehittämisellä olisi mahdollista parantaa suomalaisten elämänlaatua ja saavuttaa merkittäviä säästöjä terveydenhoitokuluissa.

Ohjelmoinnin opetus peruskoulussa: toiminnallisuutta ja graafista ohjelmointikieltä hyödyntävien opetusmenetelmien vertailu

Ohjelmoinnin opettaminen yleissivistävänä oppiaineena on viime aikoina herättänyt kiinnostusta Suomessa ja muualla maailmassa. Esimerkiksi Suomen opetushallituksen määrittämien, vuonna 2016 käyttöön otettavien peruskoulun opintosuunnitelman perusteiden mukaan, ohjelmointitaitoja aletaan opettaa suomalaisissa peruskouluissa ensimmäiseltä luokalta alkaen. Ohjelmointia ei olla lisäämässä omaksi oppiaineekseen, vaan sen opetuksen on tarkoitus tapahtua muiden oppiaineiden, kuten matematiikan yhteydessä. Tämä tutkimus käsittelee yleissivistävää ohjelmoinnin opetusta yleisesti, käy läpi yleisimpiä haasteita ohjelmoinnin oppimisessa ja tarkastelee erilaisten opetusmenetelmien soveltuvuutta erityisesti nuorten oppilaiden opettamiseen. Tutkimusta varten toteutettiin verkkoympäristössä toimiva, noin 9–12-vuotiaille oppilaille suunnattu graafista ohjelmointikieltä ja visuaalisuutta tehokkaasti hyödyntävä oppimissovellus. Oppimissovelluksen avulla toteutettiin alakoulun neljänsien luokkien kanssa vertailututkimus, jossa graafisella ohjelmointikielellä tapahtuvan opetuksen toimivuutta vertailtiin toiseen opetusmenetelmään, jossa oppilaat tutustuivat ohjelmoinnin perusteisiin toiminnallisten leikkien avulla. Vertailututkimuksessa kahden neljännen luokan oppilaat suorittivat samankaltaisia, ohjelmoinnin peruskäsitteisiin liittyviä ohjelmointitehtäviä molemmilla opetus-menetelmillä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää alakouluoppilaiden nykyistä ohjelmointiosaamista, sitä minkälaisen vastaanoton ohjelmoinnin opetus alakouluoppilailta saa, onko erilaisilla opetusmenetelmillä merkitystä opetuksen toteutuksen kannalta ja näkyykö eri opetusmenetelmillä opetettujen luokkien oppimistuloksissa eroja. Oppilaat suhtautuivat kumpaankin opetusmenetelmään myönteisesti, ja osoittivat kiinnostusta ohjelmoinnin opiskeluun. Sisällöllisesti oppitunneille oli varattu turhan paljon materiaalia, mutta esimerkiksi yhden keskeisimmän aiheen, eli toiston käsitteen oppimisessa aktiivisilla leikeillä harjoitellut luokka osoitti huomattavasti graafisella ohjelmointikielellä harjoitellutta luokkaa parempaa osaamista oppitunnin jälkeen. Ohjelmakoodin peräkkäisyyteen liittyvä osaaminen oli neljäsluokkalaisilla hyvin hallussa jo ennen ohjelmointiharjoituksia. Aiheeseen liittyvän taustatutkimuksen ja luokkien opettajien haastatteluiden perusteella havaittiin koulujen valmiuksien opetussuunnitelmauudistuksen mukaiseen ohjelmoinnin opettamiseen olevan vielä heikolla tasolla.