Andragogy as a Knowledge Driving Discipline in Higher Education

This paper exposes the diachronic (historical overview) of Andragogy (or Adult Education) and its introduction as a discipline in the context of university education. Based on the andragogical principles of the adult thought process and the work experience, this study sets out Adult Education as an education option to be implemented in higher education, in Costa Rica, to develop cognitive and meta-cognitive competencies in the university students, in the different academic areas simultaneously, by reproducing the Socratic maieutics, which is structured within the Kolb’s experiential learning cycle.

Conversation Circles as a Teaching Strategy: An Experience to Reflect on and Implement in Higher Education

The experience approached in this paper aims at reflecting, reasoning, planning and implementing the “Conversation Circles” as a teaching strategy in the PF-4237 course “Theory of Education: Multiculturalism and Education” of the Latin American Doctoral Program in Education, University of Costa Rica. This training experience, based on the communicative action theory, intended to integrate the assistance of the teacher, the confrontation to otherness and the building of knowledge, skills and social attitudes in higher education.

How to Achieve Professional Skills in Higher Education?

During the last decade, higher education has tried to focus education on the achievement of professional skills. It is interesting to see how the learning strategies implemented may facilitate or make more difficult the achievement of competencies. By dealing with the challenge of a competency-based education approach, higher education points out the need of knowing how to build such competencies, i.e. how to design a learning strategy. Not much importance has been given to this issue, probably because the competencies can be confused with abilities, skills and attitudes and, therefore, the model can be associated to in- or out-of-classroom activities without a strategy to articulate the knowledge acquired with the cultural, social and economic contexts of the community and labor spheres, i.e., as a whole (Tobón, 2005). This paper analyzes the epistemological development of the competency-based approach in higher education, focusing on the implementation of professional competencies in the Sociology degree “Licenciatura en Sociología”, in two campuses of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California: Ensenada and Mexicali. This paper describes how competencies are built and explores different theoretical trends, their conceptualization and formation, based on in-depth interviews applied to students and teachers. It provides a mixed study to understand, based on the student’s point of view, the achievements of this study program in terms of professional competencies.

DIDÁCTICA DE LA GEOGRAFÍA Y DIDÁCTICA SUPERIOR

El artículo reflexiona sobre el aporte de la didáctica en el proceso de enseñanza – aprendizaje, enfatizando en su carácter teórico – práctica.  Diferencia entre una didáctica general y una didáctica específica.La Didáctica Crítica propone al profesor en Geografía como un maestro en el  saber y actuar, en el cumplimiento de sus deberes, responsabilidades y habilidades.  La enseñanza de la Geografía precisadel apoyo de numerosos instrumentos de alta tecnología, que constituyen valiosos aportes didácticos, la  incorporación de  las Tecnologías de  Información y Comunicación  (TICʼs)    es una necesidad. La formación a nivel universitario debe ofrecer las destrezas  y habilidades en la creación y composiciónde medios audiovisuales para la enseñanza  de la Geografía.  La Geografía contribuye eficazmente al desarrollo de capacidades, actitudes y competencias genéricas esenciales sobre las que ha de basarse la formación ciudadana y la educación de valores.Palabras claves: Geografía, didáctica de  la Geografía, saber geográfico, metodología de enseñanza, método didáctico.AbstractThe article reflects on the contribution from didactics in the process of teaching-learning, emphasizing in its theoretical character – practice. It differentiates between general didactics and specific didactics. Critical didactics suggests that the Geography professor, as an expert, knows and acts according to his or her duties, responsibilities and abilities.The teaching of the Geography draws upon the support of high-tech tools, which constitute valuable didactic contributions, so that incorporation of the Technology Information and Communication (TICʼs) is a necessity to be the mode of communication. Formation at the university level ought to offer talents and abilities in the creation and composition of audio-visual media in the teaching of geography. Geography effectively contributes to development of capabilities, attitudes and competencies generic essential for citizen formation and the education of values.Key Words: Geography,  didactics  of Geography,  geographical  knowledge,  teaching methodology, didactic method

SAP-Related Education - Status-Quo and Experience

Integrating Enterprise Systems solutions in the curriculum of not only universities but all types of institutes of higher learning has been a major challenge for nearly ten years. Enterprise Systems education is surprisingly well documented in a number of papers on Information Systems education. However, most publications in this area report on the individual experiences of an institution or an academic. This paper focuses on the most popular Enterprise System - SAP - and summarizes the outcomes of a global survey on the status quo of SAP-related education. Based on feedback of 305 lecturers and more than 700 students, it reports on the main factors of Enterprise Systems education including, critical success factors, alternative hosting models, and students’ perceptions. The results show among others an overall increasing interest in advanced SAP solutions and international collaboration, and a high satisfaction with the concept of using Application Hosting Centers.