Evaluación de materiales formativos de acceso publico elaborados por bibliotecas universitarias españolas

Los materiales formativos constituyen recursos muy importantes para la formación de usuarios en bibliotecas. En el estudio se describen y analizan las principales características de los materiales formativos creados por bibliotecas universitarias españolas. Se ha evaluado una muestra de 72 recursos docentes de acceso público aplicando 36 indicadores agrupados en diez categorías. En el análisis se pone de manifiesto que tan sólo el 24 % de las bibliotecas han creado materiales propios y que las temáticas se centran en la explicación de las fuentes de información y los servicios de la biblioteca siendo sólo tres los que abordan la alfabetización informacional. En general, se trata de materiales formativos poco efectivos desde el punto de vista docente (se detecta baja presencia de objetivos formativos, de ejercicios para reforzar el aprendizaje, de pretest, y de evaluación final) y poco interactivos (casi el 50 % son transparencias y el 20 % pdfs). Como conclusión, se muestra que la mayoría de estos materiales se encuentran en una fase inicial de desarrollo y no permiten al usuario realizar de forma completa y autónoma el proceso de aprendizaje.

A prática pedagógica nos “descaminhos” do ensino da língua portuguesa : a formação do leitor para uma vida inteira

O presente trabalho procurou abordar as práticas de leitura desenvolvidas no ensino médio nas aulas de Língua Portuguesa na rede pública estadual de Quipapá-PE, tendo como questão norteadora: a origem do insucesso da formação leitora está focalizada nos educandos ou n ausência de uma ação potencializadora de um educador leitor? Nessa perspectiva, no decorrer deste estudo, são debatidas algumas concepções teóricas e metodológicas que propõem uma reflexão sobre as relações que estruturam as práticas pedagógicas, sugerindo o redimensionamento dos saberes docentes dos professores de Língua Portuguesa e das práticas de leitura. Apontando multiplicidade de fatores envolvidos que dificultam, mas não impossibilitam a necessária adesão à perspectiva de linguagem textual- interacionista como subsídio na libertação do professor de Língua Portuguesa do seu aprisionamento à tradição metodológica do ensino de gramática, em detrimento as atividades de leitura no cotidiano escolar. Posto que a escola como espaço privilegiado para formação de leitores, não tem correspondido às demandas sociais, nem esta tem estado, tem sido priorizada na ação educativa. Visto que a esses profissionais, por vezes, falta clareza a respeito da concepção de linguagem que norteia seu fazer pedagógico, derivado das lacunas em sua formação acadêmica, que resultam em contradições, conflitos, rupturas e permanências, contribuindo para uma visão contraditória das concepções construídas a respeito do seu papel como professor de língua materna. Usamos como aporte teórico as contribuições advindas da linguística aplicada, com base na perspectiva sócio interacionista da linguagem. Do ponto de vista metodológico, optamos pela pesquisa quantitativa e qualitativa com aplicação de questionários aos alunos, itens apresentados sob a modalidade Likert, bem como entrevistas aos professores. Contudo, com a análise, nos veio à confirmação de que no modelo de ensino vigente, a leitura como processo de interação e sentido, não está totalmente efetivada na ação docente, pois as atividades de gramática têm predominado; relegando ao segundo plano a formação do leitor crítico. Em razão disso, coloca-se a questão da aprendizagem do professor que, enquanto sujeito singular que possui uma história de vida, aprende e reconstrói seus saberes na experiência, podendo a partir de novos conhecimentos, para os quais intentamos contribuir, aderir a essa perspectiva teórica. Diante desse contexto apresentado, acreditamos que essa pesquisa pode trazer uma importante contribuição para despertar estes profissionais sobre o tratamento que deve ser dado a leitura por todos os professores, dada a importância decisiva para a formação e o exercício efetivo da cidadania.

Bibliotecas públicas e ciberviolência em tempos de uma sociedade em rede : Novos papéis diante de um novo fenômeno

It reflects about the role of public libraries in users' education to the knowledge of cyberviolence. This phenomenon is expressed through of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which are used to cause damage to victims. The work is based on three cases of cyberviolence: a murder, an extortion and one of pedophilia. The cases help to reflect about the necessity of intervention activities of the public libraries. The theoretical table that supplies to the analysis is aided by theoretical contributions of Information Science, Sociology and Anthropology. The results show the need of involvement of the public libraries in combating of cyberviolence, because they function as users' attraction center to access information on the Internet

Bibliotecas públicas e ciberviolência em tempos de uma sociedade em rede : Novos papéis diante de um novo fenômeno

It reflects about the role of public libraries in users' education to the knowledge of cyberviolence. This phenomenon is expressed through of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which are used to cause damage to victims. The work is based on three cases of cyberviolence: a murder, an extortion and one of pedophilia. The cases help to reflect about the necessity of intervention activities of the public libraries. The theoretical table that supplies to the analysis is aided by theoretical contributions of Information Science, Sociology and Anthropology. The results show the need of involvement of the public libraries in combating of cyberviolence, because they function as users' attraction center to access information on the Internet

Bibliotecas públicas e ciberviolência em tempos de uma sociedade em rede : Novos papéis diante de um novo fenômeno

It reflects about the role of public libraries in users' education to the knowledge of cyberviolence. This phenomenon is expressed through of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which are used to cause damage to victims. The work is based on three cases of cyberviolence: a murder, an extortion and one of pedophilia. The cases help to reflect about the necessity of intervention activities of the public libraries. The theoretical table that supplies to the analysis is aided by theoretical contributions of Information Science, Sociology and Anthropology. The results show the need of involvement of the public libraries in combating of cyberviolence, because they function as users' attraction center to access information on the Internet

Embracing english as a lingua franca : learning from portuguese users of english in higher education

Tese de doutoramento, Linguística (Linguística Aplicada), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2016

Users Acceptance of Online Enrollment Processes in a Higher Education Institution

Little is known about students’ perceptions of online enrollment processes. Student satisfaction is part of the assessment required for accreditation, but evidence suggests that college administrators are oriented to retention and graduation rates rather than to consumer perception. The purpose of this descriptive quantitative study was to develop and validate a model that enables the measurement of online enrollment processes by the analysis of the students’ perceptions. The theoretical framework used to support this study was the process virtualization theory while the conceptual framework was based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM is the most valid framework for studying user acceptance of technology and virtual processes. The model was modified, adding a new variable to fit this study. Research questions were used to determine if an institution knows how its students perceive online enrollment processes and how they can become more efficient and effective, improving usage and satisfaction. Descriptive data were collected and analyzed in phases: the pilot study phase, data collection phase, and analysis phases. Inferential statistics were used to draw information from sampled observations of the population; a Cronbach Alpha was conducted to determine the reliability and validity of the model. The study demonstrated that the modified TAM is valid, reliable, and fit to assess the perceptions of the users of online enrollment processes. This study will effect positive social change by providing enrollment managers and administrators information on how to analyze the acceptance their online enrollment processes from the perspective of their students as customers of an institution of higher learning.

Italian higher education students’ perspectives on internationalization at home and their identity as English as lingua franca users

This study aims to explore the Italian students’ perspectives on using English in English-medium instruction (EMI) programs in light of the practices of internationalization at home (IaH) at the University of Bologna (UNIBO) in Italy and further investigates whether these attitudes affect their language identity as English as lingua franca (ELF) users. To serve this aim, a mixed-method approach was adopted to collect quantitative and in-depth qualitative data in two phases through an online survey and a semi-structured interview. A total number of 78 Italian students participated in the survey, out of which 14 participants were interviewed. The findings of the online survey indicated that most participants (92%) held a positive perspective toward the use of English in EMI programs and the findings from the interviews were in line with the results of the survey. However, the purpose of the interviews was to explore the participants’ views on their language identity as ELF users. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that students experience emotional, cognitive, and social transitions in EMI programs in response to their shift from a non-EMI to an EMI academic setting. Overall, all the above-mentioned transitions were positive and could lead to personal development. However, it can be concluded that the EMI context provides few opportunities for the emergence of significant new subject positions mediated by English in this study. The focus on students’ perspectives on the use of English in EMI programs can contribute to the improvement in language policy planning and internationalized curriculum design by policymakers and alleviate tensions over the controversial issue of the Englishization of higher education by considering how EMI students perceive their use of English as ELF users not superior standard English users.

Reputations, self-concepts and coping strategies of volatile solvent users

Data pertaining to the reputations, self-concepts and coping strategies of thirty-one secondary school Volatile Solvent Users (VSUs), forty-four ex-VSUs, and forty-eight non-VSUs in the Perth Metropolitan area of Western Australia were obtained using the High School Student Activity Questionnaire. Findings revealed that significant differences between current VSUs, ex-VSUs, and non-VSUs were more attributable to factors of reputation enhancement than to factors of either self-concept or coping strategies. Current VSUs identified themselves as both having and wanting to have a more non-confronting reputation, and as admiring drug-related activities significantly more than both ex-VSUs and non-VSUs. Two coping variables were also found to be significant indicating that females use more nonproductive coping strategies and external coping strategies than males. No interaction effects were identified. The implications for drug education and further research are discussed.

Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) is a simple tool for detecting executive deficits in chronic cannabis users

Background: Cannabis is the most used illicit drug in the world, and its use has been associated with prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunction, including deficits in executive functions (EF). Considering that EF may influence treatment outcome, it would be interesting to have a brief neuropsychological battery to assess EF in chronic cannabis users (CCU). In the present study, the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), a brief, easy to use neuropsychological instrument aimed to evaluate EF, was used to evaluate cognitive functioning of CCU. Methods: We evaluated 107 abstinent CCU with the FAB and compared with 44 controls matched for age, estimated IQ, and years of education. Results: CCU performed poorly as compared to controls (FAB total score = 16.53 vs. 17.09, p .05). CCU had also a poor performance in the Motor Programming subtest (2.47 vs. 2.73, p .05). Conclusion: This study examined effects of cannabis in executive functioning and showed evidence that the FAB is sensitive to detect EF deficits in early abstinent chronic cannabis users. Clinical significance of these findings remains to be investigated in further longitudinal studies. FAB may be useful as a screening instrument to evaluate the necessity for a complete neuropsychological assessment in this population.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of mammography among women users of public health services

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice related to mammography among women users of local health services, identifying barriers to its performance. METHODS: A total of 663 women were interviewed at 13 local health centers in a city of Southeastern Brazil, in 2001. Interviewees were randomly selected at each center and they were representative from different socioeconomic conditions. The number of interviewees at each center was proportional to monthly mean appointments. For data analysis, answers were described as knowledge, attitude, practice and their respective adequacies and then they were correlated with control variables through the chi-square test. RESULTS: Only 7.4% of the interviewees had adequate knowledge on mammography, while 97.1% of women had an adequate attitude. The same was seen for the practice of mammography that was adequate in 35.7% of the cases. The main barrier to mammography was lack of referral by physicians working at the health center (81.8%). There was an association between adequacy of attitude and five years or more of education and being married. There was also an association between adequacy of mammography practice and being employed and family income up to four minimum wages. CONCLUSIONS: Women users of local health services had no adequate knowledge and practice related to mammography despite having an adequate attitude about this exam.

Private cloud computing platforms. Analysis and implementation in a Higher Education Institution

The constant evolution of the Internet and its increasing use and subsequent entailing to private and public activities, resulting in a strong impact on their survival, originates an emerging technology. Through cloud computing, it is possible to abstract users from the lower layers to the business, focusing only on what is most important to manage and with the advantage of being able to grow (or degrades) resources as needed. The paradigm of cloud arises from the necessity of optimization of IT resources evolving in an emergent and rapidly expanding and technology. In this regard, after a study of the most common cloud platforms and the tactic of the current implementation of the technologies applied at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Abel Salazar and Faculty of Pharmacy of Oporto University a proposed evolution is suggested in order adorn certain requirements in the context of cloud computing.

Remote experimentation: integrating research, education, and industrial application

This paper presents a low-cost scaled model of a silo for drying and airing cereal grains. It allows the control and monitor of several parameters associated to the silo's operation, through a remote accessible infrastructure. The scaled model consists of a 2.50 m wide × 2.10 m long plant with all control and monitor capacities provided by micro-Web servers. An application running on the micro-Web servers enables storing all parameters in a data basis for later analysis. The implemented model aims to support a remote experimentation facility for technological education, research-oriented tutorials, and industrial applications. Given the low-cost requirement, this remote facility can be easily replicated in other institutions to support a network of remote labs, which encompasses the concurrent access of several users (e.g. students).

Fueling the bio-economy: european culture collections and microbiology education and training

A survey of European Microbial Biological Resource Centers and their users provided an overview on Microbiology education and training. The results identified future increases in demand despite several shortcomings and gaps in the current offer. Urgent adjustments are needed to match users' needs, integrate innovative programs, and adopt new technologies.