The Adaptation of Three Subjects from the First Year of Psychology Studies of the University of Salamanca (Spain) for Teaching Within the Framework of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
José M. Arana ◽  
M. Angeles Mayor ◽  
Begoña Zubiauz ◽  
David L. Palenzuela
Keyword(s):  
Relevant Literature ◽  
First Year ◽  
Transfer System ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Teaching Resources ◽  
Credit Transfer ◽  
The Hours ◽  
Spanish Universities ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The University

Abstract. We report a pilot program set up at the School of Psychology of the University of Salamanca (Spain) as a step to precede adapting three subjects to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). After reviewing the relevant literature, we contacted via e-mail 30 schools of psychology in 13 countries with which we exchange students through the Erasmus-Socrates Program in order to learn of their experiences. With the same goal in mind, we held meetings with representatives from two Spanish universities responsible for the issue of European convergence. We also interviewed a senior agent from the Ministry of Education to learn about the initiatives being made and the main lines of action foreseen for the future. Owing to its practical nature, the experience of the University of Barcelona was used as a model. Using a questionnaire, among other variables we assessed the workload estimated by students in each subject. The questionnaire was completed by 246 students. The results show that the questionnaire is of use for educators to check their level of demand (to what extent the hours spent by students on each subject match the time they actually should be spending on such work) and to determine which parts of the syllabus require more preparation time, or are more complex, or are the most useful. The feedback is also good for the students. This evaluation is a step that would precede introducing changes in the syllabus and activating other teaching resources designed to ensure passage of the application of the ECTS in Spain.

Social Media in Higher Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 898-922
Author(s):  
Laura Aymerich-Franch
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching Resources ◽  
American University ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Spanish Universities ◽  
The University

This chapter analyses privacy concerns of students and faculty resulting from the adoption of social media as teaching resources in higher education. In addition, the chapter focuses on privacy concerns that social media can cause to faculty when they are used for social networking. A trans-cultural study was carried out which involved three Spanish universities, a Colombian university, and an American university. A focus group was organized with PhD students to brainstorm the topic. Afterwards, 94 undergraduate students completed a survey and 18 lecturers participated in a written interview. Results indicate that social media are widely adopted in the university and are perceived as valuable resources for teaching. However, privacy concerns can easily emerge among students and faculty when these applications are used for this purpose. Concerns may appear when social media are used for social networking as well. The text also offers some guidelines to overcome them.

scholarly journals Assessment of the Quality Education Awareness Competence of Pre-Service Educators Using Vignettes

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 10203
Author(s):  
Ana-Inés Renta-Davids ◽  
Marta Camarero-Figuerola ◽  
Juana-María Tierno-García
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
First Year ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Curriculum ◽  
Spanish Universities ◽  
The University ◽  
Sustainability Principles ◽  
High Degree

For decades, higher education institutions have been incorporating sustainability principles. Spanish universities have considered it important that sustainability principles are integrated into the university curriculum, in order to contribute to the education of socially-responsible professionals. The present research aims to estimate pre-service educators’ awareness of selected challenges posed by Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), and it identifies the learning experiences that contribute the most to these students’ awareness of quality education. Moreover, the study aims to explore the potential of the use of the vignettes approach for the evaluation of students’ awareness. The study drew on a sample of n = 202 first year students pursuing education-related degrees at a Spanish university. The data was collected using a vignette survey, and the data analysis was conducted using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The results show a high degree of awareness within the context of most of the challenges posed by SDG 4 and, in the search for the factors that contributed to the degree of awareness in the students, personal interests and classes taken at the university stand out. In addition, the study provides the methodological implications of the use of the vignette approach in the assessment of students’ awareness. This paper discusses the practical implications for universities of the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) competences into the curriculum.

scholarly journals An Economic Analysis of a University Educational Cafeteria Composting Program—Bobcat Blend

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 639-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Sanders ◽  
Tina Marie Waliczek ◽  
Jean-Marc Gandonou
Keyword(s):  
Organic Waste ◽  
First Year ◽  
State University ◽  
Pilot Site ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The University ◽  
Collection Sites

At Texas State University, a cafeteria-composting pilot program was established in which students source-separated their organic waste at one of the food courts while the program educated students on the value of organic waste and compost. Waste sorting bins were set up in a dining hall to direct students to sort trash into recyclables, compostables, and trash. Waste audit results demonstrated the value of the operation to the university in terms of savings in waste hauling expenditures, as well as showed the percent contamination, and percent waste diverted to the university's recycling and composting program. There was a significant difference between pre and post-test waste audits. The pilot site composting program resulted in a net loss of $3741.35 to the university during the first year, but was expected to produce a positive net return of $2585.11 in subsequent years. The pilot test showed the program was most successful when ongoing education at the dining hall occurred. Additionally, the student-run composting program resulted in hands-on training for students in producing a valuable horticultural commodity in an emerging waste management field. Results also indicated opportunities for further diversion such as the incorporation of compostable cups and utensils, as well as through expanding the operation to include more collection locations. With more collection sites and, therefore, more efficiency, the expanded composting program has the potential to become a self-supporting operation.

scholarly journals Industrial Mindset of Education in Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) Policy

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-14
Author(s):  
Denny Kodrat
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Educational Design ◽  
Credit Transfer ◽  
Hard Skills ◽  
Theory Of Education ◽  
Library Research ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University

Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) program is one of the distinguished programs issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture. It is expected that the university students enhance soft and hard skills by joining one of eight suggested programs. Link and match was an initial policy in the 1990s while the MBKM program is improved. The study aims to uncover the industrial interest embedded in MBKM policy by reviewing the concepts and educational design in Indonesia. Library research towards the ideas was reviewed. Reputable journals and books were collected and overviewed while the critical concept of education was carried out as a tool of analysis. The theory of education addressed by Illich (2000), Walker (1981), and Nabhani (2001) was employed to trace the Industrialization of education in MBKM policy. The study shows that the industrial factors in MBKM policy are highlighted and strengthened by giving students the right to take a program and doing a credit transfer at the end of the program. The university and study program curriculum is focused on the need for the business and industrial world.

scholarly journals The development and implementation of a Peer Assisted Learning programme at the University of Liverpool

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gita Sedghi ◽  
Trish Lunt
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Peer Assisted Learning ◽  
The Past ◽  
Programme Design ◽  
Evaluation Feedback ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Student Input ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year

A Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) programme was designed and implemented in the Department of Chemistry in the University of Liverpool during the 2012-13 academic year. The PAL programme was initially set up to support first year chemistry undergraduate students with one particular maths module but was extended to offer support to all Year 1 modules. The PAL programme was also designed to meet the needs of a second cohort of students, year 2 direct entry international students, but this paper focuses on the first year student programme.   A key element to the development of the Liverpool PAL programme was the contribution of student input throughout the initial programme design stages and, importantly, the ongoing involvement of students during the operation of the programme over the last three years. They provided evaluation and feedback on the programme’s organisation and effectiveness, and were involved in subsequent discussions to analyse the data from these processes in order to improve and develop the programme. The concept of working with students as partners is not new, but it has risen in profile in recent years as highlighted by Healey et al. (2014) and many others. We believe that the PAL programme would not be as effective as it is without the ongoing involvement of students in all elements of the programme.   The paper will discuss the development and implementation of the PAL programme over the past three years, and highlight the value and importance of the role and contribution of the students in making the programme what it is today, as evidenced by the evaluation feedback from the students.

The Good Teacher in the Good School

2019 ◽  
pp. 280-297
Author(s):  
Marcello Mollica ◽  
Giovanna Costanzo
Keyword(s):  
Educational System ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Philosophical Anthropology ◽  
Transfer System ◽  
Good Teacher ◽  
Future Teachers ◽  
Credit Transfer ◽  
Good School ◽  
The University

The two authors of this chapter work at the Department of Ancient and Modern Civilization of the University of Messina and both have been appointed by their Department to teach two modules (Fundamentals of Cultural Anthropology and Philosophical Anthropology) of 6 CFUs (European credit transfer system credits) each for the FIT program. Both gave their lectures in the second semester of 2018 to approximately 850 future teachers. Their modules are part of phase one of the three we have mentioned above, that is, preparation for the degree that allows access to teaching. This involves the collection of 24 CFUs which are to be collected in the anthropological and psycho-pedagogic disciplines. Based on fieldwork and participant observation, which lasted three months and until December 2018, this chapter suggests a view to understanding the new Italian educational system through what we have first seen from within our own classrooms, and later through what we will see following the teachers in their own classrooms in September (classrooms and teachers which we have already identified).

Research on the Intelligent Course Schedule Systems for Civil Engineering in Colleges under Multiple Constraints

2013 ◽  
Vol 765-767 ◽  
pp. 785-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Li ◽  
Yu Ji Li ◽  
Jing Xiao Zhang ◽  
Cai Wu Lu
Keyword(s):  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Feedback System ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Crossing Over ◽  
Multiple Constraints ◽  
Teaching Resources ◽  
Genetic Process ◽  
Schedule System ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The University

The University Timetable Problems in Civil Engineering hinders the multi-targeting combinatorial optimization of teaching resources in colleges and universities. In this paper, it is studied how to adopt ant colony genetic algorithm to set up the course schedule system for civil engineering in colleges and universities, which makes the population form partitions according to rules in the genetic process, spray pheromones in the partitions, with the chromosome fitness and the population partitions crossing over with each other, to form a positive feedback system. As the experiment shows, through this method, the searching space can be reduced effectively, and the complexity of programs is simplified, so the time spent in generating optimal course schedules can be shortened.

The Evolution of Virtual Universities

2010 ◽  
pp. 558-562
Author(s):  
Marion Cottingham
Keyword(s):  
Global Education ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
First Year ◽  
Virtual University ◽  
Online Distance Education ◽  
Virtual Universities ◽  
Entry Requirements ◽  
Online Distance ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The University

For centuries universities have worked as individual entities in isolation, and students have attended classes their respective campuses. In the 70s Open University started its operation as the first virtual university. It was not until the late 80s and 90s that some traditional universities started having affiliations with offshore facilities for students to study the first year of their degrees in their home countries before moving overseas to complete the rest of their degrees. This globalisation was the beginning of knowledge commercialisation as universities set up arrangements with rapidly emerging offshore institutions that were eager to jump onto this profitable bandwagon. Eventually competition drove some universities to extend the time spent in the students’ home countries to a second year, which sent students flocking to their door away from nonconforming universities. The lower overseas student numbers at these universities forced them to discontinue their affiliations, as they were no longer viable. Online distance education and later the Internet opened new challenges as students could enroll directly with the university of their choice and do their whole degree from home. This also gives the less wealthy students an opportunity to study at the world’s top universities most of which have no entry requirements. Lots of universities around the world have joined to form consortiums to handle this rapid change in global education commercialisation.

scholarly journals Adherence to recommended intake of pulses and related factors in university students in the UniHcos project

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
María Morales-Suárez-Varela ◽  
Carmen Amezcua-Prieto ◽  
Isabel Peraita-Costa ◽  
Carlos Ayan Pérez ◽  
Luis Félix Valero Juan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
First Year ◽  
Food Groups ◽  
Dietary Recommendations ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Spanish Universities ◽  
The University

Abstract Pulses such as peas, beans or lentils are one of the most complete foods at the nutritional level; however, they are one of the most often neglected foods in the diets of university students. Entrance to university translates into a major lifestyle change for many young people, and the habits acquired or cemented at this time will remain into adulthood. The objective of this study is to analyse the association between personal/sociodemographic factors, dietary intake of other food groups and the consumption of pulses in first-year university students. This cross-sectional study is part of the UniHcos project, a multicentre study of multipurpose prospective cohorts in eleven Spanish universities. Data from 9862 university students were collected through an online self-questionnaire completed by all students who met the selection criteria and agreed to participate in the project during the 2011–2018 academic years. Of students, 75·8 % presented an inadequate (≤2 times/week) consumption of pulses. Living outside the family home in either a student residence (OR 0·76; 95 % CI 0·69, 0·84) or rental (OR 0·81; 95 % CI 0·70, 0·95) decreased the compliance with recommendations on the consumption of pulses. Low consumption of pulses is seemingly not restricted to a specific profile or dietary pattern among university students, and no specific focus group for intervention can be identified. Policies promoting the consumption of pulses among the university population as a whole are necessary to increase compliance rates with the dietary recommendations.

scholarly journals Education for Sustainable Development in Spanish University Education Degrees

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1467
Author(s):  
Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo ◽  
Francisco Manuel Moreno-Pino ◽  
Daniel Romero-Portillo ◽  
Bárbara Sureda
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Student Perception ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
University Education ◽  
First Year ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Community Processes ◽  
Critical Contextualization ◽  
Spanish Universities ◽  
The University

This work presents an analysis of student perception of Spanish university education degrees regarding their training in sustainable development. A sample of 942 students was used. The methodology consists of analyzing the results of a survey answered by the first- and fourth-year students from nine education degree courses in four Spanish universities. Comparison of the perception of learning by fourth-year students against those of the first year enables improvements in learning regarding sustainability to be ascertained. The questionnaire consists of 18 questions concerning four sustainability competencies: C1-Critical contextualization of knowledge, C2-Sustainable use of resources, C3-Participation in community processes, and C4-Ethics. Two composite indicators are defined to analyze the absolute learning (achieved on completion of their studies) and the relative learning (achieved with respect to what should have been achieved) declared by the students in each competency, degree and university. The results show that students declare an improvement in all their sustainability competencies, although the results of the final learning are far from those expected: they have learned only 27% of what they should have learned. Moreover, the learning achieved in the four competencies depends on the degree and the university.

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