Facebook y aprendizaje informal: un nuevo planteamiento metodológico en la enseñanza de lenguas

Esta investigación surge de la inquietud de innovar el proceso de aprendizaje y enseñanza, específicamente de las lenguas extranjeras, adecuando los contenidos a los intereses de los discentes del siglo XXI, para dar paso al uso colectivo de la información. Los objetivos principales se centran en la evaluación del aprendizaje informal: evaluar a través de estímulos y de dinámicas alternativas entre la autoevaluación y la coevaluación, a través del desarrollo y la puesta en práctica de competencias y estrategias facilitadoras del aprendizaje. Para la realización del proceso experimental, con alumnos de lengua italiana y de lengua española, se propusieron una serie de cursos piloto en los que se llevaron a cabo estudios cualitativos y cuantitativos relacionados con el aprendizaje a través de Facebook como red social y la distribución del trabajo en comunidades que adoptaron una dimensión constructiva del conocimiento, mediante el uso compartido de la información. Tal proceso hizo posible tanto la producción como el intercambio de conocimientos, basándose en un comportamiento pragmático y sociocultural de los contenidos; pero teniendo en cuenta el desarrollo de las competencias básicas: saber ser y saber hacer. Los resultados fueron muy alentadores, aunque bastante controvertidos durante el proceso, considerando que los discentes llevan muchas generaciones en un sistema de aprendizaje individual; sin embargo las comunidades de aprendizaje los motivaron y al final se consiguió un resultado favorable, gracias a la puesta en práctica del aprendizaje informal. This research paper is concerned with the implementation of innovation techniques in the process of learning and teaching foreign languages. Adapting contents to twenty-first century students' mentalities implies information has to be used collectively. Our main aims are the assessment of informal learning through stimuli and alternative dynamics which connect self-assessment and co-assessment, as well as developing and carrying out competences and strategies which facilitate learning. For the experimental process we worked with Italian and Spanish language students. In order to accomplish our goal, we delivered a series of collaborative courses in which qualitative and quantitative studies related to learning through Facebook as a social network were conducted. Besides, we distributed work among communities which adopted a constructive dimension of knowledge through the shared use of information. The process facilitated both the production and the exchange of knowledge based on the pragmatic and sociocultural nature of the contents, while also taking into account the enhancement of basic competences such as know how to be and how to do. Results were very encouraging, although quite controversial during the collection process, due to the fact that students had been educated for generations in individualistic learning systems. However, learning communities strongly motivated them and, in the end, positive results were reported thanks to the implementation of informal learning.

A Review of Cooperative Learning in EFL Classroom

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of cooperative learning (CL) among students and teachers. The purpose of this paper is to find out the effectiveness of cooperative learning in helping to improve students’ academic performance, as well as the impact of the implementation of CL on students’ and teachers’ attitudes and on students’ anxiety, motivation, and interest. Many studies have found that CL is an effective teaching method worldwide in the 21st century. In these studies, researchers collected quantitative and qualitative data by using various instruments, such as experiments, surveys, questionnaires, and interviews, and they applied different methods to analyze data, including theory analysis, thematic analysis, descriptive and inferential analysis. Findings from the reviewed research showed that the use of the CL can help students improve their academic performance, and most students and teachers showed positive attitudes towards the implementation of CL. In addition, using CL in English classrooms had also been found to help students reduce anxiety and develop motivation and interest. In China's English classes, compared with cooperative learning, the traditional English teaching focuses more on competitive and individualistic learning. Based on the results of previous literature studies, the researcher suggests that China's teachers can consider to apply the CL technique in English classes, which may improve students' academic performance and attitudes.

Collaborative Ph.D. Examination

In many universities, there is either no requirement for an oral examination or for examiners to guide Ph.D. candidates prior to submission of their thesis. This policy is usually the result of the “tyranny of distance” and/or the positivism philosophy of “impartial observer.” This chapter argues for the Interpretivist approach of enriching the learning experience of examiner, candidate, supervisor and university by requiring the advantages of complex sustained interaction. Extensive evidence has shown that group learning is far more productive than individualistic learning. While individual universities need to make the resources argument for a more collaborative Ph.D. process, this chapter presents the management learning literature. It provides this literature in support of the argument that examiners need to be inter-actively involved with supervisors and examiners, especially in IS which changes rapidly and is experiencing a move from positive to interpretive methodologies.

EXAMINING CLASSROOM LEARNING PREFERENCES AMONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

The purpose of this study was to further determine the classroom learning preferences of elementary school students. A measure of cooperative, competitive and individualistic learning preferences (The Social Interdependence Scales, Johnson, & Norem-Hebeisen, 1979), was administered to 138 5th and 6th graders (66 African American and 72 White) attending a school in a low-income community. Results indicated that overall, participants preferred cooperative learning to competitive and individualistic learning. However, African American students reported significantly higher preferences for cooperative learning than did their White counterparts, while the reverse was true for individualistic and competitive learning. Implications and relevance for classroom practices are discussed. It is also argued that future research should include repeated testing of learning preferences and expansion of the work across a wide age range.