LA FORMACIÓN DE GRADO DEL PROFESIONAL DESDE UNA NUEVA CONCEPCIÓN PEDAGÓGICA PARA LAS UNIVERSIDADES ECUATORIANAS

Las universidades ecuatorianas actualmente se encuentran en un arduo proceso de perfeccionamiento de la formación de grado de sus profesionales, en correspondencia con la implementación del nuevo Reglamento de Régimen Académico y los procesos de evaluación y acreditación. En este sentido se propone una concepción pedagógica de la formación de grado del profesional en las universidades ecuatorianas. La realización de las indagaciones teóricas y empíricas durante el proceso investigativo permitió determinar el estado actual de la formación de grado del profesional en la Universidad Católica de Cuenca y en la Universidad Técnica de Manabí, para lo cual se emplearon como métodos y técnicas de investigación: el histórico-lógico, el analítico-sintético, el inductivo-deductivo, el sistémico-estructural-funcional, la entrevista, la encuesta, el análisis de contenido, la triangulación, el criterio de expertos y la estadística descriptiva. Teniendo en cuenta los resultados del diagnóstico del estado actual de la formación de grado del profesional en estas universidades se diseñó, con la participación de autoridades, directivos, profesores y estudiantes, la concepción pedagógica propuesta en la que se integran en un sistema los componentes docencia, investigación y vinculación con la sociedad, la misma fue sometida a la valoración por criterio de expertos, los que, por consenso, la consideran muy adecuada. PALABRAS CLAVE: formación de grado del profesional; concepción pedagógica; docencia; investigación y vinculación con la sociedad. THE DEGREE TRAINING OF THE PROFESSIONAL FROM A NEW PEDAGOGICAL CONCEPTION FOR THE ECUADORIAN UNIVERSITIES ABSTRACT Ecuadorian universities are currently undergoing an arduous process of perfecting the degree training of their professionals, corresponding to the implementation of the new Academic Regime Regulation and the evaluation and accreditation processes. In this sense, it is proposed a pedagogical conception of professional qualification in Ecuadorian universities. The realization of the theoretical and empirical investigations during the investigative process made it possible to determine the current state of professional qualification at the Catholic University of Cuenca and at the Technical University of Manabí, for which the following research methods and techniques were used: the historical-logical, the analytic-synthetic, the inductive-deductive, the systemic-structural-functional, interview, survey, content analysis, triangulation, expert judgment and descriptive statistics. Taking into account the results of the diagnosis of the current state of professional education in these universities, the pedagogical conception proposed in which the teaching components are integrated in a system, with the participation of authorities, managers, students, research and links with society, it was submitted to the evaluation by experts, who, by consensus, consider it very appropriate. KEYWORDS: professional degree training; pedagogical conception; teaching; research and linkage with society.

Thalamus and language: interface with attention, memory and executive functions

Subcortical structures are in a strategic functional position within the cognitive networks. Their lesion can interfere with a great number of functions. We studied six patients with thalamic vascular lesions (three left sided, two right sided and one bilateral), to characterize their repercussion in the communicative abilities and the interface between language alterations and other cognitive abilities, as attention, memory and frontal executive. All patients were evaluated through a functional interview (discourse analysis), and the following batteries: Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination, Boston Naming Test, Token Test, Benton Visual Retention Test, Trail Making, Wisconsin Card Sorting and frontal scripts. All patients performed MRI and five underwent SPECT. Results show that these patients present impairment in several cognitive domains, especially attention and executive functions (working memory, planning and self-monitoring); those with right lesions have an additional visuospatial impairment. Such alterations interfere with language abilities, and this fact must be considered in the rehabilitation efforts.