Carmen Rocío Yot Domínguez

Las actividades de aprendizaje en la enseñanza universitaria: ¿hacia un aprendizaje autónomo de los alumnos?

Introduction. One of the activities that characterizes teaching is the design of student learning. Teachers are continually making decisions that affect one way or another what students learn and the way they do. Usually this process takes place in contexts of privacy. Until the entry into the European Higher Education Area, the visibility of learning design that teachers performed was limited. In this research we analyze the way the university teachers designed the learning of their students. To do this we focus on describing and analyzing the learning activities that teachers selected to guide the processes of acquisition of competence by students. Methodology. The collection of data in our study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 58 teachers from different universities of Andalusia and representatives from different areas of knowledge. We have interviewed teachers with a proven track record of innovation projects and activities. The purpose of the interview was that the participants describe a sequence of learning that usually planned and implemented for the development of the subject they teach. Results. The interviews were recorded and analyzed using a category system that has allowed to classify the activities and tasks that teachers used to plan student learning. We have grouped the learning activities in the following categories: assimilative, information management, application, communication, production, experiential and evaluative. The results show that the assimilative activities are the most common and generally there are no differences between teachers from different branches of knowledge in terms of learning tasks that plan.

Enseñar con tecnologías digitales en la universidad

This research aims to analyze the level of use of technology by university teachers. We are interested by the frequency of their use in designing the teaching-learning process. The research questions were: what types of learning activities which include are designed by university teachers? What types of technologies do teachers use in the design of their instruction? What is the level of use of digital technologies in the learning designs? To respond to these issues, we designed an inventory of activities of learning technologies at the university which was completed by 941 Andalusian teachers. We have identified the type and frequency of use of technology by university lecturers in their different fields at the same time as studying learning activities that predominate in their learning designs. The results, first of all, reveal a poor integration of ICT in the teaching-learning processes which are, essentially, the teacher-centered learning activities. Secondly, we have identified four profiles which differentiate between d teachers depending on their level of use of ICT. The profile comprising an increased number of teachers makes making reference to the rare use of technology. There are teachers who use technology sparingly, and this is a very small range.

Coaching reflexivo entre iguales en el Practicum de la formación de maestros

This research is about the utility of reflective peer coaching as an instrument of professional learning in the Practicum of teacher training and was carried out in the form of a researchaction project. The hypotheses are based on the proposition that peer coaching: a) can be a source of emotional support; b) can provide help in the reflection and construction of «practical theory» processes within a framework of non-threatening trust, and c) can offer the opportunity of learning to cooperate with colleagues. Peer coaching was applied to 33 students of the teacher training Practicum in two modalities, which were carried out one day per week: a) mutual peer observation of the teaching being given, and b) meeting of critical friends to analyze problems, pedagogic situations, etc. In order to find out the students� point of view (the object of this research), data collection was based on the reports sent by the students to their tutors. The reports were subjected to the content analysis technique. The results indicate that students value highly both modalities of coaching in the direction pointed at by our hypotheses. We join the authors who recommend the systematic inclusion of reflexive peer coaching in the teacher training Practicum. We propose it as a supplementary strategy, without it either substituting individual reflection on the teaching or the work of the tutor in the university and in the classroom. The results, whilst encouraging more research in this field, suggest the need for research into the potential of peer collaboration in the Practicum of other professions in the field of education and in other areas.

Los profesores como diseñadores: nuevas tareas para los docentes universitarios

This article derives from an investigation based on the design-based research model. The students’ learning planning is approached as an important characteristic of the decisions and activities of the professors. The chosen model allows for studying learning, in context considering the systematic planning, the instructional strategies and tools that are developed on innovative environments. This being an investigation within, on and about the instructional design, it involves the insertion on the processes through which the professors think about the teaching that they intend to perform. Professors from different universities from Spain and Chile have taken part in the intended sample, preferably those who bear a consolidated career as faculty and have evident innovative capacities. Learning sequences that are habitually planned and implemented by the professors have been investigated, bringing about a debate upon a process that is usually private: the context of the activities (objectives, expected results, prerequisites, content, environment, time and difficulty); the activities performed by the students (type, technique, interaction, roles, resources and evaluation); the way that the professors comprehend how to teach and learn. The resulting matrix shows learning sequences that can become didactical and training resources for both novice and experienced faculty, helping them find stimulus for developing the professors’ imagination.