Guadalupe Álvarez

New Technologies in the University Context: The Use of Blogs for Developing Students’ Reading and Writing Skills

Many studies have emphasised the difficulties that students have when it comes to dealing with typical reading and writing tasks in higher education. With advances in information and communication technologies, and the constant development of interactive and multimedia dynamics on websites and e-learning platforms, new alternatives can be used to overcome reading and writing problems. The use and potential of blogs, for example, has spread to the university context, including subjects and courses that specifically focus on reading and writing skills. While several studies have shown that educational blogs have both advantages and limitations, there is still a need to develop guidelines on how to facilitate learning through the use of this tool. An important step is to analyse the current use of blogs for specific educational purposes. In this respect, the aim of this article is to analyse, on the basis of an integral semiotic proposal (Álvarez & Álvarez Cadavid, 2010, 2011), a series of blogs in Spanish that aim to develop text comprehension and production skills. This study shows that most of the blogs analysed thus far tend to concentrate on information management and organisation processes, and include materials in which verbal aspects prevail.ResumenMuchos estudios han destacado las dificultades que los estudiantes tienen al resolver las tareas típicas de lectura y escritura en la universidad. En la actualidad, con los avances de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, y el continuo desarrollo de dinámicas multimediales e interactivas en sitios webs y plataformas de e-learning, existen nuevas alternativas que pueden ser aprovechadas para superar los problemas de lectoescritura. El uso del blog y sus potencialidades, por ejemplo, se ha extendido en el contexto universitario, incluidas las materias o cursos que trabajan, específicamente, en las habilidades de lectoescritura. Si bien diversas investigaciones han revelado ventajas y limitaciones de los blogs educativos, sigue habiendo necesidad de orientaciones sobre el modo de facilitar los aprendizajes con dicha herramienta. Un paso importante para lograr el desarrollo de dichas orientaciones es analizar el estado actual sobre el uso de blogs con fines educativos específicos. En este sentido, este trabajo analiza, de acuerdo con un análisis semiótico integral (Álvarez y Álvarez Cadavid, 2010, 2011), una serie de blogs en español que apuntan al desarrollo de las habilidades de comprensión y producción textual. Este estudio muestra que la mayoría de los blogs hasta el momento analizados están centrados en procesos de organización y gestión de la información, e incluyen materiales con un fuerte predominio verbal.

Restimulation-induced T-cell death through NTB-A/SAP signaling pathway is impaired in tuberculosis patients with depressed immune responses

Production of IFN‐γ contributes to host defense against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. We previously demonstrated that Signaling lymphocytic activation molecule‐associated protein (SAP) expression on cells from tuberculosis (TB) patients was inversely correlated with IFN‐γ production. Here we first investigated the role of NK, T‐ and B‐cell antigen (NTB‐A)/SAP pathway in the regulation of Th1 response against Mtb. Upon antigen stimulation, NTB‐A phosphorylation rapidly increases and afterwards modulates IFN‐γ and IL‐17 secretion. To sustain a healthy immune system, controlled expansion and contraction of lymphocytes, both during and after an adaptive immune response, is essential. Besides, restimulation‐induced cell death (RICD) results in an essential homeostatic mechanism for precluding excess T‐cell accumulation and associated immunopathology during the course of certain infections. Accordingly, we found that the NTB‐A/SAP pathway was required for RICD during active tuberculosis. In low responder (LR) TB patients, impaired RICD was associated with diminished FASL levels, IL‐2 production and CD25high expression after cell‐restimulation. Interestingly, we next observed that SAP mediated the recruitment of the Src‐related kinase FYNT, only in T cells from LR TB patients that were resistant to RICD. Together, we showed that the NTB‐A/SAP pathway regulates T‐cell activation and RICD during human TB. Moreover, the NTB‐A/SAP/FYNT axis promotes polarization to an unfavorable Th2‐phenotype.

ICTs and collaborative learning: a case study of a class blog for improving the writing skills of pre-university students

In a previous study published in RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal, we observed that blogs in Spanish aimed at textual comprehension and production still lacked the instruments and materials to foster the cognitive processes necessary for collaborative creation of new knowledge. Given that context, this article studies a specific case of using a class blog in an Argentinean university, in which didactic strategies to encourage group writing activities have been put into practice. This case study will provide an important empirical basis for reflection on collaborative learning in blog writing activities.ResumenEn un estudio previo, publicado en esta misma revista, hemos observado que los blogs en español orientados a la comprensión y producción textual aún carecen de instrumentos y materiales que favorezcan los procesos cognitivos necesarios para la elaboración colaborativa de nuevos conocimientos. Frente a esta situación, en el presente artículo, analizamos un caso específico de uso de blogs de aula en una universidad argentina, en el cual se han puesto en práctica estrategias didácticas para favorecer el trabajo grupal en torno a las actividades de escritura. El análisis de este caso provee una base empírica relevante para reflexionar sobre el aprendizaje colaborativo en actividades de escritura en blogs.

Escritura colaborativa en entornos de formación virtual de una asignatura universitaria sobre Tecnología Educativa

En este articulo se aborda un tipo de practica escrituraria que se ha vuelto frecuente en las comunidades academicas y profesionales: la escritura colaborativa mediada por tecnologias digitales. Nos centramos, especificamente, en el contexto universitario. El objetivo es caracterizar las practicas de escritura colaborativa desarrolladas durante una cursada completamente virtual de la asignatura Tecnologia Educativa de la Licenciatura en Educacion de la Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, Buenos Aires, Argentina, a partir de una serie de categorias conceptuales propuestas en la bibliografia (estrategias para la escritura, fases y actividades, modos de control del documento, roles, modalidades de trabajo). Estas categorias resultan ajustadas y completadas durante el proceso analitico. En este sentido, nuestra principal conclusion es que, cuando se trata de contextos educativos, las dimensiones planteadas en la bibliografia para reflexionar sobre la escritura colaborativa en diferentes ambitos se deberian articular con aspectos relativos al rol docente y las estrategias didacticas implementadas antes, durante y despues del proceso escriturario. Collaborative writing in e-learning academic environments of a university course about Educational Technology Abstract This paper examines a type of writing practice that has become frequent in the professional and academic community: collaborative writing with digital technology mediation. We specifically focus on the university context. The aim is to describe the collaborative writing practices of an online course of Educational Technology, a subject of the Licentiate in Education in the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, Buenos Aires, Argentina, based on a series of conceptual categories selected from specialized literature (writing strategies, phases and activities, document control modes, roles and work methods). These categories are adjusted and completed during the analytical process. In this sense, our main conclusion is that, in educational contexts, the analyzed concepts developed in the literature to study collaborative writing in general should be articulated with dimensions related to the teachers’ role and the didactic strategies involved before, during and after the writing process. Recibido : 03 de abril de 2018 Aceptado: 17 de julio de 2018

Qualitative research methods to analyze Learning 2.0 processes: Categorization, recurrence, saturation and multimedia triangulation

The developments of the Web have generated new modalities and contexts of learning, shaping what is nowadays called “Learning 2.0”. Within this new phenomenon it arises a trend of moving out from the linearity of written word toward new multimedia complexities, that lead to a parallel semiotic complexity lying behind them. Understanding the above mentioned complexities implies to preserve and make explicit the collaboratory construction of knowledge through the identification of events, instruments, signs. This identification is in fact an analytic process, where the researcher divides the raw data into units of meaning making that must be read both in the specific contribution made by every mode (text, images, audio) as well as a whole. This is possible through an inverse process of analysis and interpretation that depends on specific instruments regarding the qualitative methodological approach. These last must be, in fact, appropriated to the new environments and phenomena. In this work the authors introduce several examples of educational research practice where categorization and triangulation were implemented on data collected from interactive processes in online learning environments, to further obtain recurrences and saturation of data. In second place, going a step further on the discussion of appropriated methods to Learning 2.0 analysis , the so called “multimedia triangulation” is presented, on the basis of analysis of data collected inside the same case study.

Las nuevas tecnologías en el contexto universitario: sobre el uso de blogs para desarrollar las habilidades de lectoescritura de los estudiantes

Many studies have emphasised the difficulties that students have when it comes to dealing with typical reading and writing tasks in higher education. With advances in information and communication technologies, and the constant development of interactive and multimedia dynamics on websites and e-learning platforms, new alternatives can be used to overcome reading and writing problems. The use and potential of blogs, for example, has spread to the university context, including subjects and courses that specifically focus on reading and writing skills. While several studies have shown that educational blogs have both advantages and limitations, there is still a need to develop guidelines on how to facilitate learning through the use of this tool. An important step is to analyse the current use of blogs for specific educational purposes. In this respect, the aim of this article is to analyse, on the basis of an integral semiotic proposal (Álvarez & Álvarez Cadavid, 2010, 2011), a series of blogs in Spanish that aim to develop text comprehension and production skills. This study shows that most of the blogs analysed thus far tend to concentrate on information management and organisation processes, and include materials in which verbal aspects prevail.ResumenMuchos estudios han destacado las dificultades que los estudiantes tienen al resolver las tareas típicas de lectura y escritura en la universidad. En la actualidad, con los avances de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, y el continuo desarrollo de dinámicas multimediales e interactivas en sitios webs y plataformas de e-learning, existen nuevas alternativas que pueden ser aprovechadas para superar los problemas de lectoescritura. El uso del blog y sus potencialidades, por ejemplo, se ha extendido en el contexto universitario, incluidas las materias o cursos que trabajan, específicamente, en las habilidades de lectoescritura. Si bien diversas investigaciones han revelado ventajas y limitaciones de los blogs educativos, sigue habiendo necesidad de orientaciones sobre el modo de facilitar los aprendizajes con dicha herramienta. Un paso importante para lograr el desarrollo de dichas orientaciones es analizar el estado actual sobre el uso de blogs con fines educativos específicos. En este sentido, este trabajo analiza, de acuerdo con un análisis semiótico integral (Álvarez y Álvarez Cadavid, 2010, 2011), una serie de blogs en español que apuntan al desarrollo de las habilidades de comprensión y producción textual. Este estudio muestra que la mayoría de los blogs hasta el momento analizados están centrados en procesos de organización y gestión de la información, e incluyen materiales con un fuerte predominio verbal.

Les noves tecnologies en el context universitari: sobre l'ús de blogs per a desenvolupar les habilitats de lectoescriptura dels estudiants

Many studies have emphasised the difficulties that students have when it comes to dealing with typical reading and writing tasks in higher education. With advances in information and communication technologies, and the constant development of interactive and multimedia dynamics on websites and e-learning platforms, new alternatives can be used to overcome reading and writing problems. The use and potential of blogs, for example, has spread to the university context, including subjects and courses that specifically focus on reading and writing skills. While several studies have shown that educational blogs have both advantages and limitations, there is still a need to develop guidelines on how to facilitate learning through the use of this tool. An important step is to analyse the current use of blogs for specific educational purposes. In this respect, the aim of this article is to analyse, on the basis of an integral semiotic proposal (Álvarez & Álvarez Cadavid, 2010, 2011), a series of blogs in Spanish that aim to develop text comprehension and production skills. This study shows that most of the blogs analysed thus far tend to concentrate on information management and organisation processes, and include materials in which verbal aspects prevail.ResumenMuchos estudios han destacado las dificultades que los estudiantes tienen al resolver las tareas típicas de lectura y escritura en la universidad. En la actualidad, con los avances de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, y el continuo desarrollo de dinámicas multimediales e interactivas en sitios webs y plataformas de e-learning, existen nuevas alternativas que pueden ser aprovechadas para superar los problemas de lectoescritura. El uso del blog y sus potencialidades, por ejemplo, se ha extendido en el contexto universitario, incluidas las materias o cursos que trabajan, específicamente, en las habilidades de lectoescritura. Si bien diversas investigaciones han revelado ventajas y limitaciones de los blogs educativos, sigue habiendo necesidad de orientaciones sobre el modo de facilitar los aprendizajes con dicha herramienta. Un paso importante para lograr el desarrollo de dichas orientaciones es analizar el estado actual sobre el uso de blogs con fines educativos específicos. En este sentido, este trabajo analiza, de acuerdo con un análisis semiótico integral (Álvarez y Álvarez Cadavid, 2010, 2011), una serie de blogs en español que apuntan al desarrollo de las habilidades de comprensión y producción textual. Este estudio muestra que la mayoría de los blogs hasta el momento analizados están centrados en procesos de organización y gestión de la información, e incluyen materiales con un fuerte predominio verbal.