La calidad en la educación abierta y a distancia en México

Abstract

Since 1947, distance education in Mexico has had an important role for nonconventional populations. Considering that distance education is a heterogeneous and dynamic field, it is important to reflect on the need to improve quality as measured by our own standards. With that perspective in mind, a national meeting was organized to start a self‐diagnosis in which quality and access were the main concerns. Five hundred and twenty specialists from fifty‐one institutions participated in a national interactive synchronous meeting held in four regions. As a result of the meeting, thirty‐five criteria and 230 parameters of quality were established. The main conclusion of the meeting refers to the need for the elaboration of our own indicators for open and distance education.     

Tribulations and achievements: the early history of Olympism in Argentina

By the end of the nineteenth century, modern sport had enchanted the people of Argentina. At that time the nation enjoyed a remarkable degree of economic prosperity and embarked on increasing political democratization. These circumstances, along with the fact that the nation was represented from the beginning, in 1894, on the International Olympic Committee seemed to favour Argentina as the spearhead of the diffusion of Olympism throughout South America. However, the country only enjoyed its first official Olympic participation in the Paris Games of 1924 - a few months after the establishment of the Argentine Olympic Committee. This essay explores the reception and diffusion of Olympism in Argentina. It reveals a process of gradual adoption including conflicting views on the relationship between the state and sport, several attempts at institutionalization, international misunderstandings and the role of politics and class.     

Effectiveness during ball screens in elite basketball games

Ball screens are one of the most frequently used tactical behaviour in elite basketball games. The aim of the present study was to identify their predictors of success related to time, space, players, and tasks performed. The sample was composed of 818 ball screens corresponding to 20 close games (mean differences in score of 3.1 ± 0.8 points) randomly selected from the playoff games of the Spanish Basketball League (2008–2011). Classification tree analysis (CHAID) was used to analyse which variable or combination of variables, better predicts effectiveness during ball screens. The main results allowed identifying interactions with dribbler actions after the screen and the orientation of the screen on the ball. The results showed no interaction with game quarter and quarter minute temporal-related variables in both analyses. The present findings allow improving coaches’ strategic plans that involve selecting the most appropriate offensive approach when performing ball screens.     

Argentina and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics

The election of Raúl Alfonsín in October of 1983 represented the return of democracy to Argentina after more than seven years of a military dictatorship that left the country in a terribly distressed state. Since the dictatorship had joined the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics led by the USA, for Argentina, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics meant both coming back to the Olympic fold and the first such festival under the new democratic government. This paper explores Argentina's trajectory towards, and construction of, its participation in the country's first post-dictatorship Olympics. In doing so, this paper reveals why participation in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was not a priority for the incoming administration and why such participation was not conceived as a potential emissary capable of reaffirming on the global Olympic stage the hard fought, yet still emerging, democracy of Argentina. In addition, it reveals not only the determination of the Alfonsín administration to make his sport policy work but also its aspirations, complexity and ambiguities.     

Towards an understanding of the role of language in the science classroom and its association with cultural identity development in the context of Mozambique

I am reflecting here my struggle to understand the issue of language in the science classroom and in our lives from three different perspectives: before and after Mozambican independence and after completion of my doctoral research. The main method used is auto|ethnographic inquiry in which I use the events in my life to question what is happening in my society. I have used Maria Rivera Maulucci’s paper, Language experience narratives and the role of autobiographical reasoning in becoming an urban science teacher as a reference. This paper helps me to show how isolated and generalized is the Mozambican situation and the value of our struggle in giving value to local languages.     

How Often and for What Purposes Apprentices Seek Help in Workplaces: A Mobile Technology-Assisted Study

In the ‘dual’ system of vocational training, working in company represents the major part of training. At the workplace, apprentices are expected to acquire the typical skills of their profession but, at the same time, to contribute to the production of the company. For this reason apprentices are expected to carry out activities on their own from early on in their training and to ask for help only when they need it. Learning to ask questions and to seek help appropriately is, therefore, an important competence for learners to acquire during vocational training, just as it is important for the company to offer the learner every opportunity to ask for help when needed. In this study, we used mobile phones to follow at a distance 19 apprentices in car mechanics at the workplace. We then analyzed a corpus of approximately 77 hours of work, in search of all questions and requests they addressed during this time. Data show that requests for information are twice as frequent as requests for assistance (i.e. intervention or physical help) and that all together, requests are introduced more often by more advanced apprentices than by those in the early stages of their training. These findings are linked with the facts that: a) bringing apprentices to be autonomous early in their work is a deciding factor of the philosophy of work in many of the enterprises training apprentices, b) more advanced apprentices are given more complex tasks to work on, c) more advanced apprentices work more is often undertaken in collaboration with an expert car mechanics and d) questions and requests for help are more likely to be addressed when working collaboratively than when working alone. These findings are interpreted as evidences of a natural regulation which takes place at the workplace between the learner’s engagement and the workplace affordances.     

A Model-Based Inquiry Sequence as a Heuristic to Evaluate Students’ Emotional,Behavioural, and Cognitive Engagement

Research in Science Education - In this study we address the need to promote student engagement with school science and the need to measure a more comprehensive conception of engagement considering...