Dra. Jimenez-Perez, Laura

Contemporary society is going through a cultural transition that leads to new conceptions about the ways in which human beings organize socially and communicate. This process of deep social and cultural transformations is characterized by a technological disruption, in which virtuality forms a new dimension that behaves as an extension of human intelligence. This new form of human interaction impacts on the social imagination, demanding one to rethink social and educational paradigms for the two-dimensional citizen. In this context, this research article describes the sociological importance and the process of social adaptation of users to a personal learning environment (PLE). It includes the validation process of an instrument for the study of the PLE of 8th grade students belonging to 15 schools in the Biobío Region of Chile. A PLE is a frame of reference that can help to understand how two-dimensional citizens socially adapt and influence the sustainability of local and global systems. The validation method for this instrument considered four stages: i) Expert judgment: considering the opinions of six educators and experts in information and communication technologies (ICT); ii) a pilot test: that included a non-probabilistic sample of 472 subjects; iii) a principal components analysis (PCA); and iv) a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The Questionnaire on Work Habits and Learning for Professional Futures and the Context Questionnaire SIMCE TIC were used as a reference. When performing a psychometric analysis, a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.89 was obtained. This confirms that the adaptation of the instrument is good. The results of the dimensional analysis help us define a structure for the new instrument considering three components that explain 55% of the total variance. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed adjustment indexes that support the theoretical model proposed for the PLE study. In conclusion, the instrument was composed of three latent variables: Open self-regulated learning (OSRL) with eight questions, information management (IM) with four questions, and creation and transfer of knowledge (CTK) with four questions

The quality of Education in Chile is a controversial topic that has been in the public debate in the last several years. To ensure quality in graduate programs, accreditation is compulsory. The current article presents a model to improve the process of self-regulation. The main objective was to design a Model of Quality Assurance for Postgraduate Programs in order to constitute a theoretical, mathematical, and informatics reference that would optimize the processes of self-regulation, self-evaluation, and accreditation of master and doctorate programs from the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Chile. This descriptive research is based on a mixed methods approach. The proposal was intended through theoretical and empirical references related to the accreditation systems. The analysis process was conducted with key informants, and the informatics instrument was created and validated through expert judgment. After the analysis, the model was optimized considering the expert’s suggestions. As a result of the optimization process, a matrix of eight dimensions was obtained and it is available online in order to be used by the heads of postgraduate programs. Finally, a model with four main stages was achieved in order to install a self-regulation and a self-evaluated culture that leads to accreditation as evidence of the quality of postgraduate programs.

En la actual transición cultural, una de las necesidades emergente de los profesores es el uso educativo competente de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC). Este artículo da a conocer el resultado de la validación piloto de un modelo que permite evaluar Competencias TIC de profesores en contexto educativos. Sobre la base de la metodología cuantitativa, se aplicaron instrumentos para la validación de expertos y de usuarios. Para la validación teórica del modelo y de la matriz, participaron 10 expertos quienes analizaron la propuesta a través de un cuestionario y, para la validación práctica a nivel de usuario, participó una muestra piloto de 20 profesores, a quienes se les aplicó una pauta de observación, la cual permitió registrar sus acciones respecto de la competencia TIC en contexto. Los análisis demostraron que la matriz cumple con los elementos esenciales y que permite evaluar las competencias TIC de los profesores en sus contextos reales de trabajo cotidiano, tanto teórica como empíricamente. Además, quedo evidenciado que los profesores tienen un bajo dominio de integración de estas y, son utilizadas para apoyar la enseñanza y no el aprendizaje de los estudiantes.