ABSTRACT
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) has increased due to its advantages for academic activities and educational quality. Hence, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have sought to develop strategies to promote curricular and extracurricular activities that favor developing disciplinary and transversal competencies such as complex thinking and its meta-competencies: critical, systemic, scientific, and innovative thinking, oriented to favor problem-solving among students and the academic community. The main objective of this study was to analyze how using OERs in virtual education can promote the development of complex thinking as a transversal competency in higher education. We analyzed the content of 65 educational projects in a webinar aimed at promoting the adoption of OERs in the professional practice of the educational community. Each project had to comply with specific requirements, from the project's identification and description to measuring and evaluating the results and its impact and added value. Once all the projects were reviewed, the responses were classified into defined categories for better presentation;the sub-competency of complex thinking promoted by each project element was identified qualitatively. The results highlight how an OER can, through concrete activities, elicit complex thinking and its sub-competencies in higher education. The present study adds new evidence to the literature regarding boosting OERs as a tool to develop competencies aligned with UNESCO recommendations and contribute to fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals in education. © 2022, Association for Social Studies Educa. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
In terms of scale, shock, and disenfranchisement, the disruption to formal education arising from COVID-19 has been unprecedented. Anecdotally, responses from teachers and educators around the world range from heightened caution to being inspired by distance education as the "new normal. " Of all the challenges, face-to-face and formal teaching have been most heavily affected. Despite some education systems demonstrating resilience, a major challenge is sustaining quality and inclusiveness in formal education suddenly delivered at a distance. In probing these issues, this article profiles international perspectives on the role of open education in responding to the impact on formal school and higher education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We proceed by highlighting and analysing practices and case studies from 13 countries representing all global regions, identifying and discussing the challenges and opportunities that have presented themselves. Reports cover the period from the beginning of 2020 until 11 March 2021, the first anniversary of the COVID-19 outbreak as declared by the World Health Organization. In our comparative study, we identify seven key aspects of which three (missing infrastructure and sharing OER, open education and access to OER, and urgent need for professional development and training for teachers) are directly related to open education at a distance. After comparing examples of existing practice, we make recommendations and offer insights into how open education strategies can lead to interventions that are effective and innovative-to improve formal education at a distance in schools and universities in the future.
ABSTRACT
Responsive educational proposals to develop skills to meet the demands of Industry 4.0 have become imperative to guarantee inclusive, equitable, and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, also reducing the negative impact of COVID‐19 and the major post‐pandemic social issues. This article analyzes which components of Education 4.0 have been considered in 21st century skills frameworks and identifies the teaching and learning methods and key stakeholders impacted. We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) with research questions to highlight studies that address 21st century frameworks worldwide, identifying which teaching–earning strategies contain 4.0 components, their learning dimensions, and the targeted stakeholders. The findings allowed us to identify opportunities to create or improve 21st century skills frameworks with the required Education 4.0 components to develop future skills. Our study revealed the absence of these frameworks for teachers and schools. Most are oriented toward students, developing competencies through the dimensions of character, meta‐learning, and linking active learning teaching strategies. This work presents studies incorporating innovative educational practices and the core Education 4.0 components. It concludes with a reflection on creating educational models to develop complex‐reasoning competencies and auto‐systemic thinking to support problem‐solving and address social needs. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
ABSTRACT
Throughout history, it has been demonstrated that knowledge has been a precious asset for personal and professional growth and for scientific and social development. In times of crisis, such as COVID 19, these assets reflect an engine for sustainable development. The objective of this article is to provide data on students and graduates who are taking and have taken postgraduate courses in Humanities and Education, in on-site and distance learning environments, to show their motivations, knowledge and the necessary competencies that will enable them to be protagonists and generators of changes in society. The article focused on the application of various instruments to obtain "the voices" of 454 students and graduates, with questionnaires that collected the motivations and perceptions that the respondents had of the programs. The data showed that there is a need for knowledge that addresses the dynamics of the problems and transformations of the work environment, as well as the development of competencies related to research, innovation and technologies. It is concluded that, in training, it is essential to have a constant link with various sectors of society, in a multidisciplinary, interinstitutional and supportive work. This study may be of value to teachers, researchers, designers, entrepreneurs, technologists, managers and decision makers interested in promoting training environments that support the sustainable development of scientific, technological and innovation capabilities that enable an impact on social transformations. © 2021 North Caucasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, State Technological University. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Education in Latin America turned to the use of distance communication strategies in the scenario's face of health, social, and economic consequences resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This abrupt change meant reviewing a set of conditions that drastically affected quality teaching and education in the region. This chapter addresses the conditions that universities in Latin America countries must face in order to ensure that their students can develop quality knowledge through the conditions present in distance and hybrid models, and the efforts that must be concentrated on in teacher's training, in order to professionalize in a more innovative manner in the face of digital and remote teaching. The factors that universities at the region should consider in their models to address the relevance and encourage the development of activities to meet their objectives and those of the community in which they take part. In the same way, the metrics, indicators and data for the areas of opportunity and the analysis of information used for decision making will be reviewed, and the use of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data, data analytics, cloud computing and the complement information and communication technologies required in the digital transformation of the universities in the Latin America region. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Achieving academic continuity in the face of the CoVid-19 pandemic demonstrated the universities' ability to respond to the challenges of sudden and disruptive external changes. More than ever, technology became the enabler of learning. Faculty and students quickly needed to develop new skills in the short term to finish the academic term that had been interrupted. The situation required integral digital transformation. The purpose of this document is to present the status of a doctoral-thesis research plan for creating a university digital transformation model supported by the measurement of media literacy. We propose a mixed study with a concurrent-triangulation, sequential-explanatory design that allows us to analyze quantitative and qualitative results and consider the impact of technologies that support media literacy on professors and digital education production teams within university programs. The expected results will lead to proposing a university digital transformation model that supports media literacy development in the academic community and training for the labor market in the digital age. The document is organized in nine sections: context and motivation that drives the dissertation research, state of the art, hypothesis, research objectives, research approach, and methods, results to date and their validity, dissertation status, expected contributions, and conclusions. The pre-research project, the preliminary planning of the research, and the research method and analysis proposal have been carried out. © 2020 ACM.
ABSTRACT
The health contingency showed responses of digital transformation and pending subjects of educational innovation in the university environments of Latin America. This article aims to present the responses that were held in Latin American universities as a result of COVID-19, as well as the challenges for a future that is already part of the present. We worked with the methodology of multiple case studies with an instrumental approach, with descriptive and categorical analyses in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. The findings address the challenges of digital transformation (virtualization, training, infrastructure, connectivity, culture, management, open education) and educational innovation (new processes, products, services, knowledge and research). This article is intended to be of value to decision makers, the academic community and society in general, with an invitation for solidarity commitment.