Open University of Catalonia

About: Open University of Catalonia is a education organization based out in Barcelona, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Higher education. The organization has 1943 authors who have published 4646 publications receiving 64200 citations. The organization is also known as: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya & UOC.

Field Ethics: Towards Situated Ethics for Ethnographic Research on the Internet

Abstract: Dieser Aufsatz stellt Uberlegungen zu den ethischen Entscheidungen vor, die wir in der Internetforschung treffen, insbesondere in der Ethnografie. Ausgehend von den Ethikrichtlinien, die fur die (naturwissenschaftliche) Forschung am Menschen entwickelt worden sind, betrachten wir bereits existierende Losungen, welche diese allgemeinen Leitlinien an die Eigenheiten der Internetforschung anzupassen versuchen. Wir argumentieren, dass viele dieser Empfehlungen mit Blick auf die Erfordernisse bestimmter Instrumente formuliert wurden (Chats, Mailinglisten, Blogs, etc.), denen jeweils spezifische technologische Eigenschaften zugeschrieben wurden und von denen dann auf Merkmale der dort vorfindbarer Interaktionen (z.B. privat vs. offentlich) geschlossen wurde. Wir stellen diese Ansatze in Frage, da wir davon ausgehen, dass die Zuschreibung technologischer Eigenschaften den Rahmen ethischer Entscheidungen, die Forschende treffen, unnotig verengt. Stattdessen pladieren wir fur eine situierte und dialogische Ethik, die die je besonderen Bedingungen des aktuellen Forschungskontexts berucksichtigt. Diesem Vorschlag folgend, gehen wir auf einige der Entscheidungen ein, die wir in unseren Feldforschungen uber spanische Blogger(innen) getroffen haben. Ausgehend von einem daraufhin von uns entwickelten "Feld-Blog" beschreiben wir drei Achsen, entlang derer wir unsere forschungsethischen Entscheidungen orientierten: Art und Umfang der zu jeder Person erhobenen Daten, die Offenlegung der Beteiligung der Forschenden im Feld und das Bestreben um Symmetrie und Gegenseitigkeit mit den Beteiligten im Feld. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs070328

Análisis de la interacción en ambientes híbridos de aprendizaje

Abstract: El analisis de la interaccion en ambientes virtuales e hibridos es un tema complejo, puesto que es necesario superar la aproximacion cuantitativa, numero de mensajes, y lograr informacion sobre las dinamicas de interaccion, en el marco de las actividades educativas. En este trabajo se presenta un conjunto de estrategias para el analisis de la interaccion, las cuales se disenaron durante el desarrollo de una tesis doctoral, como respuesta a dos retos que fueron identificados: ?como observar la interaccion?, ?como relacionar la interaccion con el rendimiento academico? Las estrategias disenadas ofrecen elementos para el analisis de las actividades educativas, analisis de las discusiones virtuales asincronicas, representacion de las interacciones y la relacion entre la interaccion y el rendimiento academico. El conjunto de estrategias permitio reconocer el fenomeno de la interaccion en el marco de actividades educativas, asi como el proceso o dinamica en la interaccion grupal, que muestra la evolucion del grupo hacia la construccion de conocimiento. Por otro lado, tambien permitio analizar los procesos virtuales de interaccion y establecer comparaciones entre las dinamicas de los grupos y la relacion entre estas y los resultados de rendimiento academico. Si bien el grupo de estrategias surgen en un estudio especifico, ofrecen herramientas que pueden utilizarse en otros contextos. La manera de utilizar las estrategias se ilustra en este articulo con un ejemplo.

Narrative comprehension and production in children with SLI: an eye movement study.

Abstract: This study investigates narrative comprehension and production in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Twelve children with SLI (mean age 5;8 years) and 12 typically developing children (mean age 5;6 years) participated in an eye-tracking experiment designed to investigate online narrative comprehension and production in Catalan- and Spanish-speaking children with SLI. The comprehension task involved the recording of eye movements during the visual exploration of successive scenes in a story, while listening to the associated narrative. With regard to production, the children were asked to retell the story, while once again looking at the scenes, as their eye movements were monitored. During narrative production, children with SLI look at the most semantically relevant areas of the scenes fewer times than their age-matched controls, but no differences were found in narrative comprehension. Moreover, the analyses of speech productions revealed that children with SLI retained less information and made more semantic and syntactic errors during retelling. Implications for theories that characterize SLI are discussed.

The experience of parents of children with rare diseases when communicating with healthcare professionals: towards an integrative theory of trust.

Abstract: Given the inherent complexity of rare paediatric diseases and the sensitive emotional context of the situations they create (due to the patients’ age and the tense uncertainty surrounding the progression of the disease), communication between the adults involved is a key tool in the efforts to provide these children and youths a better quality of life. We conducted ten interviews with families of children with rare diseases, in the aim of exploring how communication between doctors and patients affect their daily lives. All participants, members of FEDER (a Spanish federation of associations of patients with rare diseases) were invited by phone or email to participate in a semi-structured interview including questions on clinical information, communication experiences with healthcare professionals, and the impact these had on the interviewees’ relationships with them. To analyse these interviews, we used the ‘grounded theory’ methodology and open and axial text coding techniques, in addition to those identifying the properties and dimensions of the categories formulated. The core category we have proposed is ‘adjustment of mutual trust’, with said category describing the attitude and behaviour of doctors who inspire trust in the parents of paediatric patients diagnosed with a rare disease. More specifically, said behaviours or sources of trust are: appearing human, sensitive and empathetic; showing transparency and communicative openness; being supportive of parental proactivity; and being available to families at all times. Trust is the cornerstone of parent-doctor communication in the field of children with rare diseases. If the sources of trust are present, they create a degree of trust that bolsters both parties in the search for a common goal: providing the child with the best possible care.

SAMOS: a model for monitoring students' and groups' activities in collaborative e-learning

Abstract: We address the issue of monitoring students' and groups' activities in online collaborative learning environments. Such monitoring can provide valuable information to online instructors, who may guide and support the development of efficient collaborative learning projects. We have developed and tested an information system, Student Activity Monitoring using Overview Spreadsheets (SAMOS), which facilitates the automatic generation of weekly monitoring reports derived from data contained in server log files. These reports provide online instructors with visual information regarding students' and groups' activity, thus allowing for a quick and easy classification of students and groups according to their activity level. That way, entities with a low activity level are easily identified, which allows the establishment of just-in-time assistance for them. Furthermore, instructors can use complementary qualitative monitoring reports, issued by the students themselves, to anticipate potential problems – such as student dropouts or possible conflicts inside the groups – and take operational and tactical decisions to handle them.