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: Collaborative learning & Educational technology. The organization has 1943 authors who have published 4646 publications receiving 64200 citations. The organization is also known as: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya & UOC.

Análisis y resolución de casos-problema mediante el aprendizaje colaborativo

Abstract: L'article presenta i discuteix una experiencia d'innovacio de la docencia universitaria en l'ambit disciplinar de la psicologia de l'educacio basada en una metodologia d'analisi i resolucio de casos problema en petits grups en col·laboracio, i en l'us de tecnologies de la informacio i de la comunicacio (TIC). L'experiencia, que s'ha portat a terme al llarg de dos cursos academics, es fonamenta en una visio constructivista i sociocultural dels processos d'ensenyament i aprenentatge. S'hi descriu amb detall el disseny instruccional desenvolupat, que prioritza tres formes d'usar les TIC: 1) com a suport al treball en col·laboracio en petit grup dels estudiants; 2) com a defensa al seguiment, el suport i la tutoritzacio del professor, i 3) com a suport a la reflexio i la regulacio dels estudiants sobre el seu propi proces de treball i aprenentatge. Aquestes formes d'us estenen i amplifiquen l'activitat presencial de professor i estudiants, i donen lloc a un context hibrid (presencial i virtual) d'ensenyament i aprenentatge. La valoracio global de l'experiencia es molt positiva, tant des del punt de vista del rendiment academic dels estudiants com des del de la satisfaccio d'aquests darrers i de professors. Amb tot, s'hi identifiquen tambe alguns aspectes susceptibles de revisio i millora; en particular, s'assenyala la dificultat que suposa integrar eines i espais virtuals d'ensenyament i aprenentatge en una "cultura institucional" i dels estudiants centrada en la presencialitat, i es destaca la necessitat d'ajudar i ensenyar de manera explicita als alumnes habilitats especifiques per al treball i l'aprenentatge en entorns virtuals.

Study and correlation analysis of linguistic, perceptual, and automatic machine translation evaluations

Abstract: Evaluation of machine translation output is an important task. Various human evaluation techniques as well as automatic metrics have been proposed and investigated in the last decade. However, very few evaluation methods take the linguistic aspect into account. In this article, we use an objective evaluation method for machine translation output that classifies all translation errors into one of the five following linguistic levels: orthographic, morphological, lexical, semantic, and syntactic. Linguistic guidelines for the target language are required, and human evaluators use them in to classify the output errors. The experiments are performed on Englishto-Catalan and Spanish-to-Catalan translation outputs generated by four different systems: 2 rule-based and 2 statistical. All translations are evaluated using the 3 following methods: a standard human perceptual evaluation method, several widely used automatic metrics, and the human linguistic evaluation. Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients between the linguistic, perceptual, and automatic results are then calculated, showing that the semantic level correlates significantly with both perceptual evaluation and automatic metrics.

Privacy Analysis on Microblogging Online Social Networks: A Survey

Abstract: Online Social Networks (OSNs) incorporate different forms of interactive communication, including microblogging services, multimedia sharing, business networking, and so on. They allow users to create profiles, connect with friends, and share their daily activities and thoughts. However, this ease of use of OSNs comes with a cost in terms of users’ privacy and security. The big amount of personal data shared in the users’ profiles or correlated from their activities can be stored, processed, and sold for advertisement or statistical purposes. It attracts also malicious users who can collect and exploit the data and target different types of attacks. In this article, we review the state of the art of OSNs existing either in the literature or deployed for use. We focus on the OSN systems that offer, but not exclusively, microblogging services. We analyze and evaluate each system based on a set of characteristics, and we compare them based on their usability and the level of protection of privacy and security they provide. This study is a first step toward understanding the security and privacy controls and measuring their level in an OSN.

Revealing in-block nestedness: Detection and benchmarking

Abstract: As new instances of nested organization-beyond ecological networks-are discovered, scholars are debating the coexistence of two apparently incompatible macroscale architectures: nestedness and modularity. The discussion is far from being solved, mainly for two reasons. First, nestedness and modularity appear to emerge from two contradictory dynamics, cooperation and competition. Second, existing methods to assess the presence of nestedness and modularity are flawed when it comes to the evaluation of concurrently nested and modular structures. In this work, we tackle the latter problem, presenting the concept of in-block nestedness, a structural property determining to what extent a network is composed of blocks whose internal connectivity exhibits nestedness. We then put forward a set of optimization methods that allow us to identify such organization successfully, in synthetic and in a large number of real networks. These findings challenge our understanding of the topology of ecological and social systems, calling for new models to explain how such patterns emerge.