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.

The evolution of coastal tourism destinations: a path plasticity perspective on tourism urbanisation

Abstract: Evolutionary and relational approaches to economic development are gaining ground in geography as a discipline, although in the subfield of tourism geography, their potential is only just becoming recognised. This article focuses on the evolution of mature tourism destinations, taking the path dependency concept forward from the notion of path creation into the new domain of path plasticity. Drawing on the notion of cultural political economy, we examine how tourism destinations can break with path dependency routines incrementally and move steadily towards different future paths, which may recast tourism in a different light in the overall “urban” context of the destination. Using a case study of a Mediterranean coastal destination on Catalonia's Costa Daurada, we explore the inter-tangled tourism and urban development processes in relation to the socio-spatial dimensions of urban change. The article argues for a wider range of social and cultural criteria in the analysis of tourism evolution – a...

Wikipedia at university: what faculty think and do about it

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate university faculty perceptions and practices of using Wikipedia as a teaching resource. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on a large survey to all faculty members in two large public universities. A total of 913 valid responses were collected through an online questionnaire with 9 control variables and 41 Likert-scaled questions. Findings – The results do not support an overwhelming sceptical attitude among faculty towards Wikipedia. The overall quality of Wikipedia articles is highly valued and most faculty are regular users, just as students are. Though most faculty show a positive view on the teaching usefulness of Wikipedia, few of them actually use it for teaching purposes. A certain conflict has been detected between standard academic procedures of knowledge building and the open collaborative model on which Wikipedia rests. In the end, two important factors play a role in shaping faculty views: their colleagues’ perceived opinion...

Estrategias de innovación en la educación superior: el caso de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Abstract: The main goal of this article is to analyse the concept of «innovation» in the sphere of higher education, through the model of open innovation deployed by Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (uoc). Nowadays, the challenge that the university system is facing is differentiation, both in research and in teaching. And a project concerning innovation must fulfill that need for strategic differentiation. The project carried out by uoc is a model of strategic innovation. Its aim is to be open to the reception of collaborative experience and knowledge produced in the area in which virtual learning environments are created. It also aims at positioning the university as an institution that creates knowledge in a workframe of constant change and improvement.

Enhancing and extending the classical GRASP framework with biased randomisation and simulation

Abstract: Greedy Randomised Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) is one of the best-known metaheuristics to solve complex combinatorial optimisation problems (COPs). This paper proposes two extensions of the ty...