vol. 16 núm. 30 (2014)

This article shares part of the results of a research study that aimed to systematize certain aspects of the final projects undertaken by students in the Degree of Basic Education with an emphasis on Mathematics, Humanities and the Spanish Language at the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (uptc) from 2008 to 2011. The study used a documentary-style methodology for informational purposes. Information was collected through a generated file, which was created based on students’ research work, thereby making it possible to determine the research interests, areas, and most commonly chosen subjects and topics for research, and correlate these with students’ locations in different regional centers of distance education. The strategy involved creating a database with the information collected. From this, qualitative and quantitative data was generated, then systematized and interpreted for presentation to the academic community. It could be concluded that students choose to conduct research in the Spanish language due to an interest in solving reading and writing learning problems among the populations that the research is based on. These projects were registered in the research area titled Classroom and School. The projects were also chosen because this research area aims to develop learning processes based on problems found in educational contexts where university extension activities are undertaken in the Basic Education Degree.

This article presents a proposal to widen the components and implications of the concept of “impact”, to reveal new aspects and scope for both its characterization and measurement, as well as offering various options for interpreting it. As a starting point, the concept of impactus is examined in studies from various academic centers, and its aspects are then inferred in order to contrast and complement them from a sociocybernetics perspective. Through this exercise, it was possible to see the existence (in the reference works consulted) of clear, homogenizing and exclusive trends in the three independent processes of human beings (acting, feeling and acting), that contrast with impact as an emergence. The challenge in making sense of this from the proportionality of human potential is to discover new ways of approaching the world of signs of influence in post-graduate university programs, individuals, society, and the world.

Treatment of the phonetic aspect of language has been marginalized in classes of Spanish as a Foreign Language (sfl). Although there has been an attempt to reestablish its importance, this has not lead to effective, material changes in teaching. Factors such as undervaluing pronunciation in settings of language teaching, the complexity of the corresponding content, and the methodological disorientation of teachers have all contributed to the current situation. We must therefore revisit the concept in foreign language teaching as a phenomenon within itself, and as content that should be taught and corrected. This study seeks to reflect on the concepts of pronunciation, pronunciation teaching, and phonetic correction based on earlier theories, including the work of Antich et al. —a classic text in the area of foreign language teaching methodology in Cuba— and other researchers in this area, primarily in relation to Spanish. It is assumed that pronunciation is an ability that must be taught and developed in the foreign language teaching-learning process in order for students to achieve phonetic competence as part of their communicative competence 

This article seeks to describe the educational needs and expectations of some health professionals in the city of Santiago de Cali in the area of post-graduate disability training. An exploratory study was conducted with information collected in two higher education institutions in the city of Cali using an instrument designed by the researchers that incorporated socio-demographic, academic, labor and needs, and educational expectation variables. Of those surveyed, 48% claimed to be interested in disability training. Reasons for undertaking post-graduate studies included job-related subject matter, and the opportunity for better pay. Many people are interested in acquiring disability training, however, no such programs are offered in Cali

This article presents various aspects of a research study into the teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Lan- guage (sfl), the objective of which was to strengthen the communicative competence of foreign sfl students through the use of different narrative texts: fables, tales, myths and legends. The project aimed to revise, apply and design a reading workbook with various narrative texts, along with exercises and activities. In terms of the methodology applied, this was an experimental study, and used an inductive method insofar as it involved the participation of a limited number of foreign students visiting Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (uptc) or the city of Tunja for both the application and analysis of results. It was found that the strategy of using narrative texts (fables, tales, myths and legends) helped improve sfl . Likewise, the foreign students found the texts to be appropriate, and the activities and exercises to be dynamic 

The main objective of this article is to reflect on evaluation as an inherent part of conceptual educational spaces, based on critical theory. The concept of evaluation is revised, examining aspects of its function and the manner in which it should be carried out. First, the purpose and the role of education is pre- sented, and based on this, the significance of evaluation is revised in relation to what it contributes to recognition of the self. In line with this idea, evaluation can be seen not just as a component, or a tool, or an appendix of education, but as an inherent part of it that is linked to learning; it is present from the moment an individual is conscious of learning, and that he or she is capable. We must therefore speak about evaluation in other terms, abandoning the position that reduces it to its instrumental, technical qualities. Finally, it is shown that education can be transformed through evaluation, which from a criti- cal pedagogy perspective thus becomes a prevailing and active commitment

This study investigates the evaluative practices used in distance education. It employs a qualitative approach and a descriptive research method, and uses a stratified sample that was taken from the population of distance education students at the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia. These students were given a survey to collect data and information, which was then systematized. By examining the results of a small sample, it was possible to ascertain the students’ opinions about the distance education evaluation process in the non-degree programs of Pharmacy Management and Health Management. Furthermore, a dissertation could be presented on distance education evaluation practices that have incorporated Information and Communications Technology (ict), which, through the Moodle platform, offer a variety of instruments for measuring students’ learning

Rastros Rostros sigue consolidándose como un espacio académico privilegiado donde los profesores-investigadores de la región, del país y del mundo contribuyen a la generación de nuevo conocimiento y a la exposición de nuevas estrategias educativas y de investigación. Cada vez más profesores y estudiantes recurren con apetito voraz a la lectura de los artículos de la revista y, con gran ilusión y ahínco, al envío de sus trabajos de investigación, reflexión y revisión en Ciencias del lenguaje, Literatura y Educación.

Foreign language teaching continues to be one of the issues to tackle in education. In recent decades, methodological approaches have prioritized communication over information around the way languages function, but this has not led to a marked improvement in results. The newest models only offer partial or seeming improvements to some elements of teaching and learning processes. Editors’ systematic misunderstanding of the process as a whole has turned methodological proposals into teaching fads that are superficial, unproductive, and quick to fade away. In recent years we have looked to ict to provide a way forward. This article argues that the quantity and immediacy of digital resources and telematics do not in themselves improve the efficacy of language teaching; they will only make a valuable contribution if built on careful educational planning that takes into account the time and dedication of individuals, their types and styles of learning, and the true cognitive nature of a language, not just the communicative behavior that can be derived from it

Mientras pegaba el último cartel de “Se busca” en una alejada y un tanto olvidada pared de la fría Londres, cerré mi sombrilla y entré a una droguería para comprar una pastilla que me ayudara a sobrellevar la insoportable migraña que, por aquellos días, me acompañaba. Con un pésimo inglés, intenté preguntarle a la farmaceuta si, por casualidad, había visto un niño como el de la fotografía. Ella, con amabilidad, movió su cabeza para decir que no. Volví a abrir la sombrilla y me dirigí a la estación del metro que estaba a dos calles.

This article is the result of the research study being conducted in the sub-area of research titled “Ethnoeducation: A Space for Rethinking Education in Colombia”, which is linked to the Faculty of Education at the Universidad Libre. It seeks to characterize the ethnic group made up of Afro- Colombian communities who are displaced in the country’s current political, economic and social landscape, and who are hurriedly inserted into the urban social fabric, thus damaging their quality of life and human development, and affecting the urban social dynamics. This situation merits both research and pedagogical intervention in searching for and realizing educational proposals and life plans that contribute to the cultural and social rebuilding of these ethnic communities.

Aquel día, que pisé el aeropuerto, dije “esta es y siempre será mi patria”, sintiendo que salir de mi país, más que ser mi salvación, iba a representar mi muerte. A medida que llegaba a Madrid, todo me parecía extraño. Desde la ventana del avión veía esas montañas arenosas, feas, toscas, frías y no colombianas. Las calles me olían diferente, la gente me parecía diferente, la comida me sabía diferente; pero me tomó un tiempo reconocer que el diferente siempre fui yo.

Most research studies on self-regulated learning have been conducted with students in secondary and higher education, forgetting that primary school students are the ones who may face the most problems when cognitive and metacognitive strategies are applied. This article highlights the importance of training children how to self-regulate their learning as they start their studies. In these first crucial years, students learn and develop attitudes of self-sufficiency that are easier to change than when they have already developed and consolidated learning styles

This article, written in the style of a literary tale, arose as an alternative for sharing the results of the research study titled “The Cultural and Didactic Tradition of Social Sciences in the Sotaquirá Municipality”. This study fomented spaces for reflection on Sotaquirá’s cultural traditions within the classrooms of the Institución Educativa Pablo vi, and consolidated important spaces for learning around the prevailing ancestral knowledge in the region. The objective of this research study was to ethnographically rediscover the cultural traditions of country dwellers in the Sotaquirá municipality, in order to design alternative proposals for social science teaching in the secondary school classroom of the Colegio Pablo VI. This was achieved through substantial and pleasant fieldwork based on participant observation, occasional conversations, fraternal relationships, coexistence, and formal and informal interviews within a framework of pedagogical practice in the above school. These were the basic elements for understanding and describing the essence of certain cultural traditions that mostly still exist in the community of Sotaquirá. Finally, this research study contributed to the students attaching great value to aspects of their regional culture. Likewise, it strengthened intergenerational ties, showing the pressing need for the collective planning and creation of a communal educational project in parallel to the project conducted in the school.

The fundamental aim of this article is to identify other possible transformative actions for rethinking schools in the 21st century. This involves changing the concept of schools from institutions that teach and reproduce what has already been thought, and that regulate and orient students to educate themselves according to what they should do in relation to competencies, work and the company, to places that focus on what individual students want to do in a world that increasingly demands more education to recognize and practice human rights through a “feeling-thinking process”, that is, a process determined by both heart and mind. This reflection is underpinned by the fields of critical pedagogy, popular education, open schooling, human rights education, and the critical stance of the curriculum. The research that gave rise to this article was titled “Teachers on the Move for Human Dignity: A Strategy for Recognizing and Practicing Human Rights for a Citizen School and a Critical Curriculum”, which was conducted in 2012 and 2013 at Universidad de Antioquia, and carried out with students at the Pedro de Castro school in the city of Medellin. Its aim was to build an educational strategy with these students involving the recognition and practice of human rights for a citizen school and a critical curriculum, based on the principle of dialog between students and teachers, and in the spirit of later taking this teaching to the general community

This article presents certain aspects of research in the academic setting. First, it puts forward the impossibility of objectivity being a challenge that researchers must meet; here it is shown as a factor that increases researchers’ commitment. Following this, the roles of those who are involved in academic research are highlighted. The part played by the tutor is examined, and mention is made of some options available to judges when looking at the research work of students presenting their theses. The final part of this article offers some examples of what can occur in the evaluation of final research reports.

This article expresses the Colombian society’s need to achieve coexistence in a caring and democratic way, and the desire to build spaces based on nurturing strategies that promote interaction. These ideas are complemented by the theories, laws and principles of Gestalt, the information processing ideas of Gagné, and the complex thinking of Morin. The aim of this article is to analyze the approaches and positions of Teodoro Pérez in relation to maintaining spaces that are compatible with citizen respect, following a social and human development method. It is concluded that, despite the difficulty of the task, and given its need, man must rediscover and understand himself, live in peace and share his ethos without selfishness