vol. 13 núm. 21 (2017)

Introduction: This paper is part of a research project that aims to construct a predictive model for students’ academic performance, as result of an iterative process of experimentation and evaluation of the pertinence of some data mining techniques. Methodology: This paper was written in 2016 in the Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia, and presents a comparative analysis of the performance and relevance of the J48 and Random Forest algorithms, in order to identify the most influential demographic and icfes score variables, as well as the classification rules, to predict the first year academic performance of the Engineering Faculty students, in Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia. Results: The analysis process was carried out on 7,644 students’ records, and it was developed in two phases. Firstly, the data needed to feed the mining process was extracted and prepared. Secondly, the data mining process itself was implemented through preprocessing data and executing the classification algorithms available in Weka. Some significant variables and rules to predict academic performance are found, according to the studied population characteristics. Conclusions: The academic risk seen as the cause of the desertion phenomenon must be studied as a phenomenon itself. Establishing its causes facilitates the creation of preventive strategies for the accompaniment of students through their process, aimed to mitigate the risk of both phenomena.

Introduction: This paper presents an overview of the lecture presented to unesco-unir tic & Education Latam Congress 2016, conducted by unesco and coordinated by Universidad de la Rioja, (unir) in Spain. The lecture was named “Contributions of the Analysis Model as a systematization of project research redco Knowledge Network: cier Occidente” enlightened about the systematization of the final report of the research work that the Education and Virtuality Research Line of the gitt Group (in Terminology and Translation) of Universidad de Antioquia performed between 2014 and 2015 as one of the five universities that participated in the Project of Colciencias cier Occidente, through its Macro Project: redco Knowledge Network. Methodology: This paper begins with an ample view of redco as knowledge network to characterize the core of the research project in question, where redco was endorsed as a pedago- gical methodological matrix based on the appropriation of ict in two EI (Innovative schools) as a basic scenario where multiple paths, channels, and languages coincide, this by a strong technological component. Results and Conclusions: redco cier Occidente promotes teacher training, considering that the chain value in education is teacher centered, as teachers are who program the learning activities, who need to improve the processes, who use new media and share knowledge and good practices to improve the academic services and refine the outcomes.

One of the main challenges in modern education is to blend formal official learning with a huge variety of content provision, group discussion, self-entrepreneurship, user’s own portfolio, and long lists of possibilities off-the-classroom. Informal learning happens anytime, anywhere. We strongly believe that formal learning does too. The cornerstone is to find the right balance between both contexts. The effective integration of Open Educational Resources with formal lessons, or between traditional lectures and live multi-user conferences, or even more, between spontaneous forum contributions outside the learning management system, and the  official activities towards certification, will make  the difference: the actual change of an educational paradigm. And this could be so for every single shareholder of the educational community, from teachers to tutors, from support staff to managers, from content providers to learning designers and, of course, from students to graduates.

Introduction: Social Seducement is a project intended to ease the re-entry of long-term unemployed people into society by involving them in the development of a social economy enterprise. This goal will be reached by giving them the opportunity to develop necessary skills via a serious game, in which they will learn the primary concepts, skills and attitudes for developing an enterprise successfully. This article was written in the year 2016 in the Universidad Internacional Methodology: This paper focuses on the process necessary to develop a pedagogical model for this game and on explaining the foundations to be observed, i.e., the instructional model, the way the approach is related to the European Qualifications Framework and the specific competencies that a social entrepreneur must develop. Results: As a result of this study, we obtained a didactical basis on which to support the process of game-based learning. Conclusions: Our immediate focus is the development of each phase of the addie (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) model, developing external and internal material, placing content within the proper levels and testing the game in order to perform the piloting.

Introduction: Traffic accidents are an undesirable burden on society. Every year around one million deaths and more than ten million injuries are reported due to traffic accidents. Hence, traffic accidents prevention measures must be taken to overcome the accident rate. Different countries have different geographical and environmental conditions and hence the accident factors diverge in each country. Traffic accident data analysis is very useful in revealing the factors that affect the accidents in different countries. This article was written in the year 2016 in the Institute of Technology & Science, Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad, up, India. Methology: We propose a framework to utilize association rule mining (arm) for the severity classification of traffic accidents data obtained from police records in Mujjafarnagar district, Uttarpradesh, India. Results: The results certainly reveal some hidden factors which can be applied to understand the factors behind road accidentality in this region. Conclusions: The framework enables us to find three clusters from the data set. Each cluster represents a type of accident severity, i.e. fatal, major injury and minor/no injury. The association rules exposed different factors that are associated with road accidents in each category. The information extracted provides important information which can be employed to adapt preventive measures to overcome the accident severity in Muzzafarnagar district.

Introduction: Technology and Neuroscience have formed a strong collaboration to improve education. The effective use of information and communication technologies (ict) in education practice requires that both students and teachers maintain a positive attitude towards these technologies, and develop their use in educational contexts to update teaching methodologies based on educational neuroscience and neuropsychology. Thus, the use of ict requires a positive attitude when using these tools during the teaching-learning process, as a starting point to improve the quality of the process. The article was written in the year 2016 in the faculty of Education of the Universidad Internancional de la Rioja. Methodology: The aim of this study is to analyze the student´s attitudes towards the use of new technologies in primary school classrooms. We designed a questionnaire and gave it to 1,770 students aged 11 and 12 years from 50 ceip (Infant and Primary schools). Results: In general, the results show that whilst students of 11 and 12 years do not show a rejection of the use of ict, a low percentage demonstrate that they would prefer to use them in a group. Conclusions: An adequate use of ict in the classroom would depend on the predisposition of the students, and the knowledge of the technologies and their use by teachers and students. Therefore, it is recommended for ict to be implemented in the classroom in order to improve the teaching-learning process and to incorporate new methodologies from neuroscience research.

Introduction: Across disciplines, the practice of education continues to evolve. Supporting organizations such as the library are responding by reworking existing practices while developing new ones. With roots grounded deeply in constructivist learning theory, the emerging practice of makerspaces in libraries is proving an effective step in that evolution. The article was written in the year 2016 at the University of Nevada, Reno. Methodology: Examples of associated active learning activity at one such library —an early adopter and first mover among academic libraries in adopting and integrating makerspace in libraries— are presented. Results and Conclusions: The product of leveraging technology as catalyst for active learning and engagement within and beyond the physical commons of the library, a blending of formal and informal learning, leading to increased innovation, entrepreneurship and collaboration across disciplinary and organizational boundaries, appears a natural result.

Introduction: The proxy servers offer many advantages in business and academia. One of their main uses is to protect both the network and its users, offering a secure and fast connection to multiple users who require a service such as Internet. However, manual proxy settings require time and expertise by the end user, which leads to the network being less user friendly. The article was written in 2016 in the faculty of Engineering of the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Bogotá, Colombia. Methology: The paper has been elaborated at Colombia using a Cascade Model. Results: The article presents an introduction to proxy auto configuration and proxy servers, as well as a detailed explanation of the configuration methods. Conclusions: The study demonstrates methods and times that can lead to the reduction in standard connection time through manual configuration vs. automatic proxy configuration. This was implemented as a real case study in a company.