Dolors Plana-Erta

The digitalization and globalization of society and the corresponding impact on the rules of the labor market is shifting the education sector toward new pedagogical approaches that integrate wholly online methodologies. Sustainable Development Goal 4 advocates for inclusive and equitable quality education that promotes lifelong learning opportunities, and, as we have seen during the COVID-19 lockdown, online learning can play a key role. In a context where lifelong learning becomes crucial to maintaining graduates’ employability, the innovative teaching methodologies that promote employable competencies in online environments are especially desirable. With the purpose of improving the employability of students, this article analyses the impact of introducing the Authentic Learning Scenarios (ALS) paradigm in an online environment. We develop a quasi-experimental design. Based on the nine ALS criteria and their application to e-learning, we redesign a course in a business degree program. Data from 135 students were collected, with special focus on achieving general competences. We compare the perception of the competency profile attained between a group of students who took the course before incorporating the ALS paradigm and another group that took it once it had been redesigned. Results show that redesigning the course enables students to perceive the learning process as more authentic, as well as acquiring a more advanced competence profile. Besides this, it has been shown that technology can contribute to building cognitive authenticity in virtual classrooms, without the need for face-to-face internships, which are often not a feasible option for students of online programs.

Education for employability is one of the greatest challenge for Higher education institutions in Europe, but especially in Spain. The European Higher Education Area assumes that competence development becomes crucial to connect higher education curricula with evolving labour market demands. The Authentic Learning Scenarios foster the competence development bringing work experience to the formal learning. Considering that online learning methodologies seems to have a relevant role into a life long learning perspective to achieve authentic learning environments is a singular challenge. We have introduced the authentic learnig scenarios attributes into a specific subject and we have tested its impact on students competence profile. Apart from testing if the new subject design is effectively atuthentic, the findings show that when the learning process includes authenticity the students perception about their perfomance in the competence more relevant for the job market improves.

Information about the paper titled "BUILDING AN AUTHENTIC E-LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: THE CASE OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ANALYSIS" at IATED Digital Library

Usefulness of Z scoring models in the early detection of financial problems in bankrupt Spanish companies

Purpose: Functionality of feedback in pedagogical processes has been broadly analyzed in face-to-face learning, although to a lesser extent than in the on-line learning. Narciss (2004, 2008) distinguishes two dimensions within the feedback, the semantic dimension and the structural dimension. This article aims to analyze, from the student’s perspective, the semantic dimension of feedback in a virtual learning environment (VLE). Firstly, we analyze the importance that VLE students give to feedback and its degree of personalization. Later, the usefulness that students deem feedback should have, paying special attention to each of its semantic subdimensions (Narciss, 2004). Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted among students of Business Administration degree of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). 182 students took part, separated into two groups (pilot and control). Findings: It has been proved that 90% of students give a great or very great importance to reception of feedback from their tutors, a relevance they consider to be higher than the one within a face-to-face environment. This percentage is around 75% with regard to the importance given to the level of personalization of feedback. The development of a factor analysis has revealed that usefulness of personalized feedback perceived by the students can be subsumed under two large dimensions: the one that facilitates learning (related to its semantic dimension) and the motivational one (by allowing an easier and more fluid communication with the tutor, contributing not to leave the course, etc.) The latter dimension has been also proved to be key in order to attain improvements in the students’ satisfaction with the learning process. This research was funded by the Catalan government and the UOC, within the framework of projects to Improve Teaching Quality (ITQ). Originality/value: Implementing personalized feedback has a relevant impact on the student, who values it because it makes his learning process easier, richer and more significant. Moreover, it has a clear motivational effect over the student, which had not been sufficiently evidenced by other researches. Such effect needs not to be underestimated, particularly within an on-line environment, where dropout rate is usually high.

Existe un amplio consenso en que uno de los elementos clave para garantizar un buen proceso de aprendizaje en un contexto universitario no presencial es la existencia de procesos que pauten y dirijan el aprendizaje, y que permitan a los estudiantes evaluar periódicamente su grado de logro de los conocimientos. Una estrategia habitual para facilitar esta pauta es el uso del feeback entre el estudiante y el profesor. Pero en entornos con grupos de estudiantes de gran dimensión, la realización de este feedback puede convertirse en un trabajo demasiado laborioso y no sostenible. En este artículo presentamos los resultados de tres proyectos piloto centrados en el contexto del grado de Administración y Dirección de empresas (ADE) de la UOC, donde hemos explorado varias herramientas TIC (audio, vídeo y capturas de pantalla) y distintas estrategias para realizar el feedback con el objetivo de hacerlo sostenible en grupos grandes y mejorar la eficacia y eficiencia del proceso de regulación de los aprendizajes.

This paper investigates the constraints for companies to innovate in order to be competitive in the knowledge society. Using a large and original data set of Catalan firms, the authors have conducted a micro econometric analysis following Henry et al.’s (1999) investment model and von Kalckreuth (2004) methodology empirically contrasting the relationship between firms’ investment spread over time and their financial structure. Results show that it exits a positive and significant relationship between firms’ investment shift and financial structure, emerging financial constraints for more innovative firms. Furthermore, these constraints are higher for micro companies and firms within the knowledge-advanced services’ industry. Finally, the authors find that advanced ICT uses by more innovative firms allow them to reduce constraints of access to sources of finance.