Desarrollos docentes

Desarrollos docentesen los ambientes de formacin universitariosDepartamento de Docencia Universitaria - Escuela de Formacin Docente - Universidad de Costa Rica

Desarrollos docentes en los ambientes de formacin universitarios.Tatiana Aguiar, Danny Barrantes, Susan Fran-cis, Luis ngel Piedra, Luisa Villanueva.San Jos, Costa Rica. Departamento de Docen-cia Universitaria - Escuela de Formacin Do-cente - Universidad de Costa Rica 2011

Primera edicin: 2011

Diseo y diagramacin: Danny Barrantes

Prohibida la reproduccin total o parcial. Todos los derechos reservados.

CAPITULO 1Estado del Arte de Tcnicas Innovadorasde la Enseanza en la Educacin SuperiorTatiana Aguiar Montealegre

CAPITULO 2Rethinking teaching in Higher Education: Analyzing interaction in blended learning environmentsDanny Barrantes Acua

CAPITULO 3Los procesos de asesora pedaggica y las consideraciones culturales de las unidades acadmicasSusan Francis Salazar

CAPITULO 4La asesora pedaggica como instrumento de acompaamiento formativo: Experiencia de la Escuela de Agronoma de la Universidad de Costa RicaLuis ngel Piedra Garca

CAPITULO 5Programa de educacin continua para el fortalecimiento de la docencia universitaria en la Sede Occidente (PROECDU)Luisa Villanueva Salazar

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Desarrollos docentes en los ambientes de formacin universitarios - Departamento de Docencia Universitaria - Universidad de Costa Rica

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Introduccin

Nuevamente el Departamento de Docencia Universitaria (DEDUN) presenta a la comunidad acadmica un conjunto de trabajos en relacin con las prcticas docentes en la universidad. Su alcance, una vez ms, se enfoca en la posibilidad de suministrar sistematizaciones que faciliten la construccin de marcos de desarrollo terico conceptual, metodolgico y prctico-social para el fundamento de la Pedagoga Universitaria.

Como segunda entrega esta publicacin se fundamenta en la posibilidad de sistematizar las experiencias que aportan elementos sus-tantivos de la formacin docente para el nivel universitario desde las diferentes experiencias que se desarrollan en el marco institucional, nacional y regional en la formacin docente universitaria. Por ello contempla cuatro tipos de experiencias de fundamentacin pedaggica:

a. La investigacin como recurso para la identificacin de estrategias didcticas per-tinentes al espacio de la educacin superior. El inters fundamental y presentar a la comunidad acadmica la oportunidad que brinda el desarrollo investigativo en el mejoramiento de la docencia. La formalizacin de un estado del arte surge como una estrategia de sistematizacin de diversas experiencias docentes fundamentadas a partir de diseos investigativos formales.

b. La sistematizacin de experiencias de formacin docente universitaria. Considera la oportunidad de distinguir dos espacios: el de Sede Central y el de Sede Regional, en este sentido se intenta mostrar los trayectos que configuran diferentes contextos para plantearse un proceso de desarrollo

acadmico. Tiene particularmente dos oportunidades, la primera es mirar el desarrollo de la didctica especfica como una construccin acadmica propia de quienes participan en la docencia en carreras universitarias, y por otro lado, la riqueza de la interdisciplinariedad que surge en las unidades acadmicas que corresponden con Sedes Regionales como opcin para formarse colaborativamente entre distintas reas del saber. Ambas experiencias proponen la atencin al contexto como un eje sustantivo de la asesora pedaggica, a la vez que establecen la articulacin de lo pedaggico y lo disciplinar como el espacio de surgimiento de didcticas particulares.

c. La discusin conceptual de los modelos de formacin y apoyo pedaggico a los docentes universitarios. En esta ocasin se presenta la formalizacin conceptual de dos ideas fundantes del trabajo del Departamento de Docencia Universitaria: la consideracin de la cultura acadmica como punto de partida en la oferta de desarrollo acadmico y el balance entre la reflexin y la emergencia docente. Ambas ideas han permitido desarrollar actividades con mayor pertinencia para el profesorado encontrando mayor posibilidad de articular las realidades cotidianas con las premisas pedaggicas orientadoras. De nuevo el espacio de las experiencias de formacin sirve como escenario para establecer lneas de estudio.

d. Finalmente la teorizacin y fundamentacin pedaggica de los medios digitales en el mbito universitario se retoma esta vez con el aporte del desarrollo investigativo que procura el DEDUN desde dos acciones


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concretas: el proyecto de produccin de materiales y textos para la educacin superior y el proyecto de investigacin No 724-BI-060 Perspectivas y relacin de los medios digitales y la docencia universitaria en la Universidad de Costa Rica ambos espacios vienen dando importantes aportes en lo que se convertir en la base para reflexionar y teorizar no slo el papel de las tecnologas y medios digitales sino tambin nuestro papel como acadmicos. La superacin de la connotacin de usuarios frente a la nocin de constructores y productores de diseos educativos formales adquiere un sentido ms dinmico y de mayor profundizacin pedaggica.

Esta entrega tambin tiene como marco de produccin el Proyecto ED 111 Pedagoga Universitaria el cual intenta promover espacios de intercambio acadmico que contribuyan con la reflexin crtica de la pedagoga universitaria y la generacin de recursos conceptuales y metodolgicos en ese mbito. Distingue ante todo la oportunidad de contar con elementos que contribuyen con el mejoramiento de la accin docente, a la generacin de dilogos y discusiones acerca de tpicos fundamentales entre acadmicos y por supuesto, a establecer rutas para la divulgacin y discusin crtica de los aportes y debates en la formacin pedaggica del profesorado universitario.

Esperamos la presente publicacin represente una alternativa ms para compartir los distintos desarrollos que el DEDUN genera en el mbito de la Formacin Docente Universitaria, conscientes de que son insumos para la discusin y reflexin en el contexto de la Educacin Superior nacional e internacional.

Dra. Susan Francis SalazarDirectora Departamento de Docencia Universitaria


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El espacio en el cual se desarrolla el proceso de formacin ha sido fuente de muchos estudios; pero la profundizacin en las temticas no ha hecho ms que dar a conocer nuevas interrogantes. Tal como lo expresan Mosely y Dustin, ensear es un arte tanto como una ciencia (2008, p.140), por lo que debe ser abordado con rigor cientfico.

Vygotsky sugiere que las condiciones psicolgicas necesarias para el aprendizaje no se desarrollan previamente a la instruccin, pero s en una continua interaccin con las contribuciones de la instruccin (1986 cit. en Condon, 208, p.92). Es por ello que la importante conexin entre estudiante y docente es la clave para el aprendizaje efectivo (Pollio & Humphreys, 1996 cit. en Garner, 2006, p.178); aunque se debe tener cuidado en cuanto a la extensin del vnculo, pues las fronteras poco claras pueden llegar a confrontar a muchos/as profesores/as con relaciones amistosas que desfavorecen los aprendizajes (Schwartz, 2010).

La Teora del Caos sugiere que el proceso de enseanza aprendizaje es inherentemente fluido, con resultados impredecibles a lo largo de su recorrido (Moseley & Dustin, 2008, p.140-141). Por lo tanto, el modificar ciertos aspectos de la didctica utilizada en cursos universitarios puede llegar a tener resultados radicalmente distintos a los que se tendran sin esos cambios; en particular, porque los y las estudiantes traen consigo una combinacin nica de aspectos fisiolgicos y psicolgicos que se encuentran con las caractersticas propias de cada docente y crean un resultado espacio-temporal nico.

Pequeas cosas que los profesores hacen, dicen o modelan pueden llegar teniendo grandes efectos, pero esos efectos son usualmente imprevistos (Moseley & Dustin, 2008, p.141).

Recientes argumentos critican la objetividad que tiene el estudiantado al valorar el trabajo de profesores y profesoras, pues se ha visto que la opinin discente de la calidad de las actividades educativas no predice la efectividad pedaggica. Sin embargo, Condon (2008) sugiere que los/as docentes deben sacarle provecho a estas evaluaciones; siempre y cuando los argumentos estn fundamentados en conocimiento legtimo. En otras palabras, cada persona debe respectar el derecho de otra de mantener una opinin propia y dar a conocer su posicin personal.

La nueva tendencia por explorar las tcnicas de enseanza, y cada vez menos la opinin de los y las estudiantes, inici aproximadamente hace 10 aos; ahora se busca la evidencia emprica no de lo que opinan los/as alumnos/as de la tcnica sino cmo influye en su proceso de aprendizaje. Pese a esto, nicamente el 28% de los artculos encontrados en el presente Estado del Arte muestra pruebas empricas cuantitativas de las tcnicas expuestas. Esto da a conocer que muchos autores y autoras continan enviando artculos a revistas cientficas, en los cuales se habla de la idoneidad de tcnicas nicamente considerando opiniones estudiantiles o la propia percepcin.

Por otra parte, la ltima dcada tambin ha comenzado a considerar el uso del humor (una

Estado del Arte de Tcnicas Innovadoras de Enseanza en la Educacin SuperiorTatiana Aguiar Montealegre


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tcnica que dista de ser innovadora) en las clases con el fin de transformarla en una tcnica con nuevas implicaciones. Para ello, Garner (2006) se ha interesado en las ideas preconcebidas que tienen las y los profesores universitarios cuando piensan en el humor como recurso pedaggico.

Algunos/as participantes expresaron que cuando un docente utiliza el humor, suele ser mejor calificado por sus estudiantes y colegas; mientras que otros individuos considera que el humor, adems, mejora el aprendizaje. Se ha comprobado que el uso pedaggico del humor tiene tanto efectos psicolgicos como fisiolgicos en los aprendientes (Garner, 2006, p.177). Esto puede deberse a que el humor crea un ambiente que favorece una disposicin emocional adecuada a la hora de poner atencin y disminuye las defensas que ciertos/as estudiantes traen consigo cuando cursan una asignatura que no es de su agrado.

La importancia de las preguntas que la o el docente hace a sus pupilos/as tiene un rol central en el proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje, pues forma parte de la re-construccin que se hace del conocimiento que se quiere profundizar. Por ejemplo, Gose (2009) ha considerado esencial el explorar la pedagoga utilizada por Scrates para lograr mantener el inters de los y las estudiantes durante una discusin. Scrates tena varias tcnicas, se considera que las ms importantes son las siguientes: preguntas de sondeo, expandir la discusin hacia otros temas vinculados, jugar de abogado del diablo, tomar ventaja de las posiciones y los roles asumidos por otros dentro de la discusin.

Muchos profesores y profesoras consideran que el dilogo socrtico es simplemente hacer preguntas inquisidores (aunque no por ello poco interesantes) y promover la discusin grupal. Sin embargo, siempre existen altos

grados de abstinencia en la participacin; por lo cual participan unos pocos/as pero con mucha frecuencia. Una opcin alternativa que no ha resultado provechosa es asegurarse que todos los/as estudiantes participen, aunque asumiendo un rol inquisidor en el cual el profesor tiene, innecesariamente, dominio del flujo de la discusin (p.45). Estos resultados han dado paso a cuestionamientos con respecto a las nuevas aplicaciones que pueden resultar de una verdadera adaptacin de los planteamientos de Scrates al contexto universitario.

Por otra parte, muchas de las innovaciones en didctica universitaria se han vinculado con las Tecnologas de la Informacin y la Comunicacin (TICs) desde los aos 90. No obstante, estas innovaciones han promovido diversas polmicas en las cuales se intenta determinar el aporte real al proceso de formacin.

En particular, algunos/as autores/as se han interesado en las redes sociales y su vinculacin con la didctica. Schwartz (2010) busca cuestionar si Facebook puede lograr un aprendizaje, ms all de una posible conexin con el o la docente a cargo de un curso. Dentro de los argumentos principales se encuentran el que Facebook puede hacer que un/a profesor/a conozca la situacin especfica que est viviendo su alumno o alumna, y as comprenda cuando se presentan problemas de rendimiento. Sin embargo, Facebook tambin puede hacer que una persona se interne innecesariamente en la vida privada de otra (sea esta persona un/a estudiante o docente) y que el objetivo central que se buscaba en el proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje se transforme en un mensaje opacado por informacin no vinculada al tema de estudio.

De forma adicional, el enviar mensajes no privados a determinados/as alumnos/as puede hacer que comentarios bienintencionados


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sean considerados agresivos y expongan innecesariamente a las personas a burlas o situaciones incmodas con sus compaeros/as de clase. Futuros estudios revelarn si las intervenciones mediante las redes sociales pueden realmente favorecer el intercambio amigable entre estudiantes y docentes.

La exploracin de las TICs en el contexto universitario tambin se ha realizado desde el punto de vista de estudiantes (Palomares et al., 2007). Para ello, se realizaron anlisis estadsticos del uso de pginas web y correo electrnico para facilitar herramientas educativas y se demostr que ms del mitad de los/as participantes (64% de un total de 295 que respondieron a la encuesta final) considera que el uso de tecnologa en el aula mejora la relacin entre estudiante y docente y, a su vez, incrementa la motivacin y la participacin activa en clase.

La aplicacin de la tecnologa en la enseanza superior ha encontrado su principal foco en asignaturas ligadas a temticas evaluadas tericamente; sin embargo, en Polonia se ha comenzado a utilizar un programa en la carrera de Educacin Fsica que permite identificar aspectos especficos de movimientos complejos en un curso de Gimnasia Artstica (Ninikowski, Sadowski, Boloban, Winiowski, Mastalerz & Ninikowska, 2007). De esta forma, sistemas de anlisis cinematogrficos favorecieron el aprendizaje para el anlisis biomecnico de la estructura de un movimiento; motivando a docentes y estudiantes a desarrollar nuevos programas para la enseanza de disciplinas deportivas.

Otros/as autores/as interesados en incluir la tecnologa en el aula se han cuestionado la efectividad en el uso de foros para el aprendizaje de tpicos especficos. Algunos resultados han

sido contradictorios; sin embargo, los foros de discusin en lnea han resultado positivos a niveles estadsticamente significativos cuando la asignatura en curso tiene una modalidad no presencial (Shana, 2009).

Estos breves planteamientos no slo brindan parte del panorama al cual se enfrentan las y los profesores universitarios, sino que promueven una reflexin con respecto a los avances futuros que pueden llegar a lograrse con el surgimiento de una mayor diversidad de tcnicas didcticas que apoyen el proceso de formacin en la educacin superior.

Metodologa

Para el presente Estado del Arte se revisaron 100 artculos cientficos de los ltimos diez aos con el fin de determinar las innovaciones pedaggicas que se estn llevando a cabo alrededor del mundo en materia de tcnicas didcticas. Para ello, se recurrieron a bases de datos en texto completo (tales como EBSCO y PROQUEST), as como a buscadores acadmicos (Google Scholar). El proyecto busc abarcar la mayor diversidad posible de ubicaciones geogrficas (de todos los continentes) e idiomas (espaol, ingls y francs).

Como parte de una estrategia de organizacin y anlisis de la informacin, los artculos fueron categorizados de acuerdo a las seis reas de carreras de grado en la Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR): Artes y Letras, Ciencias Bsicas, Ciencias Sociales, Ciencias Agroalimentarias, Ingeniera y Salud (ver Diagrama 1, en donde se mencionan algunas de las carreras de las reas, con el fin de ubicar al lector/a). Asimismo, se profundiz en aquellas tcnicas que resaltaron como particularmente atractivas e innovadoras para el contexto universitario; stas sern descritas a lo largo del trabajo.


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Imagen 01. reas de la Universidad de Costa Rica y algunas de sus carreras. Fuente: Elaboracin propia

Imagen 02. Tcnicas Innovadoras por reas de la Universidad de Costa Rica. Fuente: Elaboracin propia


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asociadas a didctica universitaria en la ltima dcada; esta rea tiene un total de diez tcnicas estudiadas dentro del marco de la presente investigacin. Asimismo, Ingeniera, Salud y Ciencias Agroalimentarias se han visto como las reas con menos desarrollos en esta lnea (ver Imagen 02).

El trabajo investigativo finaliz con un taller vivencial de tres de las tcnicas didcticas con el fin de recopilar reflexiones de docentes de educacin superior.

Surge como relevante el que Ciencias Sociales sea el rea donde ms se han trabajado temticas

Imagen 03. Descripcin de los Artculos Encontrados. Fuente: Elaboracin propia

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ResultadosAnteriormente, la Imagen 03 muestra el resumen de las principales caractersticas de los artculos encontrados, ordenados de acuerdo al primer apellido de su autor (ver Referencias).

El Estado del Arte permiti determinar que existen diversos estudios en los que se ha

destacado una preocupacin por establecer tcnicas didcticas como eje generador de investigacin. stos son principalmente norteamericanos (67%), en ingls (89%), tericos (60%) y vinculados a tcnicas que implican el uso de la tecnologa (20%).

El taller para la vivencia de las tcnicas fue realizado el da jueves 24 de junio del 2010, con

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Imagen 03. Descripcin de los Artculos Encontrados. Fuente: Elaboracin propia


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la participacin de 9 docentes que laboran en el Departamento de Docencia Universitaria de la Universidad de Costa Rica. El taller tuvo una evaluacin positiva, mediante un instrumento con tems en una escala Likert. Todos y todas (100%) estuvieron De Acuerdo o Totalmente de Acuerdo en que la informacin del taller es aplicable a los trabajos que realizan en el Departamento, que los debates resultaron interesantes y que volveran a participar en un taller similar.

El Estado del Arte, junto con el taller, dio paso a la reflexin en temas de didctica en la educacin superior. En primera instancia, el trmino innovador debe trabajarse cuidadosamente, pues puede dar paso a la descripcin de tcnicas conocidas y utilizadas (aunque pocas veces sistematizadas formalmente en un artculo de investigacin cientfica), o a estrategias que no han sido probadas. La escasez de estudios empricos, tanto cualitativos como cuantitativos, puede repercutir en una excesiva inclinacin al pragmatismo, sin un fundamento terico o epistemolgico que sustente las actividades que pueden realizarse en clase para favorecer procesos de formacin.

Asimismo, surgi como relevante el papel que juegan las emociones conscientes e inconscientes en los procesos formativos en la Universidad de Costa Rica, los cuales pueden llegar a promover o a desestimular la motivacin en temticas especficas.

Finalmente, el profesorado debe tener cuidado a la hora de implementar una tcnica didctica; pues el uso/abuso de sta puede desvirtuarla. Ante todo, es importante recordar que la diversidad didctica no necesariamente implica un mejor aprendizaje, pero s exige el replanteamiento de los roles que tradicionalmente se han asignado a docentes y discentes en el contexto nacional.

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Sobre la autora

Tatiana Aguiar Montealegre

Tatiana Aguiar Montealegre es docente del Departamento de Docencia Universitaria de la Escuela de Formacin Docente de la Universidad de Costa Rica

Docente, a cargo de cursos de Taller de asesora pedaggica y de Didctica Universitaria.

Ella tiene un Bachillerato de Honor en Psicologa y una Licenciatura de Honor en Psicologa, ambas de la Universidad de Costa Rica. Actualmente cursa un doctorado en Psicologa Clnica en Mxico.


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interfaces nowadays on their constant quest for optimization and human language simulation.

Computing machines became massive trading objects; consequently they had to emerge beyond incomprehensible codes meant for programmers and technicians. It needed to be promoted as an informational management tool that allows private citizens around the world, administrate information in electronic formats. Not long ago, concepts such as user-centered design (Norman, 1988) were conceived to study and develop computer languages and applications that could emulate human natural semiotics to help diminish the gap between humans, computers and their interactions. This helped digital devices become fashionable among social sectors worldwide; strengthened with additional elements such as the World Wide Web- that nest and flourished into crucial variables that today impact both technological and social realms.

There are however, side effects that remain either possibilities or challenges when it comes to education and social promotion. This can be perfectly framed when we look into the word user. According to RAE2 , a user is one that uses something, someone who has the rights to use something that doesnt belong to him and has certain limitations. Going back into its Latin root, the word usuarus is an adjective that describes something that may be used by one other than the owner but not for profit; (object/slave). A user, unlike an editor, an administrator, a RID, a super administrator or a developer 2 Real Academia Espaola,Vigsima segunda edicin, Re-

cover on 29-11-2011 from http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=usuario

1Among all different active discussions, the advent of a digital revolution (Raschke, 2003) challenges society and consequently, formative practices. The vehement clamor emphasizes on reconsidering digital literacies and pedagogical principles regarding new conceptions of time and space.

Narrative structures are one of those elements necessary to understand after our current context. Landow (2004) lights up this current debate when he alludes teachers, educational technologists, Web masters, and software developers- base our ideas about the nature of reading, the purpose of documents, and their relation to individuals and communities on the mistaken assumption that electronic documents are essentially the same as books. They are not.

Many could argue that a screen, the greatest graphical terminal, represents nothing more than a shared arena to mediate our everyday interaction with machines and their sets of programmed applications; that is until a new update, a new machine or a new technology arises. This affirmation is especially intriguing for most of us who remember different interfaces that ceased to exist five, eight, fifteen years ago, leaving behind just a vague nostalgic old school memory. However, when we think back on these previous electronic environments, i.e. ALGOL 60, LaTeX, DOS, and WordPerfect among many others, we can find that they had a particular level of abstractness, different from 1 Artculo publicado en la monografa Science, Technology,

Higher Education and Society in the Conceptual Age, Ja-giellonian University Press, junto a la ponencia persentada en la conferencia internacional Science, Technology, Higher Education, and Society in the Conceptual Age en la Univer-sidad Jageloniana, Cracovia, 2011.

Rethinking teaching in Higher Education: Analyzing interaction in blended learning environmentsDanny Barrantes Acua


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remains passive and diminished, being able to participate and offer feedback where allowed by someone who is creator or administrator, an old subject of historical remembrance that comes inherit with human relations: power struggle and control. Is this so with our students or any learner? Are they still, users? This can have remarkable results that are important to reconsider when trying to build educational and pedagogical scenarios based on digital mediums. One of contemporary educations roles is to reframe these kind of traditional conceptions for contextual and pertinent understanding within formative processes. As Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Weigel, M., Clinton, K., Robison, A., (2009) point out, we must push further by talking about how meanings emerges collectively and collaboratively in the new media environment and how creativity operates differently in an open-source culture based on sampling, appropriation, transformation, and repurposing. Such actions cant be executed by passive users, but a collective of decision takers, critical thinkers, researchers and craftsmen that can elaborate integral answers. This is nothing new, and history has shown us valuable examples of reconfigurations that weave hard and soft dimensions of knowledge. Ehn (1998) reminds us the case of the Enlightenment project, and how it has reached its original purpose developing hard sciences to its expectations; proof of that the digital revolution, the exponentially growing information and communication technology. In contrast, however, the more soft expectations of the Enlightenment project concerning values, art, aesthetic ideals, ethics and politics have in no way been met during the last centuries.

An endless amount of electronic applications, devices, and technologies have been developed, (with many more to come), that feed the publics hunger for more. However, contemporary

universities should plead for critical positions, promoting balanced conjunctures based on theoretical principles and clear practical procedures. Our role is to avoid any form of techno-centrism but instead, face a new challenge that cares for validity of content creation in the middle of an informational sea that moves slowly, thick and senseless. Just like Harper (2010) reminds us, this is the age when technologically mediated communication has reached its greatest volume and it might be encouraging commentators to forget the thing that is communicated (intentions) and the creature that creates and expresses these intentions [the human] and to focus instead on the sociological and organizational marvels that the technology enables. What was intended with the following educational settings deepens into this understanding of integral elements, thus rescue important flexible variables such as emotional processes, critical thinking and hypertext theories.

Blended educational spaces hosts playful scripts and confront every element comprehended within information ecologies (see Nardi, ODay, 1999). It has to do with a reconsideration of the medium, but as well it must include communication codes, our understanding of time and space, networks and collaborative cognitive construction.

Pedagogical dimensions and institutional considerations for blended learning environments

Any formative process comprehends a complex collection of elements that work in an interrelated manner with each other. Traditional paradigms -as a first approach-, have normally stressed the elements to a basic relation between one professor and his pupil. Next to it, content and its relevance become the trading material,


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carried through a power struggle interaction. As Raschke (2003) expresses, the learning spaces that have dominated in each of the historical archetypes so far have reflected a conventional learning culture centered on control of the classroom by the instructor, this as a common behavior among different types of information transactions. However, the advent of the digital revolution permits a new generation of possibilities that open across this typical and intimate student-teacher relationship and make way to networked learning communities. This emphasis can be better explained through the words of Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Weigel, M., Clinton, K., Robison, A., (2009) who state that schools currently are still training autonomous problem solvers, while as students enter the workplace they are increasingly being asked to work in teams, drawing different sets of expertise, and collaborating to solve problems.

Landow (2004) explains that the blend of deconstruction and hypertext theory, or hypertext illuminated by a deconstructive approach, provides a wonderfully appropriate way of designing curricula, which enacts a completely different understanding of pedagogy on its familiar didactical sense. Cognitive processes and knowledge construction reach a new level that surpasses traditional paradigms where skill at copying quickly, accurately, and legibly counted far more than did the students ability to abstract and synthesize.

What is thrilling about such strategies is the possibility to connect and develop study objects that merge and link to different cultural and social hyperlink nodes. Content behaves therefore in an endless work in process state that is constantly undergoing revision, to the degree that texts are disseminated and distributed, and that content is deconstructed through infinite revisability, this way the university itself becomes de-localized. (Raschke, 2003)

As a necessary starting point, we understand a didactical strategy as a set of actions that are designed and put in place in an orderly structure to achieve a particular purpose in learning spaces. This configuration takes into account 7 different elements:

1- Educative goal: comprehends the previous analysis to declare the pedagogical terms and content direction; a sum of a teachers elements on which content is relevant at that particular moment, what are the student needs and expectations and the resources available.

2- Context: to understand the formative atmosphere where the strategy is contained, (what University, what discipline etc.), a particular historical moment, implementation possibilities and interactional formats.

3- Students role: comprehended by all pedagogical features that defines its role learning styles, active participation and communicative lines to optimize processes of knowledge construction.-

4- Teachers role: involves the action of acknowledging pedagogical tendencies and styles in order to develop for communication and emphatical skill levels. When this element is highlighted, one has to analyze the new actions and responsibilities expected that are normally declared as institutional profiles. Contemporary regulations demand teachers to be active learners and be capable of designing formative scenarios pertinent to their context.

5- Content nature: due to a disciplinary object.

It is necessary actions such to delimitate an informational body that will be mediated

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and constructed. Narrative traces and interrelated routes among different contents are included into this element.

6- Learning scenarios: understood as the didactical proceedings after pedagogical principles. These scenarios are conformed by techniques and resources.

7- Evaluation, monitoring and feedback activities: all activities held during formative processes that demonstrate the achievements of the different goals projected during the educative goal stage. Activities and actions can take part throughout the whole process, and they are not necessarily meant for quantitative-conditional assessment.

It is clear that for all teaching experiences, there have to be a previous consideration of all elements thus pertinent design and practical implementations. There is however, a common ground to any formative space design that has to do with philosophical dimensions, pedagogical tendencies and developed skills. The teaching experiences to be portrayed in the next pages were based after a critical-constructivist tendency that according to Hernndez, Montenegro, Francis, Gonzaga (2009), are conceived after dialectic and constructivists epistemological bases, and they aim for development of critical and reflexive thinking to encourage the student into a process of deliberation follow up by purposeful actions. There is also a deep interest to foster mental structure development through social interactions and through the study of object relations. The student should at the end, be able to understand social reality challenges in front of them and configure integral answers.

For the purpose of this paper, Blended Learning Environments (BLE) have been selected to be

analyzed. However, deciding using BLE strategies calls for previous phases and considerations, therefore, this section highlights the importance of previous pedagogical elements, conditions and principles that must be fulfilled for a later implementation of these kinds of scenario formats. There has to be, as well a profound study of all different elements to implement digital spaces close to institutional regulations, course goals; content nature, students learning styles and professors didactical skills. Based on previous experiences, pedagogical principles must be configured for any teaching strategy foundation: (Marn, Barrantes, 2010)

1. Digital learning spaces must always prioritize the educative scope beyond the strategy to be developed and its technical implementations.

2. The effectiveness and relevance of media used in educational processes depends on the integration and mediation to be carried out within the formative space.

3. Technological applications should always reflect the pedagogical approach for any educational process. This will allow an active construction of knowledge out of the learning stage.

4. All formative environments comprehend a communicative nature; therefore, digital media should promote a process of teaching and learning based on active, fluid communication between the different participants.

5. When designing learning strategies one must take into account the multiplicity of existing digital mediums, their theoretical and practical implications, and all pertinent content displaying formats.


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6. The implementation of digital applications should be selected after taking into consideration the students previous experiences, content to be developed, suggested activities and information structure.

7. All information portrayed must generate expectations and interest among students, thus helping every learner achieve new findings, developments and integral answers during their learning process.

In addition to the pedagogical foundations, any BLE should have a formal institutional body supporting its actions. Eventually a project that began after individual attempts can escalate to be part of local online communities that move around in collaborative ways. The University of Costa Rica for instance, formally settles institutional interest towards teaching, research and social practices based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). As part of their Organic Statute, a profile of generic competencies for teachers of UCR3 defines a criteria list to describe expected skills when it comes to teaching: to be able to make use of ICT, develop abilities to use equipment, instruments and high-tech tools and the quest for flexibility and be adaptable to changes, new perspectives and innovations in knowledge.

When we take a glance at the national and regional picture, there are different in-house instances, international organizations (CSUCA, DAAD , HRK , GUCAL , OEI , among others), and national programs during the last decade, centering their actions for ICT and Technologies development throughout the Central American 3 Acta de la Sesin N. 493. CONSEJO UNIVERSITARIO.

Perfil de competencias genricas para el profesorado de la Universidad de Costa Rica. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from http://www.cea.ucr.ac.cr/cuestionarios/Perfil_docente_univ.pdf

region. Naturally, each country will have strategic agendas to promote joint actions. Education, economy, social development, ministries, and other sectors must work side by side in order to make a successful impact that until now, as far as technologies and digital uses are concerned, are trying to bridge the digital gap and improve the possibilities of citizens in terms of connectivity. According to the Planning Office for Higher Education (OPES ), -the Costa Rican entity that coordinates technical and advisory processes for all public Universities-, there is a current program that is taking care of national access, uses and appropriation of ICTs. Three main goals are described below (Chacn, S. 2009):

- Strengthen technological innovation for the development of the academy.

- Ensure implementation, access and improve all national and regional networks in priority areas of national development, in conjunction with other institutions.

- Strengthen the uses and adaptation of new ICTs at university activities.

As above shown, most of the goals emphasize a technical-instrumental dimension. However, no further events strive for development of pedagogical thinking and digital literacies, or electracies, as Morrison (2001) suggests. The challenge remains in finding an integral bridge between theory and practical implementations.

Traveling without moving: International Peer Reviewing

Still as an art student, one of our ultimate satisfactions after finishing any work is being able to find important outlets that reach as many people as possible. It represents public spaces where our social actionconcerning any


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formal artistic extensionsmainly happens: a shared arena that allows us face-to-face public opinion with our given statements on society, philosophy, aesthetics or inner memories out of our thought process. Like any other interactional process, feedback would eventually be received after public reaction, suggestions and critics. However, the art and design guild in Costa Rica behave somewhat in a closed fashion. Most of the time feedback comes from known faces, family, and friends and if lucky, someone who makes decisions and will invite you to their next gallery show.

Digital Media 14 is a regular course offered at Visual Arts School, Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Costa Rica. It is intended for Graphic Design students to take during the first semester of their undergraduate sophomore year. Most of them very young, -18 to 20 years- are up for new experiences, alternative learning spaces that let them propose and innovate while discovering, they behave in a enthusiastic way always in a quest to define personal and professional action lines. 4 Taugh during I Semester, Course Professor: M.Sc. Danny

Barrantes.

While the title of the course can be understood in its broad sense, its contents and goals are true to traditional design software development practical workshops. Its main goal is to get to know the theoretical and practical bases of the electronic edition of images composed by pixels and vectors which provide a very basic and instrumental objective. The rest of the programatic elements, -description of the course, secondary goals and suggested activities- eventually completed a clear picture where teachers normally, in the past, have instructed students how to use Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop optimized for graphic design typical tasks.

After our first meeting, a short learning style questionnaire, followed by discussion revealed that students had further questions and expectations for all contents and thematic areas to be developed within this course, especially because 10 of them already had basic Adobe knowledge. There were 3 main challenges to be solved: (1) collaborative work in terms of connectivity at the physical laboratory (there was no Internet available, and it is strongly

Imagen 04. Digital Media 1, Course Overview


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recommended to have access every time you initiate new software explorations), (2) amount of computers available for students use (1 computer: 2 students proportion) and finally, (3) lack of contextual-thematic areas to promote critical thinking and allow significant learning throughout. Students at this point had no strong backgrounds as far as establishing project development structures, or administrative and contextual criteria for practical use on software were concerned.

After reviewing formal conditions, there was a common agreement to create a complementary online environment to allow extra-interaction after class5 such as debates and information sharing. (Imagen 05). A special request from the students was to try something different other than the official UCRs Learning Management 5 http://dannybarrantes.com/curso/

System Platform6 , because they thought of it as a plain, unfriendly, boring and inflexible environment. Another feature they didnt like was that a new username and password ID was necessary in order to see all of the course content, while the customized environment created afterwards didnt require a password at all.

As shown, Digital Media Online Classroom is designed to hold parallel activities that accompany each weeks physical sessions. Alternative open source software tutorials, project galleries, productive work environments with relevant links and images, hardware discussion, PDF work guides, case studies and budget related issues were typical content featured. Anyone participating in this space was free to do so since there was no official pronouncement according to the courses evaluation. All students were invited to be part 6 http://mediacionvirtual.ucr.ac.cr/ - Moodle LMS

Imagen 05. Wordpress interaction layout


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of discussions and practices offered and their role over weeks was varied: sometimes they would come, ask and behave in rather active ways while other times they felt comfortable just working individually and keeping their website visits strictly an informational source.

Concerning interaction levels, participants were able to write comments and comment on their classmates graphical processes after posting their final projects each week7 (Imagen 06). One of the Online Classroom sections was dedicated to formative evaluation purposes, where quick questions were asked concerning future content to be shown online, suggestions and new learning achieved for each of the students case. For a more discreet environment, all of the evaluations didnt require any password; this way students were able to give their opinion anonymously, thus raising their motivation to communicate. Erickson (1997) claims that the Internet offers, like reality, the possibility to create social networks with the difference that it allows the person to stay anonymous, a possibility that surely has consequences for the individual. On the Internet contrary to real life a person is no longer part of a small group but a global network, thus representing 7 https://picasaweb.google.com/diseno.grafico.ucr/

a portrait means representing an unknown audience, therefore allowing any possible coded message without personal repercussions over the physical individual.

As part of the evaluative strategies, Digital Media Online Classroom was constantly monitored by Google Analytics8, a service that allows web analysis in terms of traffic data for particular web spaces (Imagen 07). It showed a rather positive reaction stating that website visitors spend at least 03:51 minutes each time they entered the online space. There was also a tendency to have regular visits from people during specific days throughout the week, proof of acceptance and steady interest for actions taking place there. In addition, evaluation Poll showed that 55% of the digital students found the Online Classroom a useful complement to the regular course, and 45% agreed on it as quite good.

Retaking some of the ideas explained at the beginning, important venues where to show art works are always welcome for feedback and discussion. Good peer reviews and experienced interlocutors become essential for maturing ideas and aesthetics lines. One of the 8 http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/analytics/

Imagen 06. Picasa Gallery, Digital Media 1 Course


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challenges with this course was directly related to space and connectivity issues, therefore the presence of the Digital Media Online Classroom became a new-networked venue that enacted death of geography, explained by Berker (2006) a commonplace that the new networks of electronic communication, in and through which we live, are transforming our senses of locality/community and, on a wider geographical scale, our senses of belonging to either national or international communities. After such concepts, a final Illustrator project was proposed to the students, opening our course boundaries and inviting Gavin Strange9, a known successful designer from Bristol to interact with us. Some of Stranges work on the web invites everyone to play with his creations, and this was the original idea for our courses final project10. Pillboy11 (Imagen 08). was a project he started back in 2005 where a 9 http://news.jam-factory.com/10 http://dannybarrantes.com/curso/?p=8111 h t t p : / / w w w. f l i c k r . c o m / p h o t o s / j a m f a c t o r y /

sets/1494047/

digital character was offered as vector files for people to customize and send back to be part of a collection made by many other designers. Students in Digital Media 1 took Pillboy as their base design to continue with their work, and an invitation (via email) was sent to Gavin so he could pick the best designs after his original idea. He accepted the offer and as part of his review, he published a new entry12 (Imagen 08) on his website sharing our material with his visitors: a complete venue for a visual artist to show their work.

Students responses were full of enthusiasm. Their creations and technical developments were accurate and on each of their cases a final image was sent for final evaluation. Out of 25 of them, 100% passed the test and level achieved was optimal. A good portrait of how death of geography concept looks.

12 http://news.jam-factory.com/post/636770244/costa-rica-is-a-place-i-never-imagined-my-work

Imagen 07. Online monitoring resources


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Rediscovering narratives behind Web Applications

Italian Futurism founder, Tommaso Marinetti (Schmidt-Bergmann, 1993) once affirmed, Engines are really mysterious... They have their moods, unexpected bugs. It seems that they have personality, soul, will. It is necessary to stroke them and behave with respect to them. It is a special relation, human-machine, always in the midst of its struggles and passions. Still today, both sides remain apparently unconnected and until new concepts emerged such as digital domestication (Berker, 2006), could we witness an intrinsic bound: machines, codes and humans.

Web Applications13 is a regular course offered at the Graphic Design Masters Program at Don Bosco University in El Salvadors capital city. It is intended for graphic designers, journalists and computer scientists that want to specialize in web design and multimedia uses. This course 13 Taugh during November 2010, Course Professor: M.Sc.

Danny Barrantes.

is one of their last, just one month before they present their final thesis. One of the features presented is that all students of this class (20 of them) maintain a day job and at night they come to class and study. Because of the level of intensity, sessions tend to be tiring for most of them and attention levels sometimes drop after couple of hours.

At this point of the program, all students involved have developed a number of technical skills and they can easily confront basic challenges concerning web development, however not all of them have the same instrumental level since their backgrounds are different. This courses main goal is understanding web concept and its implications and contemporary theories on usability which again, suggests a tool-driven course.

During our first session we discussed our main interests. It turned out that they were really interested on having some theoretical class that could help them understand how narratives

Imagen 08. Gavin Stranges Website entry and Pillboy Project


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and philosophical lines behaved under Web Application environments, something they said they lacked throughout their previous classes. In order to achieve that, 3 main challenges were presented: (1) develop theoretical classes that could connect to their previous technical knowledge (2) exhausting/intensive class

schedules and (3) distance learning for two weeks (full online work). It was clear as well that demands for this course where slightly different in comparison to the Digital Media 1 class, especially because all of the master program students had achieved already technical skills within their previous formative spaces.

Imagen 09. Web Applications, Course Overview

Imagen 10. Wordpress interaction layout


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Time and space was a challenge for this class and as explained above, online environments are potential mediums that serve as cognitive bridges between humans processes for knowledge construction. Once they were asked for suggestions, students agreed on an Online Classroom14, (Imagen 10) was designed in a customized way to fulfill their needs. Immediacy was an advantage for such a proposal and this allowed them have information, hints and instructions with just one click, no password or username was necessary.

As shown in Imagen 10, a general layout for the actual Classroom, the online space described this time had less interaction (blue zones) areas when compared with Digital Media 1. Hyperlink to other relevant websites, work guides, articles and a few examples were typical content here featured. It can be said that the system worked more like a non-located informational repository, where everyone could meet and if desired, participate.

14 http://dannybarrantes.com/udb/

During their distance sessions, the Online Classroom worked as a communication bridge. A customized forum engine (Imagen 11) was installed so that students could give their opinions. Their contextual reality however didnt allow them to be as active as desired and it seemed that they werent comfortable enough to worked individually, away from any physical contact. The strategy that followed was to offer them a series of relevant readings and analysis as background for physical located discussions. This was especially important because one of the original challenges was to create pathways between their practical and theoretical sides.

Exercises held, discussions as well as the nature of the content itself became their motivation because of a non-computer centered approach. During Exercise One for example, they were asked to read poetry and, deconstruction theory should help them as background for remixology (Amerika, 2008) exercises so they could build their own version. It was hyperlink theory from its bases as in paper prototype relations for further discussion and new ways of discovering

Imagen 11. Customized forum engine, Web Applications Course


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objects can be taken out of the equation; nor should either fetishized. Over the past decades, we have seen an ongoing temptation to turn to computers to try solve our educational crisis. It is natural, in a time of crisis, to avidly pursue the next new thing, but we need to not lose sight of the things that have already worked.

University Didactics On-line15 is a regular course offered at the University Teaching Department from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and it is intended for active professors among all the different disciplines in University. This course is taught each semester and since 2006, an online version of the regular course has been adapted for all regions different than the central.

Among all the courses previously portrayed, participants here are the ones who distant each other because of their completely different backgrounds, ages and technical skills, as they come freely to attend this course in search for pedagogical bases to strengthen teaching actions.

15 Taugh since 2006, Course Professor: M.Sc. Danny Barrantes.

narrative. Their creations and scenes however, were kept in our Online Classroom.

Evaluations stated that this blended formative environment had been received well. Out of all voters, 88% found the Online Classroom a great tool to foster motivation on their quest for new ideas and discussions. The strategy followed was effective for them as expressed because of differentiation of environments, a good balance between physical and digital interfaces. The machine this time was just a bridge to enhance better physical interactions along a formative environment.

Digital learning environments for World Wide Web outsiders

Our attention among these three different teaching experiences has moved around the relation between humans and computers within formative environments. A balance that varies depending on different elements but surely makes special emphasis pedagogy as the integral object that oversees goals, mediums, message and participants in a context. As Sherry Turkle (2008) mentions, neither physical nor digital

Imagen 12. Evaluation, class environment


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Before mentioned, this course has been running since years already, and it was until 2006 that a new online version of it was structured. Traditionally, this is a blended space where 50% of it is development is online and 50% physical located. However, conditions for the online version vary (see Imagen 13) because of geographical issues. Most of the professors would have to spend long hours for traveling and keep a regular meeting during the whole semester, while their offices are located circa up to 200 km away from Costa Ricas central region, where University Teaching Department is. This strategy allows different regions and UCR professors studying worldwide collide in a same space and share experiences while learning pedagogies to improve teaching in each of their domains.

Most of assistants first approach to this formative space is enthusiastic, however, in many of their cases this will be the first time that they experience an online-based interaction environment. This can produce fear and frustration levels that can become major challenges for this course development.

Experience and evaluation made during the last 4 years has shown that 78% of them feel

much more secure every time there is a physical meeting, and discussions are held while interacting in a common place. Because of it, this course maintains 3 physical sessions during the semester while the first session becomes the most important of them all, mainly because it helps people to understand the logics, content and technical demands that they will challenge. The other two sessions are normally held during week 8 and last session for their final project presentation16, on week 16.

During their first session, we share 4 hours together. This time is devoted to round tables action where everyone debate about needs and teaching contextualization in different regions of Costa Rica, expectations and challenges to confront. Not all of the assistants are physically present: some of them are finishing postgraduates studies outside the country and using a Skype account, they can connect during the whole session and participate equally.

As shown in Fig. 5 and 6, this courses online contents are managed at the official UCRs Learning Management System Platform17, a 16 Consists in a didactical experience that must be

implemented and documented during the semester in one of the courses they teach.

17 http://mediacionvirtual.ucr.ac.cr/ - Moodle LMS

Imagen 13. University Didactics, Course Overview


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Moodle Learning Management System that is technically handled by METICs Department a global ICT promoter instance for educational practices at UCR, a clear and basic structure that helps online learners feel comfortable with information access and collects different formats and tasks (forum, documents uploads, wikis, video, hyperlink, audio, among others) within modules. As professors begin to work in such environments, they begin to develop regular actions and it works as a safe zone, where everything is placed and actions take place.

Special requirements for these kind of

environments are mainly meant for whoever

is in charge of promoting interactions and

designing didactical materials online. In such

cases, technologies, formats, software, plug-ins

or anything technical related has to be solved

beforehand, this way students care exclusively

with content away from instrumental struggling.

Imagen 14. UCRs LMS Platform


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Bibliografa

Amerika, M. (2008) http://www.vjtheory.net/web_texts/text_amerika.htm

Berker, T/ M. Hartmann/ Y. Punie/ K. Ward. 2006. Domestication of Media and Technology. Glasgow: Bell & Bain Ltd.

Chacn, S. (2009) La promocin de la virtualidad como recurso de apoyo a la docencia en la educacin superior. En Badilla, E; Cabero, J; Chacn, S; Francis, S; Mora, A.I; Prez, L; Revuelta, F.I; Salas, I; Salas, F.E; Silva, J.E. La Docencia Universitaria en los Espacios Virtuales. AECI, UCR. Seccin de Imprenta del SIEDIN.

Ehn, Pelle. (1998, December). Manifesto for a Digital Bauhaus. Digital Creativity, 9(4), 207. Retrieved April 17, 2008, from Business Source Complete database.

Erickson, Thomas. (1997). The World Wide Web as Social Hypertext. Retrieved from: http://www.pliant.org/personal/Tom_Erickson/SocialHypertext.html [January, 10th, 2011]

Harper, Richard H. R. (2010) Texture: Human Expression in the Age of Communications Overload.

Hernndez, A.C; Montenegro, M.L; Francis, S; Gonzaga W. (2009). Estrategias Didcticas en la Formacin de Docentes. San Jos, Costa Rica. Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica.

Imbernon, F; Medina J.L. (2006) Metodologa participativa en el aula universitaria. La participacin del alumnado. OCTAEDRO/ICE-UB.

Illich, Ivan. (1973) Tools for conviviality. Calder & Boyars, London.

Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Weigel, M., Clinton, K., Robison, A., (2009) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture, Media Education for the 21st Century. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation reports on digital media and learning. United States.

Landow, George P. (2004) The Paradigm Is More Important Than the Purchase. In Liestl Gunnar; Morrison, Andrew; Rasmussen, Terje. Digital Media revisited: theoretical and conceptual innovations in digital domains. United States of America. MIT Press.

Lovejoy, Margot (2004) Digital Currents: Art in the Electronic Age. United Kingdom, 3rd Edition. Routledge.

Marn, P; Barrantes, D. (2010) La bimodalidad en los cursos universitarios: Los espacios formativos en el DEDUN en Nuevos formatos para la funcin docente universitaria. UCR: Sede Central Rodrigo Facio. Departamento de Docencia Universitaria .

Morrison, A (2001) Electracies: Investigating Transitions in Digital Discourses and Multimedia Pedagogies in Higher Education. (www.media.uio.no/personer/morrison.electracies/selchs.html)

Nardi, Bonnie A; ODay, Vicky. (1999). Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart. Boston, USA. MIT Press.Norman, Donald A. (1988) The Design of Everyday Things. England. MIT Press; Reprint edition (9 Sep 1998).


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Schmidt-Bergmann, H. (1993): Futurismus - Geschichte, sthetik, Dokumente. Reinbek bei Hamburg, pp. 107108

Turkle, Sherry. (2008) A Passion for Objects: How science is fueled by an attachment to things. The Chronicle of Higher Education, V. 54.

Raschke, Carl A. (2003) The digital revolution and the coming of the postmodern university. New York, USA.

Tobn. (2005). Formacin Basada en Competencias. Ecoe Ediciones. Bogot.

World Economic Forum (2011). The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011. Geneva, Switzerland. SRO-Kundig.

Sobre el autor

Danny Barrantes

Danny Barrantes Acua es docente en el Departamento de Docencia Universitaria de la Escuela de Formacin Docente de la Universidad de Costa Rica.

Docente coordinador del Proyecto de Produccin de Materiales y Textos para la Educacin Superior, donde desarrolla diversas tareas en el rea de mediacin digital, esttica de los recursos didcticos entre otros.

l tiene una Licenciatura en Diseo Grfico de la Universidad de Costa Rica. Adems tiene una Maestra en Media Digital de la Universidad de Bremen-Alemania.


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El Departamento de Docencia Universitaria en su recorrido histrico ha formalizado aspectos de orden terico y metodolgico que han coadyuvado a mejorar y transformar los procesos de asesora pedaggica para la docencia universitaria. Fundamentalmente incorpora elementos que distingue como parte de la complejidad del contexto universitario en relacin analtica con las prcticas pedaggicas. Esta relacin indisoluble permite tamizar los discursos y prcticas educativas referidas a otros niveles educativos y que por su naturaleza tienen una influencia muy pobre en las prcticas universitarias. Inicialmente sera evidente que fueron pensadas para otras edades, otras estructuras organizativas, otras intenciones educativas y por supuesto, otros actores.

El esfuerzo de recrear y reflexionar crticamente las prcticas educativas que se gestan en los espacios universitarios trae como consecuencia la posible generacin de lneas tericas y metodolgicas que abonen a la formalizacin de la pedagoga en este contexto. Uno de esos aspectos que tiene un peso fundamental desde la gestin curricular de las asesoras pedaggicas es el relativo a la dimensin cultural de cada unidad acadmica y sus implicaciones en la consideracin pedaggica del objeto de formacin de estas instancias.

A continuacin se propone analizar las implicaciones que tiene la cultura de las unidades acadmicas en los procesos de asesora pedaggica y de desarrollo acadmico docente.

Consideraciones terico-conceptuales

En el estudio que realizaron Francis, Cascante y Marn (2009) se distingui que la dinmica que subyace al acto educativo universitario tiene su base en las diversas interacciones que configuran los espacios acadmicos las cuales traen como consecuencias diversos mensajes, mandatos, ritos, acuerdos, entre otros, que se integran al quehacer docente.

Lo anterior se puede reconocer de forma sustancial en los marcos de referencia que utiliza el profesorado en la toma de decisiones pedaggicas. Estas decisiones tienen un referente que asume como fuentes su experiencia como estudiante, las indicaciones de la comunidad acadmicas a la cual pertenece, y ms recientemente, los discursos formales de la pedagoga.

En el caso del proceso histrico que acompaa su experiencia como estudiante Chen 2002, Van Driel, De Jong y Verloop; 2002 encontraron que dichas experiencias constituyen modelos de interaccin que dan significado y significantes para actuar en tanto corresponden con ejemplos en contexto. De esta manera el profesorado construye un perfil de la accin educativa a partir de lo que observa de sus profesores y profesoras y de las vivencias como estudiante y define cules son los formatos ms aceptados para ser docente. Por ejemplo muchos docentes afirman que desarrollan cierto tipo de acciones educativas a partir de lo que ms les gust de un docente particular, o bien, como referencia de lo que no le gustara ser.

Los procesos de asesora pedaggica y las consideraciones culturales de las unidades acadmicasSusan Francis Salazar


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En el caso de las indicaciones de la comunidad acadmica, una vez que el profesorado se involucra en la tarea docente, se integra a una red de interacciones con colegas profesionales, pares acadmicos, estudiantes, entre otros, que configuran una serie de rituales y acuerdos acerca de cmo se interpreta la docencia en la universidad. En este sentido, Habermas (1984) seala que la insercin en la comunidad es un proceso crtico que se afirma y se reafirma mientras el vnculo se da con la comunidad profesional, la cual, tambin se transforma con el ingreso de los nuevos profesionales. Con ello se van formalizando ciertas prcticas docentes y se convierten en una regularidad dentro de las facultades y escuelas.

Tardif (2004) seala que los procesos comunales institucionales en instancias educativas pasan por consensos y acciones de coercin, autoridad y persuasin. Estos procesos coinciden con lo sealado por Francis y Marn (2010) quienes sealan que la constitucin de comunidades acadmicas, segn el objeto de formacin, adems de ser una consecuencia de la estructuracin de la universidad, son espacios de fortalecimiento de las interacciones disciplinares y docentes, adems son reconocidos como mbitos que fortalecen la cohesin y la conformacin de la comunidad y citan a Bartle (2007) para indicar que las comunidades se conciben como modelos de interrelacin que subsisten aun por encima de la temporalidad de sus miembros, en tanto estn matizadas por la exigencia acadmica.

Estos espacios de interaccin generan diferentes formas de resolucin para la prctica docente, entre ellas, la capacidad de rplica de prcticas observadas a otros, en sus intervenciones docentes y su subsiguiente desempeo, lo que finalmente Vigostki llama experiencia duplicada, y por lo tanto, de una apropiacin consciente.

En procesos investigativos desarrollados por el Departamento de Docencia Universitaria se encontr que, en relacin con la construccin del saber pedaggico del profesorado universitario, estas experiencias (como estudiante y docente) recuperan la imagen de un modelo de la accin pedaggica en su disciplina, que se aprehende bajo un proceso de intrapsicolgico y que se legitima en la interaccin con los miembros de la comunidad acadmica. (Francis, 2007)

Finalmente, el mbito universitario en las ltimas dcadas pero sobre todo a partir de la Conferencia Mundial de Educacin Superior de 1998 (UNESCO) ha sido objeto de diversas crticas y replanteamientos que llaman la atencin acerca de los formatos didcticos. La tradicionalidad se identifica como un rasgo que debe trascenderse y orientarse ms bien a la diversificacin del acto formativo. Se distinguen entonces nuevos discursos: educacin por competencias, mediacin digital, complejidad y ecoformacin, transdisciplinariedad, entre otros. Estos discursos emergentes se van considerando como presiones que demandan la modificacin de prcticas docentes o su transformacin (asumiendo que esta ltima supone un proceso ms crtico y reflexivo). Acompaado adems por demandas como la acreditacin las unidades acadmicas se enfrentan a proponer nuevas formas d

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