Educación y TIC (e-learning)

Flexible and Open Online Education

This research line focuses on investigating new ways of teaching and learning in different contexts and scenarios (current and future) stressing on the new and more flexible education and learning models. We want to look at how they fit with the new student profiles and their needs, and to take into accounts which are the different social and cultural contexts in which they are immersed.

The main research areas would include:

  1. Exploring new educational models, both blended and online, which have been generated from diverse cultures and environments, and which mean different approaches to education;
  2. Identifying those pedagogies that are underlying these new models or which better fit with;
  3. The new forms of organization of learning;
  4. The technologies which contribute to these new emerging models;
  5. The opportunities online education provide in the framework of globalization;
  6. Studying the potential of open and flexible models to guarantee equity and access to education for those traditionally most disadvantaged groups;
  7. The components of quality and cost of the new emergent models and their outcomes. 

Thesis Proposals

Researchers

Research Group

Collaborative and interdisciplinary learning network: community of practice applications, and learning & teaching

Communities of practice are nowadays an important concept in the healthcare sector. Described as a group of people who share an interest in a domain of human endeavour and engage in collective learning that creates bonds among them, they give healthcare professionals the chance to build collective knowledge working at different levels of care. These virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) have proven capable of solving healthcare professionals' information and communication problems in a much simpler way. Moreover, they have been found to improve the functioning of organizations by generating the kind of tacit knowledge that emerges from interactions among colleagues. Finally, through virtual communities of practice, the optimal conditions for facilitating a collaborative and interdisciplinary learning network are created. The interest in identifying the benefits that VCoPs offers in the healthcare sector is relatively new in specialized literature.

Dr Francesc Saigí
Mail:  fsaigi@uoc.edu

Epi4Health

 

2.0 tools in health sciences

This line of research studies the possibilities of 2.0 tools as a support system for learning about health and self-care.

Dr Francesc Saigí
Mail: fsaigi@uoc.edu

Epi4Health

Design and assessment in online learning & teaching

Design and assessment in online learning & teaching environments,supported by social and  collaborative tools. This line of research studies the pedagogical, organizational and symbolic aspects of the new social and collaborative environments and technologies for teaching and learning in a complex and changing world.

Dr Adriana Ornellas
Mail: aornellas@uoc.edu

NODES
Self-directed and networked learning, online communities and professional development
 
This research proposal is focused on analysing self-directed learning processes in flexible and open digital environments in which participation, social interaction and community provide the basic architecture and resources for individual and collective knowledge building. Within this framework, one possible topic has to do with teachers' inquiry and collaborative knowledge production as a model of professional development for teachers. Another topic has to do with the development of scaffolds for autonomous learning and individual and social learning regulation in networked learning environments.
 

Dr Iolanda García
Mail: igarciago@uoc.edu

 

 

Pedagogical principles and practices in online and distance doctoral education
 
This research proposal aims to explore student learning in online doctoral education. This implies analysing doctoral students' learning experiences, considering the educational conditions and sociocultural implications of doctoral education today, as well as pedagogically conceptualizing a sustainable, appropriate online learning model for fostering the multidisciplinary research skills and abilities that doctoral students need to thrive in academic settings and beyond, taking into consideration career guidance and employability.
 
Some of the topics to be addressed include structure, flexibility and presence in online doctoral learning; networked and community learning and the development of doctoral students' relational agency; students' engagement and self-direction in online doctoral learning; diversity, inclusion and the ethical dimension of online doctoral supervision; and student support and guidance.
 

Dr Iolanda García
Mail: igarciago@uoc.edu

Mail: mjosephp@uoc.edu
 
 

Open Education and Emergent Learning Scenarios

We work by analyzing, categorizing and identifying emerging learning environments (formal, non-formal, and informal) in life-long and life-wide contexts, considering flexibility, collaboration, and interaction as fundamental elements as well as the development of digital competencies as a necessity for citizens in the 21st century (focus: student-citizen).

Dr Montse Guitert 
Coordinator

Mail: mguitert@uoc.edu

Dr Nati Cabrera
Mail: ncabrera@uoc.edu

Dr Lourdes Guàrdia
Mail: lguardia@uoc.edu

Dr Marcelo Maina
Mail: mmaina@uoc.edu

Dr Marc Romero
Mail: mromerocar@uoc.edu

Dr Teresa Romeu
Mail: tromeu@uoc.edu

Dr Albert Sangrà
Mail: asangra@uoc.edu

Dr Josep M. Mominó
Mail: jmomino@uoc.edu

EDUL@B Research Group

Food, nutrition and the online: Opportunities and challenges for higher education and life long learning

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of food studies, in the large variety of European Food Sciences programmes the central core considers food technology, consumer sciences, business and economics, nutrition and health studies. Research on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) applications in educational systems confirms the potential of ICT to promote and encourage innovation and improve the quality of education, as well as to achieve greater inclusion and equity quotas. On the other hand, online lifelong learning training systems through different training modalities (e-Learning, b-Learning or m-Learning, MOOCs) make a more extensive and inclusive lifelong training possible in formal and non-formal education, proving to have the potential to be effective in expanding food studies. In addition, ICT is also a powerful pedagogical tool for the treatment of curricular contents related to: determinants of food choice, food marketing, food culture, food security, food safety and food technology. This research line aims to raise awareness and help to adapt food related modules/courses to these new opportunities and educational challenges.  

 
Coordinator 
Mail: fxmedina@uoc.edu
 
Mail: aaguilarmart@uoc.edu
 
Mail: abachf@uoc.edu
 
Mail:lesquius@uoc.edu
 
Mail: mmassips@uoc.edu
 
FoodLab

The classroom of the future: design and spatial configuration to learn for the 21st century.

This research analyzes and explores how the learning spaces should be in educational institutions in order to meet current educational needs, pedagogical principles and contemporary models. Although in recent years the integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has become an important educational innovation, the teaching and learning space has barely evolved. In addition to ICT, this research ultimatley focuses on studying the most accurate design and spatial configuration of its elements and features to promote the most suitable teaching and learning methodologies for the 21st century education.

Dr Guillermo Bautista
Mail: gbautista@uoc.edu

Dr Marta Lopez
Mail: mlopezcos@uoc.edu

Smart Classroom Project

 

 

 

Changes and challenges caused by the effects of COVID-19 on education
 
At the current moment we are living, in a pandemic situation, we need to find well-founded educational responses based on evidence on aspects such as inclusion and digital divide, the necessary digital competences, discontinuous in-presence teaching, reversibility and hybrid and online educational models, networked motivation and interaction, and how technology can become an ally to improve education. Ph.D. research projects leading to a thesis in this line will analyze the situation of each topic and propose solutions.

Dr Montse Guitert
Coordinator
Mail: mguitert@uoc.edu

Dr Nati Cabrera
Mail: ncabrera@uoc.edu

Dr Lourdes Guàrdia
Mail: lguardia@uoc.edu

Dr Marcelo Maina
Mail: mmaina@uoc.edu

Dr Marc Romero
Mail: mromerocar@uoc.edu

Dr Teresa Romeu
Mail: tromeu@uoc.edu

Dr Albert Sangrà
Mail: asangra@uoc.edu

Dr Josep M. MominóMail: jmomino@uoc.edu

EDUL@B Research Group
Digital competence leadership among teachers and institutional culture analysis.
 
New ways of organizing learning
New forms and trends in learning. Identifying pedagogies and new models for exploring new educational models. Microcredentials as a new approach.
Coordinator
Mail: cpagesserra@uoc.edu
 
Mail: mmartinezarg@uoc.edu
 
Mail: eserradell@uoc.edu
 
Mail: rferreras@uoc.edu
 
Mail: afitob@uoc.edu
 
Mail: aelasri@uoc.edu
 
Mail: cplag@uoc.edu
 
Mail: mpujoljo@uoc.edu
 
Dr Jordi Sales-Zaguirre
Mail: jsales@uoc.edu
 
Dr David Roman Coy
Mail: droman@eada.edu
 
MeL - Management and eLearning