Adela De Castro

Este libro recuperó estudios sobre la estrategia Aprendizaje Servicio. Los investigadores dan cuenta de cómo llevaron esta estrategia a sus asignaturas, el rediseño de las mismas y la implementación, todo a través de resultados investigaciones de aula.

Coherence and cohesion in written texts are of great importance to efficiently communicate the main ideas that the author wants to convey to the reader. However, it has been previously shown that not only engineering students have deficiencies in these aspects, but also, evaluating these aspects is of great difficulty. For this reason, this research focuses on the application of a methodology to assess the coherence and cohesion of texts written by engineering students of several semesters in careers such as computer systems, electrical and electronics engineering. To do this, an evaluation instrument was created; this instrument allows measuring the performance on these aspects to be measured in an isolated manner in order to clearly identify the difficulties that students have when writing texts. Results show that, although several students manage to present good written documents, there are also many problems in aspects such as the connection of the text, the handling of exophoric and endophoric references, and providing enough information to argue.

Engineering professionals need to employ argumentative skills to support
their decisions. This research presents the findings of an intervention that
was designed and implemented at two universities in Colombia, South
America, to help students enhance their written argumentative skills
through essays on ethical dilemmas. Engineering professors included
explanations based on modelled examples that showed adequate
argumentation and provided feedback to students. This experience
included a pre-test, post-test and a brief intervention based on problembased learning (PBL). Results show that students improved in essay aspects such as the introduction, presenting and supporting a thesis, including evidence with proper references and the creation of a
conclusion. Standardized national test results also support the benefits
of this approach.

RESUMEN El objetivo de esta investigación es aumentar la comprensión lectora de estudiantes de primer ingreso de la Universidad del Norte a través del uso de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC), como estrategia fundamental que permita al estudiante enfrentar su cotidianidad con aparatos tecnológicos, e incentivar su motivación e interés para mejorar su proceso de comprensión lectora y sus resultados académicos. De forma intencional, se tomaron dos grupos de control: uno con alta implicación en TIC y otro de comparación no equivalente, con baja implicación, para medir la funcionalidad de la propuesta y la aceptación y motivación del estudiante a partir de la inclusión de TIC en su proceso formativo. Se diseñaron materiales para que los estudiantes de Competencias comunicativas 1 estimularan su comprensión lectora mediada por el uso de las TIC y realizaran tareas colaborativas virtuales y presenciales. El análisis de resultados arroja que entre ambos grupos no hubo diferencias significativas en el pretest y en postest, así como en la medida e impacto, por lo se concluye que el utilizar las TIC no es factor determinante para elevar su nivel de comprensión lectora, pero resulta interesante como estrategia didáctica y de incentivo para los estudiantes. ABSTRACT The objective of this research is to find improvements in the reading comprehension of freshmen students of Universidad del Norte through the use of ICT as a basic strategy that allows students to face their daily lives, with technological devices and to encourage students 'and interest motivation in order to optimize their process of reading and their academic results. Two control samples were taken intentionally; one group with a high involvement in ICTs and a non­equivalent comparison group with a low involvement of ICT, to measure the functionality of the proposal, the acceptance and motivation of the students of the insertion of ICTs in their learning process. Materials were designed for students of "Communicative Skills 1 " , arouse their reading comprehension mediated by the use of ICT, doing virtual and classroom collaborative assignments. The results triggered that there were no significant differences in the pretest and posttest groups, as well as the measurement and impact which allows concluding that the use of ICT is not a determinant factor to improve reading comprehension, but it is an interesting tool as a didactic and motivational strategy for students.

El presente estudio de diseño metodológico ex post facto pretende comprobar y caracterizar los efectos de las Nuevas Tecnologías de la Información en la comprensión lectora del español como lengua materna. Se trabajó con una muestra de seis grupos de 28 estudiantes cada uno, para un total de 165 estudiantes de primer ingreso de la Universidad del Norte en Barranquilla, Colombia, de la asignatura Competencias Comunicativas 1. La muestra fue separada en dos grupos: uno con alta implicación de tecnologías de la información y comunicación, grupo experimental, y otro con baja implicación de tecnología, el grupo control. A todos se les aplicó la prueba PISA y una encuesta denominada Quick Course Diagnosis. Los resultados evidencian que no existen diferencias significativas entre ambos grupos en materia de comprensión lectora o de satisfacción manifestada por los estudiantes al final del curso. The effect of the use of ICT in reading comprehension of Spanish as a mother tongue (L1) This study of ex post facto methodology pretends to prove and characterize the effects of the new technologies of the in the information in the Spanish reading comprehension as a mother tongue. Six groups of 28 freshmen participated from Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia, for a total sample of 165 students. They belonged to the subject of Communicative Competence I. The sample was divided in two groups: one with high ICT implication, the experimental group, and the other with low ICT implication, the control group. PISA test and Quick Course Diagnosis (QCD) survey were applied. The results show that there are no significant differences in terms of reading comprehension or level of satisfaction from students at the end of the course.