The research line focuses on the design and evaluation of learning environments aimed at enhancing active and meaningful learning in different instructional contexts. Based on available knowledge about human learning, the characteristics of effective learning environments are characterised by being (1) learner-centred (building on learners' prior knowledge and skills, attitudes, beliefs and motivations: (2) focus on knowledge and understanding, emphasising the importance of prioritising deep understanding, seeking to facilitate the development of well-organised, accessible and flexible knowledge in different contexts and situations), (3) prioritise formative assessment and feedback, enabling learners to review and improve the quality of their learning, and teachers to provide them with the supports that enable them to make progress; and, (4) developing a sense of belonging to a learning-oriented community, emphasising interaction, cooperative learning, contrasting arguments and giving and receiving help from peers. It also emphasises the role of new technologies in education(training, as they facilitate learning based on real-world problems - using a wide variety of resources such as videos, simulations, demonstrations - that increase students' motivation, provide powerful tools for visualisation and analysis of information, offer more opportunities for interaction with learning materials, communication and feedback from teachers and peers, as well as build learning communities in which a wide variety of actors can participate.
Topics:
- Learner-centred teaching methods.
- Instructional design to promote self-regulated learning.
- Formative evaluation and feedback.
- Self-regulated learning: Cognitive, metacognitive and affective-motivational strategies. Time management (Assessment and intervention).
- Promoting academic engagement.
- Evaluation rubrics.
- Electronic portfolios.
- Competency-based training.
The research group Linguistic Variation in Catalan is interested in Catalan morphology, syntax and semantics, with a diachronic and synchronic vision. In particular, the group’s studies aim to describe the variation of the Catalan language and to explain the processes of linguistic change of languages, especially in the Romance context, using the methodology of corpus linguistics. Researchers are interested in processes of grammaticalisation, lexicalisation, analogy and reanalysis, semantic change, subjectivation, etc. They apply several theoretical approaches, especially cognitive-based ones, i.e. Cognitive Grammar, Conceptual Integration Theory, Prototype Theory, Construct Grammar, Natural Morphology, etc.
The research group originated in 1985 with the creation of the area of Research and Diagnostic Methods in Education (Royal Decree 1888, BOE 257 of 16 October 1984). The evolution of the universities and the development of MIDE gave rise, over the years, to specific groups, among which the Evaluation and Measurement in Education Group was born. This evolved into a research group (Evaluation and Measurement Group, Education for Social Cohesion -GemEduCo-, as well as another closely related innovation group: InnovaMIDE, recognised as an educational innovation and teaching quality group by the Universitat de València. Both groups serve the overall purpose of research and training of researchers in the field of Educational Measurement and Evaluation.
GemEduCo aims to analyse the capacity of Education for social transformation. To this end, it builds on the research tradition developed since 2005 through projects funded through competitive calls in the field of educational measurement and evaluation, aimed at the study of methodologies for the design of instruments and models for the evaluation of educational systems and institutions. In this period the projects AVACO (Analysis of Context Variables; SEJ2005-05995) and MAVACO (Models of Analysis of Context Variables; EDU2099-1385), both funded as R&D projects by the Spanish State (through the MICINN), were undertaken. Since 2013, already from the GemEduCo structure, he leads the SECS/EVALNEC project (EDU2012-34734; MINECO) "Education System and Social Cohesion: design of a needs assessment model", focused on the extended definition of the concept of Social Cohesion proposed by the Council of Europe (2000, 2005). Since 2016, the Group has been developing a new competitive project (EDU2016-78065-R; MINECO) focused on the Validation of an evaluation system for university degrees based on a Social Cohesion Model. These projects have functioned as an articulating element of teaching and research, allowing the defence of several Doctoral Theses, Master's and Bachelor's Degree Final Projects, as well as the publication of numerous articles, as shown on the group's website. In addition, the EVALEF Project (2012-2016, code EDU2011-29467; MINECO) Validation of an evaluation instrument of Family Educational Styles, anchored in the topic of evaluation of educational systems, has opened a specific line of research in the field of educational measurement that is also linked to the establishment of guidelines for the design of intervention programmes with families.
Complementarily, he develops other projects on the design of measurement instruments and evaluation systems (in the field of lexical competence [EVA-LEX; UV-INV_AE11-42034]-, or the evaluation of the network of conservatories and the design of instruments to assess musical and dance competence -Consellería d'Educació i Esport; Generalitat Valenciana-) in which he applies his developments in these methodologies.
On the other hand, it has an intense collaboration with international institutions and researchers either through its own projects or in collaboration with international projects. Special mention should be made of the group's participation in the Ibero-American Network of Researchers in Teaching Evaluation (RIIED) and collaborations with universities in Latin America, the United States of America and Europe.
This "know-how" and "know-how" is part of the research training task of the GemEduCo group, which is involved with specific teaching on measurement and evaluation in education in several official masters of the Universitat de València (Master in Policy, Management and Direction in Educational Organisations, Master in Psychopedagogy, Master in Social and Educational Action, Master in Social and Educational Action, Master in Educational and Social Action, Master in Educational and Social Action, Master in Educational and Social Action, Master in Educational and Social Action, Master in Educational and Social Action, Master in Educational and Social Action, Master in Educational and Social Action, Master in Educational and Social Action, Master in Educational and Social Action, Master in Educational and Social Action), Master in Social and Educational Action, Master in Special Education, International Master in Migration, Master in Educational Psychology and Human Development in Multicultural Contexts) and in the Doctorate in Education - all of them at the Universitat de València, and has given rise to the defence of numerous Doctoral Theses and Final Degree and Master's Theses. It also receives numerous guest researchers and PhD students from different countries for stays at the UV. At the moment, its specific line of work focuses on the design and development of instruments and plans for the evaluation of Educational Systems and Institutions, Teachers, Students, programmes and materials. Likewise, in collaboration with the InnovaMIDE group, it designs and evaluates on-line materials for training in various areas of psycho-pedagogical measurement and evaluation.
Two concepts that are at the basis of all the GemEduCo group's lines of work:
- Education is carried out by the whole of society, from the intentional action developed in educational institutions, to all the non-formal elements that act with educational consequences and the informal ones, as well as the action of social models of reference; and
- The development of a true culture of evaluation must be based on the rigour of the research carried out on the strategies and instruments for psycho-socio-pedagogical measurement, evaluation and diagnosis. Creating a culture of evaluation is not satisfied with "improvised, administratively or politically charged evaluation", but in the careful work that identifies the added value of a methodologically well-conducted evaluation.
Research group on Curriculum, Resources and Educational Institutions (CRIE) already has a long history. It was established in 1991 within the Department of Education and School Management of the Universitat de València, with a group of lecturers from several universities. Over the years its objective remained unchanged: explore the policies and practices articulated in education systems, schools and classrooms.
As members of the group, with specific academic interests, we share the motivation to advance in the knowledge of how new ways of becoming active subjects of citizenship, capable of actively moving through a plural world, apparently without borders, are being developed in the classroom. Along the way, we have been dealing with such complex objects of analysis as: reforms, teaching innovation, curriculum planning, evaluation, teaching aids, comprehensiveness, school leadership, organisation, participation, citizenship, diversity, technologies, etc. However, back then and now, the production of knowledge by participating in research projects does not meet the expectations of those of us who are part of CRIE. We want to socialise our achievements by training students interested in our lines of work; in fact, some of them are already active members of the group as interns, doctoral students or even PhDs. The presence of the research group in society is reflected in the publication of our work, our participation in forums and all kinds of events, as well as in institutions that invite us. We assume these aims with our enthusiasm, the energy of new members and renewing the website as a gathering place for those who share our interests and motivations.
The concept of “language variation” is key for the study of the evolution of languages and of social, professional and educational communicative systems. Social, cultural, health, economic, technological and educational transformations are developed, conveyed and reflected through their linguistic and communicative manifestations. The aim of the group is to study the progress that current society is undergoing through the analysis of the essential linguistic variables that are involved and interact in human communication. These variables depend on the profiles of speakers (e.g. idiolectal, dialectal variation, according to gender, age, social status, level of education, etc.) and on the uses they make of language according to the interpersonal identities they adopt (i.e. register variation), the codes they use to communicate (i.e. variation of mode), the different textual platforms they use (i.e. variation of discursive genre) and the different persuasive strategies with which they convey their intention and image (i.e. stylistic variation). The analysis of these variables requires approaching the study of communication at different scales, from its macro and hyper discursive aspect (e.g. interrelation between the variables that interact in business or academic communication, or the complexity of multimodal communication of social media and digital platforms) and also of its micro discursive components (e.g. variation of phonetic, morphological, lexical and syntactic units). As highlighted by experts in language variation (Bayley, 2013; Chambers and Schilling, 2018), in order to address comprehensive and innovative studies in this field, it is necessary to keep up to date the methodology needed to define and classify the categories, criteria and parameters essential to understand and analyse these variables and their interrelation.
Some of these have been extensively studied (e.g. dialectal variation) and others are currently being studied (e.g. variation of discursive genre), but there are still many ambiguous and controversial aspects of other relevant variables, such as those involved in communicative register variation. This type of interpersonal and contextual variation covers the whole spectrum of human interaction, from that which takes place in the most sophisticated and conventional contexts to that which takes place in the most intimate and familiar settings. There are different degrees of dependence and interrelation between various registers in the same communicative act, which has posed a difficult challenge for experts, particularly when it comes to accessing real data and compiling large and representative corpora. Moreover, throughout history, its study has been approached from many different perspectives, including heterogeneous, ambiguous and confusing variables that have generated controversy within this field of research. This theoretical heterogeneity and methodological complexity have hindered the development of in-depth and wide-ranging studies on this language variety, which could effectively transfer their results to society and the labour market, offering practical methods and tools for understanding, learning and mastering it. There are other variables in a similar situation (e.g. idiolectal variation, stylistic variation, genolects, chronolects, etc.).
With the aim of contributing to the advancement of this field, the main objectives of the SILVAGroup are the following:
- To delve into the fundamental categories, criteria and parameters for the study and analysis of language variation, and the factors involved in its current behaviour in the English language and other majority languages, such as Spanish and German.
- To investigate language variation from a comprehensive pragmatic approach, highlighting its interpersonal and multimodal dimensions in its fluctuation throughout everyday communication from public to private settings.
- To work from emerging technologies, corpus linguistics and other multidisciplinary fields of human communication, contrasting advances and results between languages.
- To design methodologies for the study of language variation, useful in the search and detection of distinctive features that shed light on definition and typology of its parameters of analysis, and also practical for learning and mastering them, especially at a social and professional level.
- To participate in platforms and projects for the dissemination of research, especially in international conferences and impact publications, in order to encourage further study of RV and to publicise the results of the group’s activity.
- To constitute a national and international support platform for research in this field and for its dissemination.
The group’s research activity will be structured from the IULMA, based at the Universitat de València, to which most of the members of the group belong, and is made up of a multidisciplinary team of both young and experienced researchers from the UV, UPV and UA.
All the members of the group share the essential research lines for the study of RV: language variation, corpus linguistics and contrastive linguistics. The group also has experts in other relevant research lines. This multidisciplinary nature provides this team with the advantage of approaching language variation from different but complementary areas of knowledge and research lines, allowing an innovative depth and perspective and results that can really bring a significant advance in the field.
TRANSICIONS is made up of teaching staff from different areas of knowledge and departments of the University of Valencia: Didactics and School Organisation, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social Psychology and Sociology and Social Anthropology. It is formally attached to the Department of Didactics and School Organisation. All its members are staff of the Universitat de València or have obtained their doctorate there, although they all maintain contacts with teaching and research staff from other Spanish and foreign universities. It is a multidisciplinary group that has participated since 1996 in several works and researches, in which several members of the group have taken part.
TRANSICIONS has maintained and continues to maintain collaboration, through research contracts or collaboration agreements, with the Federation of Business Associations of Insertion Companies (FAEDEI), and the Spanish Association of Second Chance Schools, and has carried out commissioned work for Forem-PV, the UAFSE, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, BankiaDualiza or Cedefop. The group has also participated in the organisation of regional and national meetings and conferences with professionals in the field of socio-labour insertion, and has organised two editions of international congresses and seminars on vocational training at the UV.
TRANSICIONS aims to understand the educational, organisational, evolutionary and psychosocial processes that affect and optimise transitions between the educational and productive system for young people and young adults, as well as people in vulnerable situations, with difficulties of socio-occupational integration and a history of school failure. The group is aware of the centrality of work in adult life, as well as the need to approach its study from multidisciplinary approaches in order to holistically address the understanding of the reality that interests and concerns us, and for this reason several members of the group collaborate in IUDESCOOP activities.
Its mission is to contribute, from the University, to identify the mechanisms that guarantee the rights to education and work, from the conviction of the relevant role they play in the promotion of social justice.
TRANSICIONS seeks to carry out empirical research in which the participants are also subjects of the research processes, hence a methodological approach in which qualitative methods are an important part and which allows, as far as possible, to interact with reality and also contribute to facilitate its transformation through the link it has and seeks between its research and the return of the results to professionals and entities that work in practice, as well as in making the results available to interlocutors with political responsibilities. Thanks to this dialogue, it evaluates its research to try to adjust it to the needs that arise and to the search for social change that it jointly pursues.
To this end, the TRANSICIONS group believes that it is advisable to seek funding for research work in public calls for proposals. The academic pillars on which its work is based can be traced in its publications: Emilia Serra, Francesca Salvà, Claudia Jacinto, María Teresa González, Juan Manuel Escudero, Michael W. Apple, Michael Eraut, Quim Casal, Philipp Gonon, Basil Bernstein, Robert Castel, Serge Paugam, Luc Boltanski and José Gimeno are some examples.
This group focuses on University Pedagogy, Lifelong Education and Sustainable Development. Its aim is to study the educational processes in these areas in order to build knowledge and to specify and apply proposals for improvement:
- In University Pedagogy (analysis of teaching-learning processes at university, transition, failure and drop-out processes, study of the impact of innovative methodologies, design, application and evaluation of good practices, teaching competences, use of ICT in e-a processes, etc.).
- In Education and Sustainability (curricular sustainability, analysis of the contents of university curricula, course guides, development of competences for sustainability, construction of models transferable to the different degrees, analysis and improvement of their approach in formal and non-formal education, etc.).
- In Family and Minors (family educational styles and their evaluation, family diversity, parental competence, parental abuse by children, mediation of family conflicts, training in family intervention, etc.).
- In Coexistence and Conflict Resolution (education and coexistence, education for peace, conflict resolution, teaching and learning of social norms, models of coexistence, disruptive and antisocial behaviour, etc.).
- In Citizenship and Values (moral education, citizenship, education in values, intercultural pedagogy, education and human development, ethics of professions, professional ethics, educational prevention of gender violence, etc.).
- In Media Literacy, ICTs and Video Games (media citizenship, media literacy, values and ICTs, video games and education, simulation games, serious games, uses of video games, etc.). In these fields, this team has already completed several competitive R&D&I projects and is developing others:
- Teaching strategies and learning strategies at university. Analysis of the impact of key variables on the ways in which university students approach learning. MCyT. (SEC/2003-016787) (2003-2006)
- Introduction of sustainability into the curriculum at the University of Valencia General Study (ACUVEG). Valencian Government. (GV04B-166)(2004-2005)
- Prevention and protection against domestic and gender-based violence within the framework of LO 1/2004 of December 28th. A transdisciplinary perspective. MICINN (SEJ2006-15544)(2006-2009)
- Curricular Greening: design and analysis of interventions of disciplinary dialogue for the development of basic sustainability competences in university education (Early Childhood and Primary Education Degrees). MINECO (SEJ2007-67063) 2007-2010)
- Excellence in university students from a longitudinal approach: analysis of incident factors and design of an intervention model. MICINN (EDU2009-08518) (2009-2012)
- Family practices and co-responsibility: Analysis of values and proposal of educational strategies for the reconciliation of personal, social and working life. MICINN. (EDU2009-10250)(2009-2012).
- Prevention and eradication of gender-based violence. Its transdisciplinary study through the media. Education and the performance of judges. MICINN. (DER2010- 018498)(2010-2012)-Compulsory education in the face of audiovisual communication competence in a digital environment. MICINN (EDU2010-21395)(2006-2009)
- Learning-centred methodologies at university. Design, implementation and evaluation. MINECO. (EDU2012-32725)(2013-2015)
- Curricular Sustainability in the Degree Plans: revisions of the basic competences for sustainability in the Course Guides; development and evaluation. MINECO. (EDU2010-21485)(2011-2013)This research has resulted in a significant number of publications in prestigious books and journals and a constant participation in conferences and training activities.
