La UCA, primera universidad privada en Argentina en el QS World University Rankings 2021

The following information is used for educational purposes only.

La UCA, primera universidad privada en Argentina en el QS World University Rankings 2021


Según el QS World University Rankings 2021 la UCA se consolida como la primera universidad privada en la Argentina por 2do año consecutivo y se encuentra entre las 350 mejores universidades del mundo, posicionándose en el puesto 326. Ascendió 18 posiciones respecto al año anterior ubicándose entre las 10 primeras en Latinoamérica.

En el indicador de cantidad de estudiantes por profesor la UCA está en el puesto 42º en el mundo habiendo ascendido 17 posiciones, encontrándose en el 2do puesto en Latinoamérica y ocupando el primer puesto en el país en este indicador tan relevante para nuestra universidad.

Nuestro reconocimiento y gratitud a los docentes por su dedicación y compromiso, ya que su valioso aporte contribuyó a que la Universidad se haya consolidado en un puesto tan relevante en el mundo, Latinoamérica y Argentina. La calidad docente es la base en que se sostiene el proceso educativo.

Asimismo, cabe destacar que desde 2014 la UCA es la primera universidad privada del país en el indicador de Reputación entre empleadores.

El Dr. Miguel Ángel Schiavone, Rector de la universidad, explica que "esta posición que ocupa la UCA en la educación es producto del compromiso de toda nuestra comunidad educativa". "Estamos trabajando en programas de mejora de la calidad educativa incorporando nuevas tecnologías, capacitando a nuestros profesores a través de la carrera docente, innovando en procesos, poniendo al alumno en el centro de la escena y fortaleciendo la relación alumno-docente. El proyecto iniciado en 2018 también incluyó las áreas de investigación con más publicaciones en revistas internacionales de alto impacto, avanzamos en la internacionalización de la enseñanza, sostuvimos las actividades de compromiso social y extensión que siempre caracterizaron a nuestra Universidad por su identidad y valores que reafirmamos diariamente. En 2019 ya nos habíamos posicionado dentro de las 10 primeras en la región avanzando 25 puestos en este ranking, en esta medición pudimos progresar aún más. Este es un proceso de mejora continua que seguimos implementado aun en medio de la pandemia. Para los docentes y alumnos este fue un cuatrimestre ganado en el que todos aprendimos a educar mejor, a estudiar mejor y a revalorar la vida".

El ranking, producido por la consultora internacional en educación superior QS Quacquarelli Symonds, evalúa a las 1000 mejores universidades del mundo, basándose en seis métricas:

Reputación Académica

Reputación entre Empleadores

Ratio de Estudiantes por Profesor

Citaciones por cuerpo docente

Ratio de Académicos Internacionales

Ratio de Estudiantes Internacionales




Fuente:Comunicación de UCA Graduados.

TED TALKS-Lýdia Machová: The secrets of learning a new language

The following information is used for educational purposes only.


TED Salon: Brightline Initiative | October 2018


The secrets of learning a new language

Lýdia Machová



Want to learn a new language but feel daunted or unsure where to begin? You don't need some special talent or a "language gene," says Lýdia Machová. In an upbeat, inspiring talk, she reveals the secrets of polyglots (people who speak multiple languages) and shares four principles to help unlock your own hidden language talent -- and have fun while doing it.


ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Lýdia Machová · Language mentor
Lýdia Machová teaches people how they can learn any language by themselves.

Transcript:

I love learning foreign languages. In fact, I love it so much that I like to learn a new language every two years, currently working on my eighth one. When people find that out about me, they always ask me, "How do you do that? What's your secret?" And to be honest, for many years, my answer would be, "I don't know. I simply love learning languages." But people were never happy with that answer.

 They wanted to know why they are spending years trying to learn even one language, never achieving fluency, and here I come, learning one language after another. They wanted to know the secret of polyglots, people who speak a lot of languages. And that made me wonder, too, how do actually other polyglots do it? What do we have in common? And what is it that enables us to learn languages so much faster than other people? I decided to meet other people like me and find that out.

The best place to meet a lot of polyglots is an event where hundreds of language lovers meet in one place to practice their languages. There are several such polyglot events organized all around the world, and so I decided to go there and ask polyglots about the methods that they use.
And so I met Benny from Ireland, who told me that his method is to start speaking from day one. He learns a few phrases from a travel phrasebook and goes to meet native speakers and starts having conversations with them right away. He doesn't mind making even 200 mistakes a day, because that's how he learns, based on the feedback. And the best thing is, he doesn't even need to travel a lot today, because you can easily have conversations with native speakers from the comfort of your living room, using websites.

I also met Lucas from Brazil who had a really interesting method to learn Russian. He simply added a hundred random Russian speakers on Skype as friends, and then he opened a chat window with one of them and wrote "Hi" in Russian. And the person replied, "Hi, how are you?" Lucas copied this and put it into a text window with another person, and the person replied, "I'm fine, thank you, and how are you?" Lucas copied this back to the first person, and in this way, he had two strangers have a conversation with each other without knowing about it.

And soon he would start typing himself, because he had so many of these conversations that he figured out how the Russian conversation usually starts. What an ingenious method, right?
And then I met polyglots who always start by imitating sounds of the language, and others who always learn the 500 most frequent words of the language, and yet others who always start by reading about the grammar. If I asked a hundred different polyglots, I heard a hundred different approaches to learning languages. Everybody seems to have a unique way they learn a language, and yet we all come to the same result of speaking several languages fluently.

And as I was listening to these polyglots telling me about their methods, it suddenly dawned on me: the one thing we all have in common is that we simply found ways to enjoy the language-learning process. All of these polyglots were talking about language learning as if it was great fun. You should have seen their faces when they were showing me their colorful grammar charts and their carefully handmade flash cards, and their statistics about learning vocabulary using apps, or even how they love to cook based on recipes in a foreign language. All of them use different methods, but they always make sure it's something that they personally enjoy.

I realized that this is actually how I learn languages myself. When I was learning Spanish, I was bored with the text in the textbook. I mean, who wants to read about Jose asking about the directions to the train station. Right? I wanted to read "Harry Potter" instead, because that was my favorite book as a child, and I have read it many times. So I got the Spanish translation of "Harry Potter" and started reading, and sure enough, I didn't understand almost anything at the beginning, but I kept on reading because I loved the book, and by the end of the book, I was able to follow it almost without any problems. And the same thing happened when I was learning German. I decided to watch "Friends," my favorite sitcom, in German, and again, at the beginning it was all just gibberish. 

I didn't know where one word finished and another one started, but I kept on watching every day because it's "Friends." I can watch it in any language. I love it so much. And after the second or third season, seriously, the dialogue started to make sense.
I only realized this after meeting other polyglots. We are no geniuses and we have no shortcut to learning languages. We simply found ways how to enjoy the process, how to turn language learning from a boring school subject into a pleasant activity which you don't mind doing every day. If you don't like writing words down on paper, you can always type them in an app. If you don't like listening to boring textbook material, find interesting content on YouTube or in podcasts for any language. If you're a more introverted person and you can't imagine speaking to native speakers right away, you can apply the method of self-talk. 

You can talk to yourself in the comfort of your room, describing your plans for the weekend, how your day has been, or even take a random picture from your phone and describe the picture to your imaginary friend. This is how polyglots learn languages, and the best news is, it's available to anyone who is willing to take the learning into their own hands.

So meeting other polyglots helped me realize that it is really crucial to find enjoyment in the process of learning languages, but also that joy in itself is not enough. If you want to achieve fluency in a foreign language, you'll also need to apply three more principles.
First of all, you'll need effective methods. If you try to memorize a list of words for a test tomorrow, the words will be stored in your short-term memory and you'll forget them after a few days. If you, however, want to keep words long term, you need to revise them in the course of a few days repeatedly using the so-called space repetition. 

You can use apps which are based on this system such as Anki or Memrise, or you can write lists of word in a notebook using the Goldlist method, which is also very popular with many polyglots. If you're not sure which methods are effective and what is available out there, just check out polyglots' YouTube channels and websites and get inspiration from them. If it works for them, it will most probably work for you too.

The third principle to follow is to create a system in your learning. We're all very busy and no one really has time to learn a language today. But we can create that time if we just plan a bit ahead. Can you wake up 15 minutes earlier than you normally do? That would be the perfect time to revise some vocabulary. Can you listen to a podcast on your way to work while driving? Well, that would be great to get some listening experience. There are so many things we can do without even planning that extra time, such as listening to podcasts on our way to work or doing our household chores. The important thing is to create a plan in the learning. "I will practice speaking every Tuesday and Thursday with a friend for 20 minutes.

 I will listen to a YouTube video while having breakfast." If you create a system in your learning, you don't need to find that extra time, because it will become a part of your everyday life.
And finally, if you want to learn a language fluently, you need also a bit of patience. It's not possible to learn a language within two months, but it's definitely possible to make a visible improvement in two months, if you learn in small chunks every day in a way that you enjoy. And there is nothing that motivates us more than our own success.

I vividly remember the moment when I understood the first joke in German when watching "Friends." I was so happy and motivated that I just kept on watching that day two more episodes, and as I kept watching, I had more and more of those moments of understanding, these little victories, and step by step, I got to a level where I could use the language freely and fluently to express anything. This is a wonderful feeling. I can't get enough of that feeling, and that's why I learn a language every two years.
So this is the whole polyglot secret. Find effective methods which you can use systematically over the period of some time in a way which you enjoy, and this is how polyglots learn languages within months, not years.

Now, some of you may be thinking, "That's all very nice to enjoy language learning, but isn't the real secret that you polyglots are just super talented and most of us aren't?"
Well, there's one thing I haven't told you about Benny and Lucas. Benny had 11 years of Irish Gaelic and five years of German at school. He couldn't speak them at all when graduating. Up to the age of 21, he thought he didn't have the language gene and he could not speak another language. Then he started to look for his way of learning languages, which was speaking to native speakers and getting feedback from them, and today Benny can easily have a conversation in 10 languages. Lucas tried to learn English at school for 10 years. He was one of the worst students in class.

 His friends even made fun of him and gave him a Russian textbook as a joke because they thought he would never learn that language, or any language. And then Lucas started to experiment with methods, looking for his own way to learn, for example, by having Skype chat conversations with strangers. And after just 10 years, Lucas is able to speak 11 languages fluently.

Does that sound like a miracle? Well, I see such miracles every single day. As a language mentor, I help people learn languages by themselves, and I see this every day. People struggle with language learning for five, 10, even 20 years, and then they suddenly take their learning into their own hands, start using materials which they enjoy, more effective methods, or they start tracking their learning so that they can appreciate their own progress, and that's when suddenly they magically find the language talent that they were missing all their lives.

So if you've also tried to learn a language and you gave up, thinking it's too difficult or you don't have the language talent, give it another try. Maybe you're also just one enjoyable method away from learning that language fluently. Maybe you're just one method away from becoming a polyglot. Thank you.


Source:www.ted.com

E-LEARNING-ONLINE COURSES-The best eLearning platforms for online courses, by N.F. Mendoza in CXO

The following information is used for educational purposes only.


The best eLearning platforms for online courses


by N.F. Mendoza in CXO


May 18, 2020


Online university programs get a boost, as schools determine the fate of the fall semester in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Online learning has come a long way since the first courses were rolled out for the mature students who needed to "attend" school on their own schedule. As the coronavirus pandemic sent employees and educators home, online courses have garnered more attention and relevance.

Online universities and those ramping up their online courses may be upgrading software to accompany an expected influx of students this fall, but the one common factor between them is the type of platform used, a learning management system or LMS. Generally, online courses are asynchronous and feature familiar elements, for example, an online lecture turned virtual, required weekly discussion participation , assignments, and exams. The LMS not only facilitates the curriculum, but informs instructors on student participation, who has fulfilled requirements and who hasn't.

Only half a decade ago, the dominant LMS programs were Angel and eCollege. Online platforms were costly for schools, and by offering discounts, administrators began considering other newer, up-and-coming platforms. Some colleges, like Western Governors University, which has an approximate 97,000 enrollment of fully online students, use portals specially designed for each course (it's actually an extended version of the Salesforce platform, combined with curated courseware).

Blackboard

Image: Blackboard

Blackboard is the grand dame of LMS and is still in use at many institutions of higher learning. Two schools best known for online courses, University of Phoenix (UOP) and Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), had long associations with Blackboard. SNHU lists more than 80,000 online students (of 90,000 total SNHU students). At UOP, 94,472 (of 95,777 students) are enrolled in exclusively online programs. More recently, SNHU switched LSMs to Brightspace.

"Blackboard is easy to implement and to tailor," said Elane Johnson, an award-winning online English instructor, who's taught online at several universities, and used various LMS.

Brightspace

Image: Brightspace

After years of using the stalwart Blackboard, SNHU switched to Brightspace. Initially, Brightspace may be more challenging to master, when compared to other products, Johnson said. Brightspace has "Release Conditions" in which a professor can hold content for a student until they've met certain conditions, then the held content appears to a student. Instructors can give feedback on assignments, automatically release new content or courses, as well as create or use rubrics, post announcements and assignments in an activity feed, and drag content directly into a course. The company has been making LMS products since 1992.

Brightspace is "very similar to Blackboard's fancier versions," Johnson noted.

LearnDash

Image: LearnDash

This LMS is used at University of Michigan, University of Florida, University of Washington, ProBlogger and DigitalMarketer, and is notable because it features an integration with WordPress. It has a reputation for being easy-to-use and geared toward beginners. For those easily distracted, it has "Focus Mode," which LearnDash says eliminates distractions as students navigate their course. Classes, group activities, and lectures are easily recorded, and users can also design interactive learning experiences.

LinkedIn Learning

Image: LinkedIn Learning

Affiliated with the workcentric social media site LinkedIn, LinkedIn Learning offers video courses taught by industry experts with real-world experience. It offers free courses to build skills. Some of the free courses include Discover Your Strength, Pitching Yourself, Influencing Others, Excel Tips Weekly, Managing in Difficult Times, Transform Your Personal Brand, Entrepreneurship Foundations, Finding Your Productive Mindset, Cultivating a Growth Mindset, and more. There are also free courses to "help you land your next job," build mindfulness and resilience, succeed at remote work, for a total of more than 15,000 courses, with dozens added each week. Courses are categorized as business, technology, or creative.

Podia

Image: Podia

Podia sets itself apart from other LMS because podcasts are integrated as a teaching tool. Podia hopes to draw a range of learners using this element. At signup, users receive marketing tools, some of which include the ability to add coupons, and sales pages. Podia also gives users the ability to "drip" courses, which means the designer "feeds" classes to targeted groups. It can be connected with Slack and Facebook groups, too.

Sakai

University of Virginia
The University of Virginia, shown here, uses the eLearning platform Sakai.

Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Sakai features the standards of a LMS as well as community-contributed tools, and external integrations available as add-on components. It offers an open-source flexibility, which allows configuration or customization. It's the choice LMS for schools such as Duke University, Pepperdine University, The University of Virginia, Notre Dame University, and Japan's Hosei University,

"Sakai was the easiest to navigate once a person is trained because it had the fewest options for each task," Johnson said. In addition to Blackboard and Sakai, she's used the Angel, Moodle, and eCollege.

Schoology

Image: Schoolology

This full-featured LMS boasts a number of built-in integrations, and comes with YouTube, Google Drive, and Dropbox, and each of the tools can be used while inside the system. Schoology calls itself "the only LMS that connects your campus," a solution that allows students and their instructors to communicate across the campus and across the world.

Skillshare

Image: Skillshare


It's an LMS, but it's also considered a "learning community for creators," with seven million creators and growing. Skillshare is designed more for those with a creative bent and those interested in interactive teaching. Photography, illustration, video, engineering, marketing, design, business and tech are some of the focal classes. Users choose from a bevy of courses at any given time, with 14 days of unlimited classes free.

Udemy

Image: Udemy

One of the "original" LMS (2007), Udemy offers 100,000 online courses, with new additions added monthly. Courses are primarily divided into categories like IT & software, development, marketing, photography, design, business and personal development. Instructors (there are more than 40,00) are professionals working in "the real world."

Udemy offers two option plans, "enterprise" and "team." The latter focuses on smaller groups between five and 20 people. The "enterprise" can handle more users and provides additional features.

An additional business account gives subscribers 2,500 business-related courses designed to "upscale your workforce," and analytics examine learning patterns, so employers can assess what works and what does not.


Source: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-best-elearning-platforms-for-online-courses/?ftag=TRE684d531&bhid=28519432474137426900123945798649&mid=12865122&cid=2132955468