Cuban Higher Education Research Articles

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES REGARDING GENDER EQUALITY. A CASE STUDY IN CUBA

The objectives of this article are to describe the communication strategies developed on the subject of gender equality and to analyze the results of their implementation within the student community at the institutional level in Cuban higher education; specifically, the case of the Faculty of Design (Higher Institute of Design) of the University of Havana, Cuba, is analyzed. The methodology used for this research is the case study, and the techniques of document analysis and expert interview have been applied. The results display that students were sensitized to the issue of gender equality. Debate workshops were held on the topic, as well as activities inside and outside the institute in order to generate products of design to promote the topic of gender equality. The different manifestations of gender violence and how to confront them were made visible. The potential of visual communication as a strategy to promote gender equality was recognized, as a wide range of design results addressing the topic were achieved, which were socialized by the students with the rest of their colleagues through workshops created for this purpose. The designs generated became the coursework for several of the subjects included in the students curriculum. From this point on, the students participation became much more feasible, as their design and photography work for the project also contributed to their coursework. In addition, the optional subject Gender and Design was organized, where students were able to acquire the essential theoretical elements on the relationship between gender theory and industrial design, in order to develop the necessary skills to unlearn gender stereotypes that influence the creation of their products and incorporate new creative visions in the professional activity of design as an important element of communication.

Framework and Analysis of Key Performance Indicators in Cuban Higher Education

This article aims to examine how Cuban higher education has implemented and created frameworks for key performance indicators (KPIs) to enhance its higher education accountability and quality. Referring to the past 15 years of available data on the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s website (2005–2020), this study shows that Cuba’s higher education system has improved, as indicated by the increasing rate of the gross graduation ratio (both sexes) as well as national and inbound student mobility. Resumen Este manuscrito examinó como la educación superior cubana ha implementado y creado marcos de referencia de Indicadores de Ejecución Clave para mejorar su responsabilidad y calidad de educación superior. Refiriéndose a los últimos 15 años de información disponible en la red mundial (2005–2020) de la página de las Naciones Unidas sobre Enseñanza, Organizaciones Científicas y Culturales, este estudio demuestra que el sistema de educación superior ha mejorado, indicado por el incremento en la tasa de graduación bruta (ambos géneros) nacional, y de movilidad estudiantil interna

The pandemic situation and Cuban higher education

The pandemic situation and Cuban higher education

Interpretation of the CEFR Companion Volume for developing rating scales in Cuban higher education

Considering the need for improving English proficiency among Cuban university graduates, the Ministry of Higher Education (MES) implemented a new policy for teaching, learning and assessment of English proficiency. The policy adopted the CEFR (Council of Europe [CoE] 2001) as a proficiency framework, with the level B1 as the targeted attainment level. The CEFR needed to be adapted to suit the local context while operating within an internationally recognised framework. In 2017, the development of a valid and reliable proficiency exam was initiated. This work has been carried out by a network of Cuban teachers of English within the MES, coordinated by the University of Informatics Sciences, Havana, in collaboration with the University of Bremen, Germany. This article is a practice report of the process of developing rating scales for writing as part of the new exam. We explore the feasibility of using the CEFR Companion Volume (CEFR/CV; CoE 2018) descriptors as a basis for developing localised rating scales. Moreover, we describe the challenges faced during the process, which included creating more specific descriptors for the CEFR ‘plus’ levels (CoE 2001: 32, 181). Our insights show how the CEFR/CV (CoE 2018) descriptors can be adapted and how adaptation challenges can be overcome.

Predicting Computer Engineering students' dropout in Cuban Higher Education with pre-enrollment and early performance data

We present an educational data analytics case study aimed at the early detection of potential dropout in Computer Engineering studies in Cuba. We have employed institutional data of 456 students and performed several experiments for predicting their permanency into three (promotion, repetition, and dropout) or two classes (promoting, not promoting). We have also tested a combination of classification features for training and testing decision trees and neural networks; including information obtained at the time of enrollment, after the first semester and after the first academic year. Our results show a considerable accuracy using all features (96.71%). Using only the features available at the time of enrolment and after the first semester we obtain very positive results (68.86% and 93.85% accuracy respectively) with a high recall of non-promoting students. Thus, it is possible to obtain an early assessment of the risk of dropout that can help defining prevention policies.

Enseñar a litigar en Derecho: una experiencia práctica en la Universidad de Pinar del Río

El presente artículo muestra las características y los resultados de un juego de roles llevado a cabo en el área del pregrado universitario en Cuba. El objetivo que se persigue es implementar los juegos de roles como una estrategia ideal para la formación de las competencias profesionales en los estudiantes de Derecho de la Universidad de Pinar del Río. Para lograr dicho objetivo, los estudiantes participaron en la representación del Juicio del Moncada. El diseño metodológico, de corte cualitativo, emplea el método fenomenológico como parte de un estudio de etnografía escolar, que se complementa con la metodología investigación acción-participativa. La recolección de datos se ha realizado a través del análisis de documentos, la observación participante, las encuestas y las entrevistas grupales, con la participación de 22 estudiantes, 6 jueces y 8profesores de la carrera de Derecho. El aporte teórico radica en la propuesta de un sistema de habilidades litigantes y el aporte práctico consiste en la implementación de los juegos de roles jurídicos, destacándose la representación del Juicio del Moncada como experiencia inicial. Los resultados indican que la propuesta de simulación de juicios orales como método problémico ha tributado significativamente al desarrollo de habilidades litigantes en la educación superior cubana.

Perfeccionamiento de la enseñanza de la estadística en la carrera de turismo

Uno de los retos fundamentales que enfrenta hoy en día la educación superior cubana es el diseño e implementación de una nueva generación de planes de estudio de las carreras universitarias, denominados Planes de Estudio E. En este trabajo se exponen consideraciones acerca de los retos que implica el perfeccionamiento del proceso de enseñanza – aprendizaje de la estadística en la carrera de Turismo en este nuevo contexto, y a partir de ello se realizan propuestas para el perfeccionamiento de la enseñanza de la asignatura, tanto para el curso diurno como para el curso por encuentros.

Logros y desafíos de la red universitaria REDMA : por la sostenibilidad ambiental de la educación superior en Cuba.

Entre los temas más citados que hacen parte de las preocupaciones del mundo actual están la sostenibilidad ambiental y el desarrollo, no solo desde la reflexión de teóricos, humanistas, políticos y otros, sino también desde las agendas y agencias internacionales que los han posicionado como prioridad básica a ser atendida como salvaguarda de la vida en el planeta, en este sentido, la internacionalización de la economía y de los problemas socioculturales como la crisis ambiental y de valores, se tornan en asuntos medulares a considerar en la formación de profesionales. Desde la Educación Superior cubana, el logro de los fines mencionados está estrechamente relacionado con la capacidad de movilización colectiva y de proyección responsable de acciones que ofrece el trabajo en redes, de ahí que el objetivo de la presente disertación sea exponer los principales avances y resultados que ofrece hoy la Red de Medio Ambiente del MES (REDMA), en sus más de 20 años de conformada donde, desde la investigación y el intercambio científico, se integran procesos y políticas en la gestión del conocimiento y la innovación en favor del medioambiente, la prevención de riesgos y peligros, y la adaptación al cambio climático; las vías utilizadas para la compilación y selección de las mejores experiencias fueron el registro de información y la sistematización; los resultados expuestos evidencian sus contribuciones a la formación integral y multifacética de profesionales comprometidos con el desarrollo económico-social y sostenible del país.

LA EVALUACIÓN DEL IMPACTO DE LA FORMACIÓN LABORAL EN LA EDUCACIÓN ESPECIAL

La Educación Superior cubana está abocada en profundas trasformaciones que vislumbran la necesidad de asumir nuevos retos ante las exigencias del presente siglo. Los estudios exploratorios y los resultados arrojados hasta la etapa actual sobre la formación laboral en la Educación Especial en Holguín, Cuba, permiten que se piense en un estudio de evaluación de impacto que contemple el profesional en formación en pregrado y posgrado y su incidencia en las instituciones educacionales. En tal sentido, el presente artículo declara como objetivo definir la evaluación del impacto de la formación laboral para la Educación Especial e identificar los indicadores que se deben monitorear. Para su concreción se utilizaron métodos tanto del nivel teórico como empírico, además, las reflexiones realizadas por los investigadores, permiten concluir que el método científico es la vía para diseñar y evaluar el impacto de la formación laboral en los profesionales, a partir de los conocimientos adquiridos por los docentes para diagnosticar, ofrecer tratamiento, solucionar problemáticas e identificar las potencialidades y carencias del proceso que se investiga.

PROYECTOS PARTICIPATIVOS: UNA ALTERNATIVA PARA PROMOVER EL APRENDIZAJE CREATIVO DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS

Creativity its development and estimulation in XXI Century is still a need in Cuban Higher Education that needs to be solved through the direction of the teaching learning process. There are huge numbers of literatures that recognize the importance of this capacity in the students and specifically in the teaching learning process of foreign languages. The practical proposal of the present investigation was carried out with 1st year pre-service English language teacher, in Las Tunas University. The main objective was to implement the use of participatory projects in the classroom to develop and estimulate creativity. The projects were carried out through stages students have to follow during its realization. We considered important definitions and a literature review to analyze and support ideas with different research related to the same field of creativity and projects. After the implementation of the projects the results we obtained were satisfactory in the development of creativity as a complement in the teaching learning process of foreign languages.

Evolutionary Multi-objective Optimization for Scheduling Professor Evaluations in Cuban Higher Education

In Cuba, university professors are often evaluated during the development of a class. Scheduling such evaluations along the academic semester is a common task of the head of the department, who must satisfy several criteria at the same time. Examples of these criteria are the presence of at least one tribunal member of the same academic unit, the presence of at least one tribunal member with equal docent category, availability and the utilization level of the tribunal members, among others. However, scheduling professor evaluations can become a complex task if several professors and evaluations are considered. Aiming at solving this problem, in the present work we propose a computational approach based on 1) modelling this task as a multi-objective optimization problem and 2) solving this problem by adapting a variant of a very well-known evolutionary algorithm, NSGA-II. The results of the performed computational experiments show that our proposal contributes to obtaining useful quality solutions.

Methodological vision of the class in Cuban Higher Education. Special reference for the Law Degree

The work supports the concept of class as the activity and the most important moment of the educational process. In the case of the School of Law, as highlighted in several scenarios can be developed and by means of various types of classes. Whether in the classroom through lecture, seminar and class meeting. Also by the lab and workshop, on jury or in the company as natural laboratories for the development of these types of educational activities. Along this line of thought, the author characterizes all class types and identifies the indicative nature of the goals that the teacher should be conceived as the analytical program of the subject, its relationship to the Curriculum and pedagogical model, basic documents for the development of teaching methodology, considered a very important process for the development of the educational process in higher education in Cuba.