Universidad Francisco De Research Articles

Enseñar y aprender habilidades de comunicación clínica en la Facultad de Medicina. La experiencia de la Francisco de Vitoria (Madrid)

Clinical communication has been accepted as an important content of medical curricula and recognized as an essential competence by accreditation bodies and international medical education organizations. “Clinical Communication” skills training requires the student to practice with “standardized patients” under direct supervision and observation and receive specific and personalized feedback. This task requires a small group teaching, through an experiential learning, given by medical teachers specialized in this subject, in an integrated way with other clinical skills, that is, not through aisolate interventions, but throughout the curriculum. We describes the general, managerial, educational features and main educational results of an integrated “Clinical Communication Skills Curriculum” for medical students, implemented at the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria school of medicine during the last six years. Some useful and practical messages for improving teaching and learning these skills in universitary medical education in Spain are extracted.

A Stage for the Revolution: Muharram and the Paradigm of Karbala in the context of Khomeini's Struggle with the Shah

29 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XL, No.2, WINTER 2017 A Stage for the Revolution: Muharram and the Paradigm of Karbala in the context of Khomeini’s Struggle with the Shah Javier Gil Guerrero* Introduction An important part of Iran’s Islamic revolution was the role that religious rituals and Persian folklore played in the social upheaval. Khomeini successfully conjured the spirits of the past in order to bring change to the present. This paper describes how Khomeini made use of (and reinterpreted) the slaughter at Karbala (680) in order to mobilize the population. Throughout this process Khomeini not only helped to revive old traditions, but he also reactivated old concepts like “martyrdom” while instilling new meaning to them.1 The objective of this paper is to put the Khomeini’s use of Muharram (the commemoration of Hussein’s death at Karbala) in perspective and examine the nuances that he added to the story and the rituals that had emanated from it. ThroughtheuseofMuharram,Khomeini“presentedtherevolutionarymovement against the regime as a morality play […] where heroes and villains could be easily identified.”2 The study locates Khomeini’s refashioning of Karbala within the context of the Iranian revolution and the Pahlavi state, including the struggle for the ideological orientation of Shia Islam, the attempts to monopolize the Karbala commemorations by the Iranian authorities and the repeated use of those ceremonies for political motivations. The contention of this study is that through his approach to the story of *Javier Gil Guerrero is a professor of Middle Eastern History at the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. He has recently published a book on the Iranian revolution, The Carter Administration & the Fall of Iran’s Pahlavi Dynasty (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) as well as several papers on Iran and the Persian Gulf in the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies and the Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos. He regularly writes on Islam in the Spanish press. 1 Elisabeth Jane Yarbakhsha, “Green martyrdom and the Iranian state,” Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Volume 28, Issue 1, 2014. 2 Jahangir Amuzegar, The Dynamics of the Iranian Revolution: The Pahlavi’s Triumph and Tragedy (New York: State University of New York Press, 1991), 31. 30 Hussein, Khomeini transformed the traditional image of the Imam from a passive and abused victim of injustice to a revolutionary martyr who fought to death against tyranny and oppression. Hussein became the prototype of a permanent revolutionary in a particular “Liberation Theology” of Islam.3 Khomeini’s innovative portrayal of Hussein reinterpreted one of the cultural pillars of Shia Islam in order to advance an “activist” approach to religion instead of the “quietist” one. The Karbala commemorations were thus dressed to fit a message of confrontation against the Shah in which the revolution was the only possible way for Shiites irrespective of its chances of success. The core of this paper is the description of Khomeini’s use of Muharram during his two clashes with the regime of the Shah in 1963 and 1978. The account is preceded by a brief overview of the historical events that inspired the mourning rituals of Muharram and their significance in Iranian culture and history. The aim is to contextualize the shifting interpretation of the ceremonies in the 1960s and 1970s through the particular beliefs and customs of Persian folklore and Shia Islam. Hussein, Karbala and Muharram The commemorations of Muharram revolve around the tragic end of Imam Hussein’s life in the year 680. Grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and son of the first Shia imam (and fourth Sunni Caliph), Ali. The slaughter of Hussein and the division concerning Prophet Muhammad’s rightful heirs constitutes the epicentre of the divisions between Shia and Sunni Muslims. The Shiites believe that the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law Ali had been designated leader of the Muslim community by the Prophet himself on his deathbed. It was a designation of divine inspiration, not a personal choice:Ali had been named heir to Muhammad’s leadership by God. The Sunnis, on the other hand, ignoredAli’s claim (accusing him of falsifying the story) and proceeded to accept the ruling of the elders of Medina...

La formación en responsabilidad social y su impacto en diversas carreras universitarias

La Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (UFV) desarrolla desde 1993, el primer proyecto educativo en el ámbito europeo, que integra en sus planes de estudios una asignatura obligatoria para formar a sus alumnos en la responsabilidad social. Con esta formación pretendemos acercar al universitario al área de irradiación del compromiso social para que él mismo perciba el valor<br />de lo que se le sugiere, lo asuma como propio y comprenda la importancia de plantearse el ejercicio socialmente responsable de su profesión. Nuestro propósito es evaluar el impacto de esta enseñanza en estudiantes universitarios. Para ello empleamos una herramienta fiable y válida, que mediante encuesta personal (muestra total: 757 estudiantes) facilita la recogida de información en dos momentos (pretest-postest). Los resultados indican que la asignatura de Responsabilidad Social tiene impacto significativo en los estudiantes, a nivel general y por dimensiones y es diferente en los distintos Grados universitarios.

Prácticas pedagógicas e índices de creatividad en la enseñabilidad de la física electromagnética

The purpose of the research was to analyze pedagogical practices of teachers and the creativity of students of electromagnetic physics at the Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander. The research follows a quantitative, descriptive approach. The sample of the study was composed of 10 teachers who guided and two groups of 42 students who enrolled in the subject Electromagnetic Physics in the second half of 2015 and first of 2106 in the Faculty of Engineering. Results: each teacher implements different approach and didactic strategies in their pedagogical practice, with a creativity index of 0.9 where teacher motivation factor to orient their class is associated with the academic performance of the student. Creativity index evaluated according to the MIDE indexes in engineering students is between 0.7 and 1. Conclusion: Analysis Capacity index is the most representative indicator in the creativity of students, teacher motivation factor has high relation with academic performance of student.

Prototipos electrónicos en el desarrollo de pensamientos formales

El artículo presenta los resultados de la investigación, realizada en la Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander de la ciudad de Cúcuta – Colombia- durante el II-2014 y I 2015, que comparó dos métodos de enseñanza, a través de un grupo prueba donde estudiantes de ecuaciones diferenciales desarrollan prototipos para determinar y analizar modelos matemáticos, y un grupo control que recibió clases sin el desarrollo de los prototipos. Su objeto fue determinar la influencia del uso de prototipos electrónicos en el rendimiento académico y desarrollo del pensamiento matemático de estudiantes de ecuaciones diferenciales en ingeniería. A través de un enfoque cuantitativo, de tipo campo, entrevista, diario de observación y test de desarrollo del pensamiento matemático analizada a través de técnica Fuzzy como instrumentos junto a resultados en evaluaciones, permitieron observar mejora en el desarrollo del pensamiento matemático de los estudiantes, y percepción positiva hacia las ecuaciones diferenciales.

North-South Partnerships: A Case Study of Curriculum Development for Sustainable Agriculture in Norte de Santander, Colombia

ABSTRACT Since 1997, the Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander (UFPS), Cúcuta, Colombia, the Universidad de la República (UDELAR), Uruguay, and the Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC), Nova Scotia, Canada, have been working to develop a new curriculum at UFPS with a focus on sustainable agriculture. The department of Norte de Santander is primarily agricultural with the majority of its rural population practising subsistence agriculture. The situation of peasant farmers has deteriorated over the past years, due in part to the introduction of high volume crops. High volume export crops have appropriated some of the best land, thus reducing available land for peasant farmers. The rural population is growing at a rate of 1.8% p.a., thus placing increased pressure on a smaller land base. Those pressures have resulted in the deterioration of the land farmed by the smallholder and the degradation of the surrounding environment. Compounding the circumstances of the family farm is the migration of males to urban areas. The curriculum is being developed to address the issues facing rural farmers, with a focus on soil and plant conservation, production optimization, soil amendment alternatives, low-input agriculture systems and marketing practices. Special attention is being paid to the situation of women farmers, including their training needs. The activities focus on three areas: curriculum development in sustainable agriculture; extension module development; and training for UFPS and NGO extension agents. The new courses being developed are flexible and are to be used within the university program, but also are being used in an upgrading for the UMATAs–Agrarian Technical Assistance Municipal Units–which work directly with peasant farmers, the majority of whom are women. This paper provides some background on the university, the area, and the North-South and South-South linkages that have been developed. The project is ending its second year and a summary of the progress and learnings are discussed.