Establishing a balance between knowing, knowing how to do and knowing how to be is a challenge being faced in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), which, along with the Bologna process, has sought since 1999 to ensure more comparable, compatible and coherent systems of higher education in Europe. From another perspective, the challenge is about science, technology and humanism. Classrooms, no matter the education level, are bearing witness to technological progress and, predictably, concerns about how technology is contributing to education. The change has generated new terminology that reflects the profound transformation: E-learning, Web-Based Training, Internet-Based Training, … [Read more...] about E-learning: new models, new challenges
internet
A social network headed for global dominance… or buy-out syndrome?
It receives 15 percent of all Spanish internet traffic, has 11.5 million users and its own mobile phone operator and for the last year has been under the ownership of a telecoms giant. Tuenti is the social network of choice for Spain’s teenagers and a major corporate presence that many believe is on the verge of expanding abroad and taking on Facebook in the world market. Tuenti’s figures do indeed make for impressive reading and this, no doubt, was what appealed to Telefonica when the company made its €70-million bid for the social networking site in 2010. Now, a year after the takeover, Tuenti is at a key phase in its development. And as it moves forward in the shadow of one of Europe’s … [Read more...] about A social network headed for global dominance… or buy-out syndrome?
Fancy a sexual fling? Dating agency will help you cheat on your partner
The latest dating agency to hit the internet caused a stir in Madrid earlier this month, the main reason being because its advertising campaign was aimed at married women, though the agency, Victoria Milan, claims to cater for both sexes. We all know, of course, that neither sex needs an agency in order to be unfaithful. The agency says it offers ‘Married and Attached Dating – Free and Anonymous’. A further look at its website reveals that its main headquarters are in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. One can’t help but wonder whether this is a case of the more liberal attitudes generally displayed in the Nordic states coming into conflict with the Catholic principles held by many … [Read more...] about Fancy a sexual fling? Dating agency will help you cheat on your partner
Lost at sea in the fight against digital piracy
In recent years, Spain has won itself the dubious honour of being labelled a haven for illegal downloading, to such an extent that international distributors have voiced doubts about continuing to supply the country with material such as DVDs. The government has attempted to tackle this issue with a raft of anti-piracy measures. Known as the Sinde Law, after Culture Minister Ángeles González Sinde, they were confusingly tacked onto an Economic Sustainability Law unveiled last year. The specific details of the legislation were not approved until March and Congress is expected to put the act into effect over the next couple of months. Production companies, content providers and the … [Read more...] about Lost at sea in the fight against digital piracy
Chickens, eggs, Telefónica and the internet pie
As the wireless world’s biggest bash got underway in Barcelona this week, the words of Telefónica Chairman César Alierta loomed ominously over web content providers, search engine operators and internet users alike. Ten days before the start of the three-day Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry, Alierta had announced plans to make internet search engines pay for using the telecommunication company’s mobile networks. "Internet search engines use our network without paying anything at all, which is good for them but bad for us. It’s obvious that this situation must change, our strategy is to change this," declared the boss of Spain’s largest … [Read more...] about Chickens, eggs, Telefónica and the internet pie