This article analyzes the cultural transition towards postmodernity or a knowledge society and its impact on the changing needs of cities. This transition is characterized by a growing diversification of the use of technologies in most of the economic, political, educational, social, and cultural activities of different human groups. The concept of smart cities emerges, in which the roles and behaviors of citizens are redefined in physical spaces and in their interactions, as well as the function of institutions and interpersonal relationships. Emerging models of social and cultural behavior are required to analyze and systematize these realities, to understand how to increase effectiveness in action, and to rethink education and new ways of teaching and learning. All these processes are based on phenomena of innovation and management, mediated by technology. We proposed an analysis of the new digital skills of these individuals. The elements that shape the reformulation of roles and reference models, as well as an analysis of the postmodern cultural changes and the formation of a holistic, human-community-technology vision, are based on a new pyramid of training needs in which technologies are placed at the service of people's development, organizations, society, and culture.

Contemporary society is going through a cultural transition that leads to new conceptions about the ways in which human beings organize socially and communicate. This process of deep social and cultural transformations is characterized by a technological disruption, in which virtuality forms a new dimension that behaves as an extension of human intelligence. This new form of human interaction impacts on the social imagination, demanding one to rethink social and educational paradigms for the two-dimensional citizen. In this context, this research article describes the sociological importance and the process of social adaptation of users to a personal learning environment (PLE). It includes the validation process of an instrument for the study of the PLE of 8th grade students belonging to 15 schools in the Biobío Region of Chile. A PLE is a frame of reference that can help to understand how two-dimensional citizens socially adapt and influence the sustainability of local and global systems. The validation method for this instrument considered four stages: i) Expert judgment: considering the opinions of six educators and experts in information and communication technologies (ICT); ii) a pilot test: that included a non-probabilistic sample of 472 subjects; iii) a principal components analysis (PCA); and iv) a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The Questionnaire on Work Habits and Learning for Professional Futures and the Context Questionnaire SIMCE TIC were used as a reference. When performing a psychometric analysis, a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.89 was obtained. This confirms that the adaptation of the instrument is good. The results of the dimensional analysis help us define a structure for the new instrument considering three components that explain 55% of the total variance. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed adjustment indexes that support the theoretical model proposed for the PLE study. In conclusion, the instrument was composed of three latent variables: Open self-regulated learning (OSRL) with eight questions, information management (IM) with four questions, and creation and transfer of knowledge (CTK) with four questions.

With rising public concern over animal welfare, food safety and GM crops, Europe's farmers, breeders and food processors are caught in the eye of a storm. While some are 'returning to the soil' with traditional organic methods, others are breeding crops and animals using biotechnology, for markets as diverse as power generation and pharmaceuticals. For Europe's policymakers social and ecological sustainability are paramount, but public information is also a prerequisite for meaningful debate.

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La gestión del tiempo para el trabajo colaborativo, es posiblemente uno de los aspectos que pueden ser determinantes para el desarrollo de la labor educativa inclusiva. El propósito del estudio, fue conocer la gestión del tiempo destinado al trabajo colaborativo por docentes de Educación Regular y de Educación Especial de establecimientos educacionales con Programa de Integración Escolar (PIE). Método. Se utilizó un enfoque cualitativo, con un diseño de estudio de caso múltiple. Participaron 10 docentes de ambos sexos, 6 de Educación Regular y 4 de Educación Especial, de diferentes establecimientos educacionales. Como instrumento, se utilizó una entrevista semi-estructurada. Se realizó un análisis del contenido temático vertido en los discursos. Los datos fueron procesados con la ayuda de N-Vivo 11. Los resultados muestran que el tiempo disponible para el trabajo colaborativo es insuficiente y que muchas veces éste se realiza en espacios no formales.