Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the process of building a model that identifies criteria that determine the quality of virtual postgraduate programs. In the Colombian context, there are no national criteria/standards to evaluate the quality of this type of program. This proposed model is implemented in a public university that has several virtual postgraduate courses within the framework of university autonomy. Design/methodology/approach This study implements a descriptive methodology through documental research based on the study of 414 documents and the analysis of 39 and research based on the design of the proposal of a quality model, its validation by experts and its application in the academic community of a public university that has virtual postgraduate courses. Findings The results are presented in a structure composed of 10 quality factors: coherence between programs, virtual methodology and institutional horizon; attention to students; characteristics of author teachers, virtual teachers and researchers; academic, curricular and learning processes; research, knowledge generation and production; the relationship with the environment; articulation and impact; need satisfaction and ability to generate innovation processes; internationalization, alliances and insertion in scientific and global networks; and technological resources and production of virtual contents, among others. Research limitations/implications This model can be prospectively incorporated into processes that have adapted online training elements in health emergency contexts. Practical implications This model combines theoretical and practice aspects and the validation of experts, which contributes to the reflection on the quality of virtual programs, with criteria different from those proposed for face-to-face and distance programs. Social implications Even though the model resulting from this inquiry responds to the situated context of a particular virtual academic program, the research perspective may be oriented to perform longitudinal studies of its implementation, as well as its adaptation to other situated contexts, including those that make use of virtual processes and means of remote education. On the other hand, it provides elements to be taken into account in the construction of educational policies on the quality of virtual programs and future research. Originality/value This paper is the result of a research project and its content is original.

This article presents an analysis of students' conceptual understanding of technology. The study focused on two groups of seventh-grade students located in Bogotá, Colombia, living in rural and urban areas and participating in activities developed in a virtual learning network. The methods used in this study followed grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 2002) to generate a theoretical structure that allows explanations to be built on how participants construct concepts. A total of 1,257 analysis units were obtained. After an open, axial selective coding process, these units were classified into four categories: artifacts, materials, and instruments; social and cultural aspects; systems, knowledge and processes; and scientific applications. From these categories, the results show an ordination in transversal dimensions helicoidally articulated in the following ascending order: (1) artifacts (technological, cultural, symbolic, and scientific), (2) objectives of technological advances (transformation processes with varied purposes highlighting continuous technological change), (3) fulfillment of basic survival needs (daily life, welfare, and biological maturity), (4) artifact production in terms of process (creation, innovation, and context transformation), and (5) relationships between human beings and technology (passive role, positive interdependence, and symbiosis). In conclusion, a unidirectional concept of technology encompassing all its features cannot be built. In contrast, students construct the concept in a plural, complex way. The construction of a technology concept at the school level leads to a more comprehensive education in technology in terms of its attitudinal, volitive, and cognitive aspects, which favor cultural technology insertion in schools.

Esta ponencia presenta una experiencia de innovación pedagógica y didáctica que se fundamenta en la necesidad de contar con espacios virtuales de formación que atiendan las necesidades e intereses de aprendizaje de estudiantes de un programa posgradual de maestría, que se realiza con metodología virtual. Basado en las características del aprendizaje en red y los entornos personalizados de aprendizaje -PLE-, la experiencia busca plantear un modelo de diseño de este tipo de entornos -que incluye condiciones iniciales, orientaciones para su desarrollo, estrategias y componentes-, implementarlo y determinar su impacto en los aprendizajes de los estudiantes en comparación con el uso de entornos virtuales de aprendizaje -EVA- utilizados en la formación de manera regular. Tras la recolección de información cualitativa y cuantitativa mediante encuesta, rúbricas de valoración y resultados académicos, no se encuentran diferencias significativas entre la implementación de PLE y EVA. Sin embargo se evidencian varias pistas que alientan la sostenibilidad de esta experiencia.

Este artículo presenta una síntesis de la investigación realizada por el grupo Didactec, la cual fue financiada por el Ministerio de Educación Nacional. Gira en torno a la conformación de un Observatorio Nacional de Uso y Apropiación de Tecnologías Móviles en la Escuela. El proceso de investigación busca recopilar y analizar las experiencias realizadas en Colombia sobre el tema, para luego construir un plan estratégico dirigido hacia la puesta en marcha del Observatorio, junto con las experiencias analizadas en un micrositio web que, esperamos, haga parte del Portal de Colombiaaprende.