Purpose: The confidence placed in the use of technology and other computing resources is an important support for the deep transformation toward processes of very high quality teaching-learning based on active learning. This paper aims to present and describe a higher education experience with Flipped Learning before and during the transformation of education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the study analyzes the effectiveness perceived by university students of Flipped Learning for the development of competencies for the 21st century.Design/methodology/approach: For this study, a quantitative methodology is used in which 376 university students fill out a questionnaire after experiencing several sessions with an inverted classroom under both onsite and online instructions.Findings: On average, the results show a high agreement among students on the benefits or effectiveness that learning designs with Flipped Classroom have on the development of skills that will be useful for their personal and professional future. These competencies include character building, collaboration, communication, citizenship, critical thinking and creativity. At the same time, and depending on some control variables such as the modality of teaching (onsite or online), the course, the predisposition to innovate or previous experience with innovation, significant differences are also observed.Originality/value: Education and learning have the need to respond to the different educational and training needs for the future. In this sense, the Flipped Classroom methodology allows the development of skills for the 21st century. In turn, this approach also makes it possible to approach blended learning. Experiences such as the one described in this study will characterize the future of education.

El modelo educativo propuesto desde el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior requiere una transformación orientada hacia un aprendizaje socio-constructivista desde el que se prepare al alumnado para la globalización, el avance tecnológico y la capacidad de innovación constante. A este respecto, la utilización del enfoque metodológico Design Thinking está cobrando cada vez mayor relevancia en el proceso de formación universitaria de los futuros docentes. Desde esta perspectiva, se describe una experiencia de Design Thinking cuya finalidad es el diseño de un proyecto de innovación educativa y se analizan, mediante un cuestionario, las percepciones de 107 estudiantes universitarios sobre dicho proceso. Los resultados indican que los equipos de trabajo lograron diseñar planteamientos innovadores a problemáticas reales de su entorno comprometiéndose activamente en el proceso compartido de búsqueda de soluciones. Esta metodología activa supone un impulso a la confianza de los estudiantes en sus capacidades creativas y desarrollo de las habilidades empáticas.

We understand soft skills as an integrated set of knowledge, skills and values that facilitate the effective, affective and efficient development of a skill or activity. The objective of this study was to identify the soft skills that are most often used in the orientation process and those that improve employability, according to Spanish counselors. A qualitative methodology was used. The participants (n = 57) were orientation professionals. A total of 273 interviews were conducted over five years. The results and conclusions show that communication and decision-making are the most important competencies in the orientation process and at the level of employability, followed by intrapersonal skills, skills in interpersonal relationships, teamwork, problem solving, adaptation to new situations, creativity and leadership.

Media and information literacy is the process of empowering people to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively in order to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. This paper presents the dimensions and categories of an instrument (the MIL questionnaire) developed within the University of the Basque Country’s UNESCO Chair in Communication and Educational Values, which aims to analyse media and information literacy levels amongst adolescents. The instrument is based on four dimensions that encompass basic aspects of the field of educommunication. These dimensions are: (1) Media access and use; (2) Media language and critical comprehension; (3) Production and programming processes; and (4) Transforming one’s situation through communication. The aim of this piece of research was to test the reliability and validity of this instrument in a pilot study conducted with 167 adolescents aged between 13 and 15, from schools in Colombia, Ecuador and Spain. With the exception of the first dimension, the results indicate that the questionnaire has an acceptable reliability level and is an adequate instrument for evaluating media and information literacy among adolescents.

RESUMENLas soft-skills o competencias transversales se consideran imprescindibles hoy en día para la formación en cualquier campo de conocimiento. Sin embargo, en los servicios de orientación profesional para universitarios todavía no se han incorporado de forma general. El objetivo de la investigación es conocer cómo influye el recibir orientación profesional por competencias transversales en el nivel de empleabilidad de los universitarios-egresados y comprobar si existen diferencias significativas según sexo, edad o situación laboral.Se utiliza un diseño cuasiexperimental pretest-postest con grupo control-experimental. Se lleva a cabo una intervención de orientación por competencias, La muestra es de 748 universitarios-egresados que solicitan orientación profesional y participan en programas subvencionados por la Unión Europea dentro de los programas de los Agentes Sociales de Aragón. Obtenemos la información a través de cuestionarios, entrevistas y de grupos de discusión elaborados (ad hoc). Los datos cuantitativos son analizados con el programa estadístico SPSS y los datos cualitativos son analizados a través de categorización predefinidas y emergentes por segmentos o unidades de análisis y textos transcritos con el software Nvivo.Se halla que la orientación profesional por competencias mejora el nivel de empleabilidad de los universitarios. Recibir orientación profesional por competencias contribuye positivamente a la mejora del nivel de empleabilidad de los universitarios en general y al desarrollo de las competencias transversales y del manejo de los recursos y las herramientas de un modo particular. Existe una clara correlación entre los universitarios-egresados que reciben orientación profesional por competencias y una coyuntura laboral satisfactoria en los mismos.ABSTRACT Soft skills or transversal competences are considered essential for training in any field of knowledge. However, professional guidance services for university students have not yet been incorporated. The aim of the research is to know how professional orientation by transversal competences influences the level of employability of university-graduates and to check if there are significant differences according to sex, age or employment situation.For the research, a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a control-experimental group was used, as well as a competency orientation intervention. The sample was compound of 748 university-graduates who request professional guidance and were enrolled in programs subsidized by the European Union within the programs of the Social Agents of Aragon. Information was obtained through questionnaires, interviews and discussion groups. Quantitative data are analyzed with SPSS statistical program and qualitative data are analyzed through predefined and emerging categorization by segments or units of analysis and transcribed texts using Nvivo software.It is found that professional orientation by competences improves the employability level of the university students. Receiving professional guidance by competences contributes positively to the improvement of the employability level of university students in general and to the development of transversal skills and the management of resources and tools. There is a clear correlation between the university-graduates who receive professional guidance by competencies and a satisfactory working conjuncture in themselves.

After analyzing the scientific literature referring to guiding actions developed in secondary education, there is an appreciable lack of research on process efficiency performed by teachers. This study explores the practice of tutoring, which in Spain is coordinated by counselors but the responsibility of teachers. An ad hoc semistructured questionnaire was designed, validated and applied within the framework of a collaboration agreement between professional institutions of counselors and researchers. The questionnaire was answered by 102 counselors who are heads of guidance departments because the insight of counseling experts was desired. The quantitative and qualitative data analyses indicated correlations between the profile of the counselors and the performance of tutoring, described the content and predominant intervention models and identified needs for improvement. A much more intensive and direct intervention by counselors is necessary in a system in which teachers are not trained enough and time dedicated to tutorial action is deficient. Notably, counselors coordinate and supervise tutoring, but they feel overwhelmed by the lack of concrete norms and their workload.