The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of 2 different types of intervention aimed at improving written argumentative synthesis by integrating conflicting information from different sources. Both interventions combined the use of a guide with collaborative practice, but one of them also included explicit strategy instruction. Only students who received additional explicit instruction showed an improved ability to integrate conflicting information and increased the number of arguments they selected from the sources.

The Journal of Writing Research is an open access journal that publishes high quality papers covering the broad spectrum of writing research.

The well-being of people is a key aspect of the field of psychology. Hence, it is important to analyse the variables that are related to life satisfaction and happiness as perceived by individuals and that, therefore, increase their overall well-being. The main objective of this study was to analyse the predictive capacity of emotional intelligence and perceived social support on both the level of life satisfaction and perceived happiness. A total of 380 psychology students completed the Trait Meta Mood Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Subjective Happiness Scale. The results show that both emotional intelligence and social support are related to and predictive of subjective happiness and life satisfaction. The importance of developing the components of emotional intelligence and promoting an adequate social network in young people is highlighted.

Academic procrastination is a common behavior in higher education with a range of negative outcomes.This study examined the relationships among the Big Five personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience), academic procrastination and academic performance. Participants were 195 spanish undergraduates (77.4% female and 22.6% male), ranging in age from 18 to 51 years (M = 21.39; DT = 4.58). Ten Item Personality Inventory was used to measure Big Five personality traits and Academic Procrastination Scale-Short Form was use to measure academic procrastinación. Correlation analysis showed that academic performance was positively related to conscientiousness while being negatively related to academic procrastination. Using hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for age and gender, it was found that the Big Five and academic procrastinación predicted part of the variance in academic performance. This study contributes to the body of literature that has examined the relationship between The Big Five personality traits, academic procrastination and academic performance.

Introducción: la Competencia Digital (CD) es una característica necesaria en la práctica docente, más aún en la situación actual de pandemia. Analizarla de acuerdo con variables que puedan influir en su desarrollo resulta fundamental para poder realizar propuestas de intervención y formación focalizadas en perfiles de docentes que así lo requieren. El objetivo principal de esta investigación es conocer, describir y analizar la CD (habilidades y actitudes hacia el uso pedagógico de la tecnología) de docentes españoles de diversos niveles educativos. Método: se han aplicado dos cuestionarios elaborados “ad hoc” para la presente investigación a una muestra de 241 profesores españoles de diversos niveles educativos. Se ha estudiado mediante estadística no paramétrica si existen diferencias en la CD según el género y el nivel educativo y mediante análisis de correlaciones su relación con la edad y los años de experiencia. Resultados: se ha encontrado que la CD autopercibida es mayor en hombres que en mujeres, aunque la actitud es más favorable en las mujeres. Respecto al nivel se ha encontrado que la habilidad autopercibida es similar en los docentes de primaria, secundaria y universidad, sin embargo, la actitud es más favorable en estos últimos. Finalmente hay correlación negativa entre la edad y los años de experiencia con la habilidad en el manejo de dispositivos digitales y aplicaciones multiplataforma. Discusión: se encuentra una buena valoración por parte de los docentes respecto a sus habilidades para usar la tecnología, considerando que tienen mejor habilidad en los dispositivos digitales que en las aplicaciones multiplataforma.

Writing an argumentative synthesis is a common but demanding task, consequently undergraduates require some instruction. The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of two interventions on integrative argumentation: one of them was focused on the product features of argumentative texts; and the other one on the processes involved in the written argumentation. Sixty-six undergraduate students participated voluntarily. As an academic task, they were asked to write a pre-test synthesis after reading two sources which presented contradictory positions about an educational issue, then to read two new texts about a different but equivalent issue, and write a post-test synthesis following one of two types of instructional virtual environments. The instructions, implemented in Moodle, presented similar tools, employing videos, graphic organizers, and exercises. The first condition (n = 33) focused on the linguistic features while the second (n = 33), focused on the process, including explicit instruction and a script with critical questions to guide the reading and writing processes. In this study we have also analyzed how the students in the process condition answered some of the critical questions. The results show that the level of integration of the written products improved in both conditions, although this improvement was more pronounced in the process intervention. Nonetheless, the products that achieved medium and maximum integration were still limited. Despite the lack of a relationship between how students answered the critical questions and the level of integration in their post-test, the case analysis highlights certain educational implications and further research.