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Immersive Gamification in STEM: Educational Escape Rooms for Engagement and Formative Assessment

2025-07-25T14:47:30+00:00

Gamification has emerged as an innovative educational approach to foster engagement, critical thinking, and collaboration. Although most research on educational escape rooms has focused on higher education, empirical evidence in secondary STEM contexts remains scarce. This study addresses this gap by analysing the design, implementation, and evaluation of an interdisciplinary escape room for 68 first-year IGCSE students in Portugal. Biology, chemistry, and mathematics content was integrated into scenario-based challenges to promote both subject-specific knowledge and transversal competencies. Data were collected through observations, post-activity discussions, student questionnaires, and analysed thematically. Results showed high levels of cognitive and emotional engagement: 92.6% of participants reported enhanced knowledge, and 95.6% affirmed learning gains. Students valued the experience as educational, fun, and engaging, while challenges such as prior knowledge gaps and time constraints revealed the escape room’s diagnostic potential. The findings align with the CREATE framework for escape room design and resonate with international policy agendas (OECD, UNESCO) that emphasise 21st- century skills and formative assessment. This study contributes empirically by extending evidence to secondary STEM education, methodologically by positioning escape rooms as diagnostic as well as motivational tools, and theoretically by connecting gamification with media literacy and digital culture as transformative strategies in contemporary pedagogy.

Hate Speech on Social Media: The Intersection of Gender, Race, and Class. State-of-the-art

2025-10-07T02:15:04+00:00

This PRISMA systematic review of 49 studies analyzes recent scientific production (2017-2025) to account for approaches to the intersectional nature of hate speech on social media, where gender, race, and socioeconomic class intertwine, producing experiences of digital discrimination. The objective was to identify the predominant theoretical and methodological frameworks and evaluate their capacity to capture this complexity. We employed a mixed-methods approach that integrated bibliometric analysis (using Bibliometrix and VOSviewer) and critical content analysis of the literature indexed in Scopus, following the PRISMA criteria. The field shows exponential growth since 2021, with production concentrated in Spain (44.9% of the corpus) and a core of specialized journals. Mixed-methods approaches predominate, combining computational techniques (NLP, machine learning) with critical discourse analysis. While we identified psychosocial (Integrated Threat Theory) and critical (Intersectionality, Critical Race Theory) frameworks, the analysis reveals a lack of perspectives such as platform governmentality and affective economies. The social class dimension remains understudied compared to gender and race. We conclude that research must adopt more robust frameworks and integrated methodologies that simultaneously capture computational scale, the structural depth of intersectional oppressions, the affective dimension, and algorithmic governance to develop interventions that address the roots of intersectional hate in contemporary digital ecosystems.

Fake Accounts and Political Manipulation: Topic and Sentiment Analysis in Indonesia

2025-09-19T16:46:36+00:00

Fake accounts have evolved from mere tools of online deception into strategic infrastructures of political manipulation that systematically shape public opinion and intensify polarization. This study aims to uncover how fake accounts operate as coordinated actors that exploit platform architectures to amplify divisive narratives in Indonesia’s digital public sphere. Using a Natural Language Processing (NLP) pipeline—data collection, preprocessing, topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and interpretive mapping—this research analyzed 8,102 posts generated by 100 identified fake accounts across X (Twitter) and Instagram. The findings reveal that negative, morally charged narratives—although constituting a small fraction of all content—disproportionately drive engagement and virality, particularly on X, whose open architecture facilitates mass diffusion. In contrast, Instagram’s private network design confines manipulative content within insulated circles, suggesting differentiated strategies of disinformation. The study contributes new empirical evidence on how inauthentic actors leverage platform logics to influence collective sentiment. Beyond theoretical implications, it recommends multi-level interventions through digital literacy education, platform governance reforms, and regulatory oversight to mitigate the systemic risks of coordinated inauthentic behavior.

Converged Network Infrastructure for IP Telephony with Asterisk in Paján

2025-09-20T20:58:03+00:00

The digital transformation of local governments faces the challenge of optimizing institutional communications with limited resources. This research evaluates the implementation of a converged network infrastructure based on Voice over IP (VoIP) with the Asterisk platform in the Decentralized Autonomous Government of the Paján Canton, compared to traditional telephone systems. The research question is: How can VoIP technology using Asterisk improve communication efficiency and reduce operating costs in municipal governments with limited technological infrastructures? The objective is to design and implement a converged network model that optimizes internal communications and evaluate its impact on administrative efficiency and cost reduction. The methodology employs a mixed descriptive-analytical approach, including a technical infrastructure audit, surveys of officials, and a comparative cost analysis. Key findings include: 95% of staff support the VoIP implementation; the technical analysis confirms feasibility by leveraging existing infrastructure through VLAN segmentation and QoS policies; and the proposed model reduces monthly operating costs and improves scalability without investment in additional cabling. A novel, replicable model for digital communication transformation, specifically designed for Ecuadorian local governments (GADs), is provided, demonstrating that Asterisk is a technically viable and economically sustainable alternative to costly proprietary solutions. Phased implementation with ongoing training and service quality monitoring is recommended.

Generative Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Education; Challenges and Ethical Issues

2025-10-09T15:44:02+00:00

The integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence into education is reshaping teaching and learning practices, creating an urgent need for regulatory and verification policies. In health-related university programs, these challenges are amplified because inaccurate information may lead to potential diagnostic and treatment errors. To examine the official AI policies of Spanish universities and assess the accuracy of ChatGPT 3.5 outcomes. Comparative study. Although university policies promote transparency and responsible use, they lack mandatory mechanisms to ensure systematic verification of information generated by AI tools. The study highlights the need for administrative policies that embed critical verification models within the curriculum, ensuring that the use of artificial intelligence reliably strengthens—rather than jeopardizes—the quality, safety, and academic rigor of university education, with relevance for healthcare training.

“Does AI Make Us Smarter—or More Dependent?”: Public Discourse on Knowledge Construction Across Cognitive, Behavioral, and Ethical Dimensions

2025-10-16T21:49:27+00:00

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in educational ecosystems, its role in shaping how knowledge is acquired, interpreted, and applied raises new questions about human cognition, behavior, and ethics. Rather than reexamining AI’s efficiency or acceptance, this study explores how the public constructs meanings, responsibilities, and governance expectations around AI as a learning partner. Framed within the broader context of digital education policy and ethical AI governance, this study develops a Cognition–Behavior–Ethics (CBE) × Three-Stage (Acquisition, Comprehension, Application) analytical model to examine how public discussions on Reddit (2013–2025, N=10,503 posts) reflect collective reactions and reflections toward AI-assisted learning as a social phenomenon. Topic Modeling reveals three recurrent dilemmas: ensuring informational reliability during knowledge acquisition, maintaining cognitive agency amid growing AI reliance, and reconciling ethical responsibility with institutional and policy constraints in application contexts. These findings demonstrate AI is simultaneously constructed as an intellectual partner, behavioral facilitator, and ethical interlocutor—roles that transform learning from a pedagogical to a socio-technological process of reflection and negotiation. The study contributes theoretically by extending AI acceptance research into a discourse-driven framework of knowledge construction and practically by highlighting the need for transparent, participatory, and stage-specific governance in educational AI systems. Sustainable AI integration requires not only technological innovation also ethical oversight, public deliberation, and adaptive policy mechanisms fostering accountable, human-centered learning environments.

The Moderating Role of School Level in the Effect of Leadership Styles and School Culture on Teacher Burnout

2025-10-24T11:20:12+00:00

Teacher burnout remains a persistent challenge in contemporary education despite ongoing reforms, digital transformation initiatives, and policy-driven improvement efforts. In Türkiye, increasing bureaucratic demands, exam-oriented pressures, and rising expectations for teacher accountability have intensified emotional exhaustion and diminished professional fulfillment. Although leadership and school culture are widely recognized as key determinants of these outcomes, empirical models that simultaneously integrate leadership subdimensions, cultural mechanisms, and contextual moderators remain limited. Addressing this gap, the present study investigates how three transactional leadership styles—active management-by-exception, passive management-by-exception, and reward-based leadership—influence teachers’ emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment through organizational culture, and whether these relationships differ between primary and secondary schools. Using a correlational design, data were collected from 701 teachers working in public schools across the Kastamonu and Bart?n provinces. Moderated mediation analyses (Hayes’s PROCESS Models 14 and 59, 5,000 bootstrap samples) were employed to examine the structural pathways. The findings revealed that passive leadership substantially increased emotional exhaustion, particularly in secondary schools, whereas reward-based leadership reduced exhaustion indirectly by strengthening achievement-oriented culture. Both active and reward-based leadership enhanced personal accomplishment through task-oriented culture, while passive leadership undermined accomplishment by weakening achievement- and task-related norms. Overall, the results demonstrate that leadership exerts its influence on burnout primarily through the cultural climate of schools rather than through direct managerial actions alone. These findings offer a novel contribution by presenting one of the first comprehensive models in the Turkish context to jointly test transactional leadership subdimensions, three cultural mediators, and school-level moderation. Practically, the study underscores the importance of cultivating success- and task-oriented environments, implementing transparent and meaningful reward systems, and reducing bureaucratic load—strategies that can support teacher well-being, emotional resilience, and sustainable professional growth.

Computational Thinking Pathways in Preschool: A Multimodal Approach

2025-11-01T18:33:54+00:00

Computational Thinking (CT) is increasingly recognized as a foundational competence in early childhood education, supported by international digital literacy policies promoting equitable access to technological learning from early ages. However, research remains fragmented, as most studies examine a single pedagogical modality in isolation, leaving limited evidence on how young children progress across different types of CT experiences. This study aims to analyze how a sequential multimodal learning pathway—unplugged activities, block-based Android apps, and Blue-Bot tangible robotics—contributes to CT development in preschool children aged 4 to 6 years. A classroom-embedded intervention was implemented over nine weeks following three consecutive modalities. A total of 432 rubric-based observations were collected across six CT dimensions: abstraction, algorithms, decomposition, evaluation, modeling-simulation, and pattern recognition. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively using means, standard deviations, and percentage distributions across performance levels, complemented by qualitative teacher notes for contextual interpretation. Findings reveal a clear progression across modalities, with initial-level performances decreasing (44% ? 33% ? 31%) and adequate–advanced levels increasing proportionally. Unplugged activities strengthened evaluation and pattern recognition, digital apps enhanced sequencing and modeling–simulation, and robotics produced the most balanced CT profile, with 50% of responses in adequate–advanced levels. Results highlight complementary contributions rather than competing effects across modalities. The study provides empirical evidence that sequential multimodal instruction supports CT development through a coherent progression from concrete to abstract reasoning. Pedagogical and policy implications include the need for structured CT pathways, teacher training in multimodal strategies, and early digital literacy initiatives aligned with international frameworks.

Digital Visibility of Knowledge Transfer in Teacher Education

2025-11-12T04:30:05+00:00

The importance of institutional transparency in Colombia has led to a study on the lack of evidence of how higher education institutions (HEIs) digitally visibility their teacher training practices. This study systematically analyzes the digital visibility of knowledge transfer (KT) in teacher training at accredited higher education institutions (HEIs) in Colombia. These institutions are represented in 66 HEIs: 26 public and 40 privates. Through descriptive-comparative research, institutional web content was evaluated using a validated 12-item instrument (). Exploratory factor analysis identified two dimensions: (1) visibility and intellectual production, and (2) access and transfer practices. Multivariate analysis revealed significant differences between sectors (Pillai’s trace = 0.729, p < 0.001): public HEIs stand out in terms of visibility of intellectual production (), while both sectors show similar accessibility. Cluster analysis identified two institutional profiles: high visibility/low access (36%, predominantly public) and low visibility/high access (64%, predominantly private). These findings reveal technical interoperability barriers in 42% of the HEIs evaluated. This first empirical mapping of TC on teacher training in a Latin American region contributes to the literature and recommends the adoption of practical dimensions based on the relevance of content on teacher training, institutional governance, and the projection of a national policy that promotes national standards of digital visibility mediated by protocols and periodic audits that strengthen the academic potential of HEIs as a distinctive factor for educational quality.

To Prompt or Not to Prompt: Possible Impacts of AI in the Generation of Fiction

2025-11-23T20:09:56+00:00

Recent advances in generative artificial intelligence have made the production of literary fiction accessible to many users, enabling the individualized creation of fiction for personal consumption. This article examines the individual and cultural implications of AI-assisted fiction through a multidisciplinary framework. Drawing on a method triangulation, the study focuses on five dynamics likely to be disrupted by AI-generated fiction: democratization, customization and filter bubbles, connection and solitude, creativity, and the effects on professional writers. While AI-generated fiction holds democratizing potential by lowering barriers to literary production and enabling personalized learning, emotional regulation, and self-reflection, it also raises concerns regarding cultural fragmentation and the reinforcement of individual filter bubbles. Further, customized fiction may change experiences of empathy and connectedness, potentially substituting social interaction with parasocial or self-referential engagement. Finally, the article considers the ambiguous status of creativity in AI-assisted writing and the challenges posed to professional authorship and copyright rules. Overall, the findings suggest that fiction generated with AI neither constitutes a purely emancipatory nor a purely disruptive force; rather, its societal impact will strongly depend on how these technologies are integrated, regulated, and taught within educational and cultural contexts.

Examining Artificial Intelligence Toys and Robots Features on Children’s Developmental Domains and Learning Skills

2025-12-05T19:47:57+00:00

AI toys and robots are among the many advanced technological devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. These technologies have been rapidly entering children´s everyday life (in play and learning). The IoT devices in the education domain can be characterized by their ability to connect via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, their personalized design features and their embedded sensors. Only a few studies explored how these elements could be aligned with children’s development and learning. This study aims to analyse AI toys and robots’ characteristics and functionalities and its possible implication in early-childhood classrooms and other educational environments. Using structured observation with a specific guideline, a quantitative content analysis approach was used to examine the features of 20 AI toys and robots available on the market. The results suggest that in early childhood education contexts, AI toys could be introduced and used as an educational resource based on their potential for children’s learning and play experience. The analysis reveals a co-presence amongst features related to children’s socio-emotional development, the use of computer vision and natural language processing. Similarly, the characteristics that could promote physical and motor development through play are associated with the possibility of movement and gestures of the devices. The associations found between the functionalities present in AI toys and robots that incorporate AI suggest that they could be used for specific educational purposes, which is consistent with previous empirical studies, such as interactivity, thinking skills, physical development, and social learning. While the implication related to data capture indicates the necessity to strengthen privacy and address the risks associated with children as users.

The Impact of the Generative Artificial Intelligence Application “ChatGPT” on the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election: Measurement and Ethical Analysis

2026-02-16T10:24:51+00:00

The contemporary applications of artificial intelligence are rapidly expanding across various areas of society, increasingly influencing politics and political communication. This study examines the role of AI in the electoral process through an analysis of texts generated by “ChatGPT” in response to queries related to the two main candidates in the 2024 U.S. presidential election — Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The main goal of this study is to determine the presence or absence of specific ethical and symbolic elements in AI-generated content that may influence individual and collective perception. To achieve this, a secondary objective is formulated: the aim of the study is to identify the content and semantic characteristics of these texts. The research is based on quantitative content analysis and frame analysis. The dataset included 41 text queries with a total volume of 3,503 generated words. The results show that the longest texts are generated in response to questions concerning the potential role of the candidates in addressing socially significant issues rather than their personal or professional qualities. Two main frames were identified: “Effective Politician” and “Ineffective Politician.” Their frequency and the key expressions associated with each frame were determined. The overall conclusion is that in the texts generated by ChatGPT, the “Effective Politician” frame appears more frequently in texts about Kamala Harris than in texts about Donald Trump. Drawing on the ethical “good-bad” dichotomy, a certain stereotype can sometimes be traced within the information array, which may be expressed as follows: “Harris is more likely to solve the stated problem, while Trump may or may not.” Several recommendations for users are proposed that could mitigate the influence of such ethical-logical constructs. The study concludes that the “Effective Politician” frame appears more frequently in texts about Kamala Harris than in texts about Donald Trump. The ethical implications of the influence of such tools on individuals’ political views are also examined.

Digital Communication and Citizen Participation in Local Governance: San Martín de Porres (Peru)

2025-12-12T03:22:04+00:00

This study examines the role of digital communication in citizen participation processes specifically linked to local governance. The analysis is based on a case study conducted in a municipality of Lima, San Martín de Porres, covering the period from 2023 to 2026. From a qualitative and interpretive perspective, the research sought to understand how digital content, communication platforms, and message exchanges shape the forms of interaction established between citizens and local government. These thematic and strategic dimensions are currently embedded within governance agendas promoted at the regional level, such as those advanced by CEPAL (2024). Regarding the methodological design, the combination of content analysis of institutional messages and semi-structured interviews with key actors made it possible to examine communicative practices from the participants’ experiences and perceptions. The findings indicate that, although digital communication represents a relevant channel for informing and mobilizing citizens, its current use reveals significant limitations. These constraints are mainly related to low levels of interaction, weak institutional feedback, and limited adaptation of content to users’ expectations and digital competencies. Taken together, these results highlight that when digital communication is conceived primarily as a one-way process, it does not necessarily processes and the construction of active citizenship. contribute to the effective strengthening of citizen participation, nor does it foster higher levels of institutional trust. In this regard, the study provides empirical evidence supporting the need to rethink existing digital communication strategies from a more participatory and context-sensitive perspective, linking local governance with media education.

Body Knowledge in Students Tangled Through Digital Platforms

2025-12-31T16:14:57+00:00

The daily relationship with digital platforms has led to epistemic shifts regarding the human(non)human body and natural and artificial boundaries. This has had an impact on different areas of life, including students and their educational communities. However, there is a lack of studies that address the relationship between technology and the (non)human in students’ bodily agencies from a posthuman perspective. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore bodily knowledge that students articulate and agency, and to analyze the human(non)human entanglements and relationships that make up bodily knowledge through digital platforms. The methodology combines digital ethnography with a posthumanist approach, with a relational design that includes analysis of digital images, review of platforms, and visual narratives (interviews) created by students between the ages of 14 and 17 from schools in Santiago, Chile. The results visualize the composition of digital cognition between knowledge technologies (natural sciences) and the datafication of images based on biases of gender, ableism, human(non)human, which are agency by students. It is concluded that bodily knowledge is not independent of the intra-action of technologies, humans, and learning processes in schooling, since technologies modify the human body in digital contexts, shaping techno-human agencies.

From Signs to Systems: A Semiotic-Pragmatic Framework for Digital Health

2026-02-04T21:44:22+00:00

In contemporary digital health ecosystems, particularly in mental health, usability research has largely emphasized functional efficiency while under-theorizing communicative meaning-making. Despite advances in human–computer interaction, no empirically validated framework conceptualizes usability as a communicative semiotic phenomenon embedded in cultural and contextual conditions. This study addresses this gap by developing and empirically testing the Semiotic Framework for Usability (SFU), reconceptualizing usability as a communicative semiosphere grounded in Jakobson’s language functions and Lotman’s semiosphere theory. The framework was applied to eleven digital health applications and evaluated with 30 heterogeneous participants (aged 18–72) using a mixed-methods triangulated design combining semiotic coding, A/B testing, NASA-TLX cognitive load assessment, adaptive onboarding, surveys, and semi-structured interviews. Results indicate semiotic-informed redesign increased symbolic comprehension by 25%, reduced cognitive load by 39%, and improved task completion by 30%. Semantic ambiguity was the primary usability barrier, confirming the centrality of communicative clarity. Multimodal reinforcement strategies—including visual glossaries, interpretative metaphors, and redundant coding—enhanced emotional alignment and trust perception. These findings reposition usability as a communicative and educational practice rather than solely a technical attribute. The study contributes a replicable semiotic–pragmatic model for evaluating digital health interfaces, with implications for media education, inclusive design, and culturally sensitive systems aligned with ISO 9241-210 and WCAG standards.

Theoretical Articulation of ABPy, The TPACK Model and Digital Competencies in the Educational Sector

2026-02-19T03:08:27+00:00

Digital transformation has intensified the need for digital competence development grounded in citizenship; however, research points to a persistent gap between technological access, pedagogical integration, and formative assessment in secondary education. This article reports a systematic literature review (2019–2024) conducted in Scopus, ERIC, and Google Scholar. Using explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria, 30 studies were selected and analyzed through thematic synthesis. Findings converge on three complementary components: (1) Project-Based Learning (PBL) as a methodological structure for authentic problems, verifiable products, and collaborative learning; (2) the TPACK model as a framework for teacher mediation that aligns technological decisions with content and pedagogy; and (3) digital competences as an integrative learning goal including critical, ethical, and participatory dimensions. Recent empirical evidence suggests that reported improvements in digital literacy and competence depend primarily on intentional design, teacher professional development, and explicit assessment criteria rather than on the mere use of digital tools. As a contribution, the article proposes an evidence-derived articulation framework that integrates design principles, conditions of applicability, and formative assessment criteria to support contextual implementations in secondary education.

Learning-centered Leadership and Communication: Principles, Practices, and Dilemas

2026-02-24T17:01:55+00:00

This article examines educational leadership and communication as drivers of learning improvement, focusing on the organisational, cultural and relational conditions necessary for sustainable and meaningful educational change. The paper questions leadership and communication models focused on administrative management or the uncritical adoption of innovations, proposing instead leadership and communication oriented towards collective learning. Through a theoretical-reflective approach based on critical analysis of literature and the author’s professional experience, concepts and practices are systematised from an informed perspective. The results identify key leadership and communication practices for learning: generating meaningful conversations, building shared student-centred visions, creating learning communities, effectively allocating time and resources, and developing a culture of trust, collaboration and shared responsibility. The conclusion highlights that effective educational leadership and communication are not based on formal authority or the accumulation of initiatives, but on the ability to learn with others, maintain sustained commitment, and create conditions for the educational community to be an active agent of change. Thus, institutional improvement is oriented towards a profound and sustainable transformation of learning, where distributed and collaborative leadership and open and transparent communication prevail over traditional hierarchical models. This article is motivated by the need to bridge the gap between theoretical frameworks of educational leadership and their practical application in real institutional contexts, particularly in Spanish-speaking settings where empirical research on learning-centred leadership remains limited. Despite advances in the field (Hallinger, 2011; Karakose et al., 2024; Leithwood et al., 2020), a gap persists in the systematic articulation of the relational and communicative principles that sustain sustainable educational change. The originality of this work lies in the formulation of an integrative action framework linking distributed leadership, organisational communication and the building of learning communities, developed through a narrative-reflective methodology applicable to diverse educational contexts. Its contribution is interdisciplinary: it integrates the fields of educational communication, educommunication and leadership pedagogy to offer transferable principles oriented towards sustainable institutional improvement.

Reframing Traditional Models of Educational Technology in the AI Generative Era

2026-03-02T08:00:33+00:00

The expansion of generative artificial intelligence in education has renewed debate about its pedagogical value, ethical risks, and the new forms of mediation emerging among teachers, students, and technologies. The problem guiding this study lies in the fact that these forms of mediation, increasingly present in higher education, are not fully explained by frameworks for technology integration developed for non-conversational digital environments. In this context, the study examines how students and graduates of postgraduate education programs perceive the potential of language models such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to support meaningful learning, and whether these perceptions call for a reconsideration of TPACK and SAMR. The research follows a qualitative, interpretive methodology based on theoretical thematic analysis. Data collection involved open-ended questionnaires (N=50) and semi-structured interviews (N=10) conducted with participants affiliated with two universities in Israel and Argentina. Three core themes emerged: (1) Production, where generative AI supports information retrieval and writing; (2) Interaction, where participants perceive it as a cognitive and dialogic support; and (3) Ethics and Resistance, where concerns arise regarding dependency, authenticity, fairness, and pedagogical responsibility. The study’s originality lies in articulating empirical evidence with a human-computer interaction perspective in order to provide conceptual and pedagogical criteria relevant to teaching, AI literacy, and institutional guidance.

The Mirror Effect: Offline Professional Capital and the Legitimacy of Online Personal Branding

2026-03-06T20:00:00+00:00

This study proposes the “mirror effect,” a phenomenon whereby online personal branding does not confer professional legitimacy autonomously but instead reflects and amplifies professional capital accumulated in offline contexts. While existing literature on personal branding has emphasized digital visibility and online self-presentation practices, there remains limited understanding of the conditions under which such visibility is interpreted as credible and legitimate. The objective of this study is to explore how offline professional capital is reflected in online personal branding and how it conditions its interpretation in terms of professional legitimacy. From a descriptive phenomenological approach, this study examines how Latin American professionals and executives experience the relationship between offline trajectories and digital recognition, as well as the criteria through which audiences interpret online visibility. The study is based on 26 in-depth interviews with professionals and executives from Peru and Colombia, analyzed following Moustakas (1994). The findings show that digital visibility is perceived as more credible when aligned with a previously recognized professional trajectory, whereas intensified online presence without sufficient offline grounding generates skepticism and reputational risk. This study contributes to the literature by conceptualizing online personal branding as a relational phenomenon and proposing the “mirror effect” as an explanatory lens. It offers implications for professional development and the strategic management of visibility.

Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: A Pedagogical Intervention

2026-03-17T19:47:38+00:00

Artificial intelligence (AI) is radically transforming higher education, offering considerable potential for personalized learning, but also posing significant ethical challenges such as algorithmic bias and the potential decline of critical thinking. This study contributes to the field of medical education by providing empirical evidence on how early training can shape future professionals’ attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI). Given this duality, it is imperative to obtain systematic data on students’ perceptions of the design of pedagogical interventions and well-founded institutional policies. This topic was chosen due to the need to prepare students for an increasingly technology-mediated work environment, seeking to reduce technology anxiety, increase self-efficacy, and foster the ethical and responsible use of these tools from the beginning of their academic training. The objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of a pedagogical intervention on the perception of AI among 90 first-year medical students at the Technical University of Ambato. This research was conducted with medical students in Ecuador, integrating AI into the learning of disciplines such as clinical embryology. A quantitative approach with a single-group, pre-experimental design using pretests and posttests was employed. The validated PEIIA scale, which demonstrates high reliability (?=0.945), was used to measure dimensions such as effectiveness of use, learning improvements, and emotional reactions. Statistically significant changes (p < 0.05) were revealed in the dimensions of perceived usefulness and ease of use. A reduction in technology anxiety was observed as students understood that AI can achieve diagnostic accuracy exceeding 80% in areas such as clinical embryology compared to human evaluation. The main innovation of this study lies in the use of a pre-experimental design with pre-test and post-test, which overcomes the limitations of the cross-sectional studies predominant in the current literature by scientifically evaluating the direct impact of a specific pedagogical intervention on student perception through visualization. This intervention positively modified student attitudes, fostering technological integration that enhances human capabilities. The ethical use of these tools requires transparency and that ultimate responsibility always rests with the human operator.