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This article critically examines the intersections of translanguaging, raciolinguistics, and curriculum studies within the context of Latin America. It interrogates how dominant discourses and practices perpetuate coloniality and linguistic hierarchies in the region. Through an analysis of a special issue of the "Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy," the paper explores how emergent scholarship challenges the hegemony of Global English and disrupts colonial narratives embedded in national educational policies. By theorizing curriculum at the intersection of translanguaging, raciolinguistics, and sociopolitical contexts, this article advocates for a counter-curriculum that prioritizes the epistemic agency of historically excluded communities. Translanguaging practices emerge as a form of resistance, underscoring the role pedagogy plays in subverting dominant language ideologies. They challenge Eurocentric ways of knowing by advancing inclusive pedagogies rooted in local knowledges and linguistic diversity. Ultimately, the article advocates for a decolonial curriculum that prioritizes linguistic autonomy, cultural pluralism, and epistemic justice in Latin America and beyond.

"Cuerpo-territorio" is a method stemming from Latin American geography, which recognizes the centrality of situated and embodied experiences as a form of knowing. We engaged with this method in the classroom to understand how students through their embodied and situated experiences had absorbed a post-development geographic course content and how these notions had remained with them. Given that emotions, particularly when elicited by images play a major role in consolidating knowledge, we asked students to explore their embodied feelings related to the course content by reflecting and representing them in a visual form on a poster. Through this paper, we aim to contribute to the debate on the importance of applying decolonial strategies in the classroom by widening the methodological toolbox of our geography colleagues. We find that, given the diversity of the students' population, working with a boundary object such as the posters helped students to relate to each other via the course content. Finally, reflecting and assimilating the course content through "cuerpo-territorio," we argue, was conducive to consolidating learning outcomes, while students experienced knowledge co-creation with their peers.

Background: Nutritional interventions can help to develop healthy eating patterns during the transition to university, which is a critical transition for all college students. Purpose: This research aims to analyze eating behaviors and food choices through sustainable nutritional education interventions with college students from a multinational university in Latin-America. Methods: The nutritional intervention had eight sessions emphasizing lifestyle nutrition patterns. There was an intervention group (n = 85), and a control group (n = 80). This research evaluated the eating behaviors and food choice motivators before and after the intervention. Results: The nutrition education interventions showed that the group under intervention improved, changing from unhealthy to moderately healthy habits, whereas the control groups remained in unhealthy eating behaviors. Food choice motivations slightly differ from the two groups after the intervention. Discussion: The control group students reflected on their lack of awareness of good eating habits so that current trends could influence their food choices in social networks associated with the pandemic, economic factors, and supply. Translation to Health Education Practice: The findings from this research highlight opportunities for Certified Health Education Specialists focused on project development and evaluation.

This review aimed to provide an overview of teacher professional development programmes for teacher training carried out in Latin America, considering the critical characteristics for PD reported in the literature. The 34 studies were analysed based on six critical features that were identified as being important in order to achieve a positive impact on the practice of teachers. The analysis allowed us to identify the presence of the following critical features: (i) duration; (ii) content focus; (iii) active learning; (iv) programme type; (v) collaborative participation; and (vi) coherence in the professional development programmes studied. The characteristic of collaborative participation is expressed in the opposite way to what is reported as effective in the literature. While the five critical features are not explicitly mentioned by the most studies analysed, a tendency to consider these features in the design of PD programmes was identified.

Standardised International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have gained prominence in global and national educational discussions. ILSAs claim to offer valuable insights for improving education systems, but their impact on educational policy varies and has become a contested arena. This article analyses how these assessments fed educational policymaking in six Latin American countries based on a review of policy documents; the article advances three theses on how ILSAs are used by policymakers: First, there is a tokenistic usage of ILSAs; second, ILSAs must be considered more as political devices bolstering national reputation rather than studies in the academic sense; third, ILSAs can serve as leverage tools that can be mobilised for broader political ends. The study shows that the promises, designs and reporting of ILSAs are not necessarily aligned, that participation in ILSAs has become a symbolic gesture, and that ILSAs' data are often cherry-picked to support pre-existing diagnoses and policy agendas.

This paper provides a Latin American perspective on ESD, with a focus on transformative and participatory learning in community contexts. With a long history of critical pedagogies, Latin America provides a fertile ground for exploring alternative forms of education as a means to address deep-rooted challenges in western traditional strands of education. We start by providing an overview of pertinent educational currents present in Latin America, then ground these perspectives in two case studies carried out by the authors -- one from Colombia, the other from Brazil -- which explore grassroots initiatives in community settings that utilise different forms of education and learning. We then propose an integrative model to foster alternative educational approaches that might lead to decolonial and regenerative praxis, finishing with a discussion on how Latin American-rooted regenerative decolonisation perspective and praxis can inform global ESD discourses.

Introduction: Short sleep, physical inactivity, and being locked up are risk factors for weight gain. Objective: We evaluated weight gain according to sex, age, hours of sleep and physical activity in university students from 10 Latin American countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Cross-sectional and multicenter study (n = 4880). Results: The average age was 22.5 ± 4.4 years. 60.2% were currently locked up. 73.6% were women, 48.2% increased their body weight, 66% reported insufficient sleep hours, and 65.9% were inactive. Women gained more weight than men (73.2%) and younger students gained more weight (85.1%). Those who had insufficient sleep hours gained most weight (67.6%). Inactive participants gained most weight (74.7%). Students who have insufficient sleep are 21% more likely to have changes in body weight compared to students who have optimal sleep. Conclusion: The increase in body weight and its risk factors during confinement should be considered as emerging from public health.

Globally, the private school share of enrollment increased from about 14 percent in 2000 to about 18 percent in 2019. We estimate the systemic effect of private enrollment share on learning outcomes. Estimates of the systemic effect of private school enrollment capture any competitive effects as well as any differences between public and private schools in raising student outcomes. We use new data from the World Bank on harmonised learning outcomes for mathematics, reading, and science to produce an unbalanced sample of 120 countries from 2000 to 2017. We find that, all else equal, on average, a one percentage point increase in private enrollment is associated with null to at most weakly positive effects on country-level learning outcomes. Countries that increased private school enrollment experience as much or slightly more learning than countries with no change in private school enrollment.

Occupational mismatch is a highly debated phenomenon in developed countries, but rarely addressed in developing economies. This study investigates the magnitudes of overeducation and overskilling in four Latin American countries in which tertiary education has expanded rapidly (i.e. Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru). Using objective and subjective measures derived from PIAAC, we find that overeducation affects between 29% and 43% of the workforce and has a regressive nature. Overskilling is significantly lower than overeducation in Peru and Ecuador, and this can be related to more years of education failing to translate into more skills. Overskilling is higher in the OECD than in Latin America, and differences measured using subjective indicators are not related to additional basic skill attainment of OECD workers. This indicates that workers' perceptions about how their skills compare against the performed tasks involve abilities additional to the basic skills considered in the objective indicators.

There is a deficit in character education research in Latin America and a lack of clarity about conceptual issues relevant to values and virtues. This lack of conceptual clarity has practical importance. The research sought to investigate empirically how school managers and teachers understand and practice character education, with particular attention to the distinction between educating values and virtues. The study was carried out during the first semester of 2022 on a sample of 160 schools in 17 countries, mainly in Christian schools in Spain and Mexico. The results show that there are differences according to the type of school and country. There are important findings regarding the concept of virtue and its relation to the concept of value, which virtues and values are most relevant for schools to teach, and which are the most used strategies in character education programmes. The research points to moral education as a central theme in schools, which considers both virtue and values education. There is a genuine interest on training teachers in virtue education.

This study described integrative community therapy (ICT) in the online modality as a health promotion resource in the context of COVID-19 in Latin America, characterizing the ICT circles, the ICT training centers, and the community therapists involved in this practice. It is a descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. Data were collected from November 2020 to July 2021 through an online questionnaire created on the Google Forms platform. The study's first stage involved the participation of ICT training centers, while the second involved community therapists. Forty-three centers participated in the first stage; 86.1% offered online ICT in the period evaluated, and 74.4% trained professionals to implement this modality. In the second stage, 66 community therapists responded to the questionnaire. Of these, 49 (74.2%) resided in Brazil, 84.8% were female, and 72.7% performed the work voluntarily, with an average of 6.1 hours per week dedicated to online circles. Community-based circles were the most cited, followed by those linked to the public sector, with an average of 20.7 participants/circle in the period. The most frequent themes were stress and negative emotions, problems with work/unemployment, and family conflicts. Strengthening self-care, participation in ICT circles, and personal empowerment stood out among the coping strategies. In conclusion, online ICT proved to be an innovative resource for health promotion during the pandemic through the articulation and engagement of community therapists and different institutions, expanding solidary social networks, and showing itself as a sustainable practice in the Latin American scenario.

An earlier diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder might lead to an earlier intervention, yet knowledge and awareness of autism spectrum disorder in Latin America and Caribbean Countries are limited. A later autism spectrum disorder diagnosis has been associated with negative consequences, as it might imply later access to services. This study aims to identify factors associated with the age of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis as reported by 2520 caregivers of autistic children from six Latin America and Caribbean Countries. Results indicate that on average, caregivers were concerned about their child's development by 22 months of age; however, the diagnosis was 24 months later. Current age of autistic individuals, better language abilities, and having public health coverage increased the age of diagnosis. On the contrary, the presence of medical comorbidities, severity level, and type of diagnosis decreased the age of diagnosis. The age of diagnosis of autistic individuals in Latin America and Caribbean Countries corresponded to the start of formal schooling despite a much earlier age of first noticed developmental concern, highlighting the need to reduce this age gap and increase children's probability of benefiting from early intervention. Taken together, autism spectrum disorder personal/clinical characteristics and access to health service are the main determinants for the age of diagnosis.

Purpose: This study aims to present a conceptual framework aimed at promoting educational innovation in supply chain management and logistics (SCM&L). The framework can help to design active learning experiences regarding student learning outcomes that tackle current challenges in the discipline. Emphasizing the significance of linking students' learning to real-world scenarios, the framework enables reflective learning through hands-on engagement in a constructive alignment, overcoming existing pedagogical limitations in the field. Design/methodology/approach: This study presents a qualitative research methodology that relies on the case study method. Three instances are presented to illustrate educational efforts of active learning in countries of Latin America, Bolivia, Mexico and Peru, linking real-world relevant situations to disciplinary teaching and learning. Findings: The innovative learning experiences introduced in this study transform real-world SCM&L operations into distinctive educational opportunities. These experiences facilitate learning not only within traditional classrooms but also in urban areas of the Latin American region, enabling students to interact with educational partners in authentic settings to achieve their intended learning outcomes. These experiences are characterized by their focus on establishing meaningful connections between learning and local communities, businesses or specific contexts. Research limitations/implications: The study recognizes various limitations of conceptual, methodological, execution-related and research process aspects. First, not all academics in the SCM&L discipline may universally acknowledge the importance of educational innovation and active learning experiences because of limited pedagogical awareness. Moreover, execution-related limitations arise from the demanding nature of incorporating active pedagogical approaches into courses, as they can be resource-intensive and time-consuming. Regarding research process limitations, the case study limits generalizability and broader inferences because of its particular views and locations, which require further investigation with other instances across other disciplines and geographical regions for validation. Practical implications: The practical implementation of this framework within the MIT SCALE network for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) demonstrates its potential in meeting diverse academic and institutional expectations and providing educational benefits to students. Social implications: The study makes a valuable contribution to prioritizing and coordinating pedagogical research by investigating the success of learning outcomes achieved through active and experiential implementations in various contexts. It provides inspiring examples of innovative learning experiences that can drive new developments not only within the LAC region but also in other areas, prompting a shift away from traditional educational approaches. Originality/value: This research presents a conceptual framework, which is developed from the insights obtained in the three learning experiences to guide future efforts in SCM&L education. The findings demonstrate how to structure active learning experiences based on authentic assessment and illustrate the potential for increased cooperation among institutions in Latin America. It also promotes the recognition of novel SCM&L active learning experiences and highlights some of the benefits of this approach.

Several studies have indicated that stakeholder engagement could ensure the successful adoption of learning analytics (LA). Considering that researchers and tech developers may not be aware of how LA tools can derive meaningful and actionable information for everyday use, these studies suggest that participatory approaches based on human-centred design can provide stakeholders with the opportunity to influence decision-making during tool development. So far, there is a growing consensus about the importance of identifying stakeholders' needs and expectations in early stages, so researchers and developers can design systems that resonate with their users. However, human-centred LA is a growing sub-field, so further empirical work is needed to understand how stakeholders can contribute effectively to the design process and the adoption strategy of analytical tools. To illustrate mechanisms to engage various stakeholders throughout different phases of a design process, this paper presents a multiple case study conducted in different Latin American universities. A series of studies inform the development of an analytical tool to support continuous curriculum improvement, aiming to improve student learning and programme quality. Yet, these studies differ in scope and design stage, so they use different mechanisms to engage students, course instructors and institutional administrators. By cross analysing the findings of these three cases, three conclusions emerged for each design phase of a CA tool, presenting mechanisms to ensure stakeholder adoption after tool development. Further implications of this multiple case study are discussed from a theoretical and methodological perspective.

Global university rankings (GUR) have become increasingly influential as a proxy measure of higher education quality. The more recent development of regionalised forms of rankings has increased their global reach, drawing a greatly expanded range of institutions into their orbit. As a result, regionalised GUR have developed an increasing potential power to shape social perceptions, institutional actions, and everyday academic practices. In this paper, the perceived impact of regionalised forms of GUR is analysed from the perspective of Latin American higher education. Based on a critical meta-synthesis framed by a "glonacal heuristic" (Marginson and Rhoades, Higher Education 43:281-309, 2002), the tensions arising around the application of regionalised forms of global rankings are mapped. Specifically, the impact of rankings on conceptions of the mission of universities is foregrounded. The meta-synthesis identifies three primary tensions around the regional application of GUR in Latin American contexts: how conceptions of regional higher education quality are most effectively developed, how the local university is imagined under the weight of global expectations, and the relativised value of local agency in assessing quality outcomes. The findings suggest that GUR have created strong fissures in Latin American higher education regarding the missions of institutions, particularly in confronting the powerful hegemonies of the epistemologies of the Global North imposing themselves on Latin American higher education. The paper concludes that the stratification and social anxiety caused by the regional applications of GUR may not be necessarily productive in encouraging regional institutional diversity or in enhancing the local relevance of higher education.

Intercultural competence (IC), a desired outcome in many international schools, comprises the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes to effectively navigate intercultural situations. However, international schools are often elite institutions catering to affluent expatriates and host country nationals, thus aligning the development of IC to elite norms. This study explored the perspectives of six local scholarship students in a Central American international school, finding that these students have internalised this elitism as part of their IC development. This suggests that international schools could better serve the broader community by incorporating a critical stance towards IC that promotes equity without reinforcing elitism.

For the past four decades, intercultural bilingual education (IBE) has been a common policy prescription to address Indigenous/non-Indigenous education gaps in Latin America. Initiatives have grown from small, localised pilots to national and state-level initiatives across thousands of schools. While there is some rigorous evidence of the effectiveness of IBE pilot initiatives at a small scale, there is very little evidence that expanding them to a larger scale benefits learners to the same extent. This article reviews the existing evidence on IBE's effectiveness and identifies a number of challenges in replicating success at scale. The authors identify factors which have limited our understanding of IBE's effectiveness, as well as factors which may have contributed to less-than-ideal outcomes for larger programmes, including uneven coverage, varying teacher quality, and limited resource availability for smaller Indigenous languages. Addressing these issues will be crucial for improving IBE programmes' ability to operate successfully at scale.

Imagining Spanish America as Eden and sublime force, colonial environmental aesthetics inaugurated American "disponibilité," figuring environment in the colonial matrix of power as the non-place outside of European time and space. The image of the garden evoked by this aesthetics corresponded to the desired, secular transformation of environment, which delimited the location of a colonial vegetal-human relations of extraction. I contend that in the transition period from colony to republic, cultural, political, and scientific discourse used the image and language of the garden to reestablish claims over territory by shifting from the Edenic to georgic mode. I offer the Garden State as a (neo)imperial environmental aesthetic to lay bare the politics and poetics of place-making and its entanglements--through agriculture and horticulture--as part of a response to the rise of liberal agro-economic policy and the proliferation of the plantation model in the work of naturalists, politicians, Neo-classical, and Romantic writers. By placing ecocriticism, environmental history, and plant studies into conversation with garden theory through this framework, I argue we can better attend to the concentric material and literary gardens and garden-like formations tied to plantation logic and the ordered cultivation and civilization of space and human-vegetal relations in Latin America's nineteenth century.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand the influence of the transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles and collaborative integrative behavior of the team with respect to organizational ambidexterity (the combination of exploration and exploitation learning) in university research groups. Design/methodology/approach: From a survey conducted with a sample of 506 researchers, members of 165 research groups, working in an emerging economy, a multiple regression model analysis was performed. Findings: Findings of this study provide evidence that the coordinator's transformational leadership and the collaborative integrative behavior of the team positively influence organizational ambidexterity of research groups. Transactional leadership and laissez-faire style do not show any significant influence. Originality/value: This study addresses the lack of knowledge regarding organizational learning in research groups to explore and exploit knowledge through research result transfer processes based on the organizational ambidexterity logic in higher education institutions (HEIs) from emerging economies. The study aims to contribute to the literature on leadership styles and ambidexterity in HEIs in emerging economies, particularly in Latin America, where there is still a scarcity of research on the attributes of effective leadership.

The main theories of the thriving field of study of public policies have been formulated at institutions of developed countries, mostly by the American academy, based on the particular conditions of policy-making processes of their own country. However, its heuristic premises are considered, initially, as universal and are used extensively in teaching and academic studies around the world. This paper examines the complexities derived from the application of such predominant theoretical approaches to the study and teaching of public policies that are implemented in Latin American countries. Based on an extensive use of specialized literature, 10 public policy variables are identified and organized into two dimensions, one institutional and the other procedural. It is argued that the values of these variables in the countries of this region differ significantly from those observed in the United States, which reveals the explanatory shortcomings of those approaches to account for the particular modalities of public policymaking in these countries.

Purpose: The article aims to identify the determinants of the urbanization process given the magnitude of this phenomenon and also its economic, social and environmental implications and pressure on public authorities to find viable solutions in the context of sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on regression analysis with urbanization growth being the dependent variable and enrollment in higher education, GDP, value added by industry and female labor force as independent variables. Findings: The main factors that favor urbanization are the increase in population, industry value-added and the female labor force. Urbanization is an objective that must be pursued differently by public authorities in developed and developing countries, given the different realities they face-population growth in developing countries, and population aging and international migration in developed countries. Research limitations/implications: The present research has limitations generated by the selection of independent variables, which is why in future directions, the research will consider the use of other indicators such as the number of graduates, exports as percent of GDP or migrations as a percentage of the total population. Given the complexity of the phenomenon of urbanization, future research will focus on groups of countries as they resulted from the clustering made by this article. Practical implications: The impact of higher education on urbanization is low, which is why the intensification of partnerships between municipal authorities and universities could be a solution that ensures not only the transfer of knowledge from academia to the public sector but also from entrepreneurs increasingly aware of the importance of promoting SDGs for urban development in the context of the challenges posed by global warming. The involvement of women in the labor market is essential for the intensification of the urbanization process. The increasing presence of women in the labor market generates an increase in the income of families, an increase in the level of education and an intensification of national and international migration. The research findings can be used by policy and decision-makers to develop appropriate urbanization and education policies and strategies. Originality/value: The existence of inhomogeneous clusters is noticeable, which demonstrates the complexity of the urbanization phenomenon that is present in all countries around the world, but under the influence of different factors such as the export of natural resources (mainly oil) or the intensification of industrial activity. Taking into account the variables used, this study stands out in the multitude of articles published in the international mainstream.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated environment with noteworthy didactic applications in different educational levels and areas of knowledge. The study of the perceptions of the agents involved about the use of VR in lectures is a fruitful line of research because it has implications in terms of the measures to be taken to improve the training and competence of professors in its use. In this paper, a quantitative, descriptive, and correlational research is carried out on the assessments of a sample of 1638 Latin American university professors on both (i) the didactic use of VR and (ii) the influence of the professors' area of knowledge on these assessments. For this purpose, a validated questionnaire was used, the responses to which were subjected to statistical analysis. As a result, it was found that the ratings of VR are very high, but professors believe that their digital skills for its use are insufficient. In addition, the professors' area of knowledge significantly influences their ratings, being higher in the areas of knowledge in which professors have a better self-concept of their digital skills. Furthermore, gender gaps have also been identified in the answers given, which behave differently according to the area of knowledge. Finally, some conclusions, implications, and recommendations are drawn from the results obtained.

This comparative case analysis aims to understand what organizational conditions are related to the differences in the development of research among four traditional private universities in Latin America. Based on imprinting theory, the study analyzes how historical events and the founding conditions of each case study influence the processes of adaptation to local and global institutional pressures related to research development. Findings of the qualitative analysis of interviews with authorities of each case show that adaptative responses related to their policies and plans, allocation of universities' resources, tenure rules, and the development of a critical mass of professors with research capacities are influenced by their historical legacies: elements such as founding values, the stamps that the founders imprint, and the routines of selection of their members are maintained over time, intervening in the choice of the different options for the research development.

This study explored the equivalence of resilience across countries and economies that participated in PISA 2018. A total of 79 countries and economies were divided into ten sub-groups based on their socio-demographic characteristics. Analysis of the comparability of the PISA self-efficacy scale as a measure of resilience across the participating countries/economies in the study was conducted using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA). The results demonstrated that across all countries and economies, the configural invariance level, which is the lowest level of invariance, has been reached but the metric and scalar invariance levels have not been reached. Within-group results showed that all sub-groups presented a model fit for the metric level of invariance. However, only the Anglo countries were able to reach the strict invariance level. This finding indicates that the Anglo countries were more homogeneous in terms of their interpretation of self-efficacy in PISA, whereas other sub-groups were more heterogeneous. Confirming the notion of cultural affiliation of resilience, it was concluded that self-efficacy by itself might not be an adequate indicator of resilience. The current study has some recommendations for future research and how PISA can be more inclusive about the constructs it employs.

The paper presents the design and evaluation of a voluntary online introductory stoichiometry (VOIS) course aimed at facilitating the transition from secondary to higher education. The course utilized simple analogies and adaptive feedback through a formative scaffolding assessment. The study assessed the effectiveness of the VOIS course through pre- and post-knowledge tests, analysis of students' performance in general chemistry, and course evaluation surveys conducted at a Latin American University between 2019 and 2021. A total of 3,995 first-year STEM students enrolled in the course voluntarily, and 358 students successfully completed it. The results showed a statistically significant improvement in stoichiometry-related knowledge, with the pre-post test scores increasing from 4.61 to 6.55 out of 10. The matched sample analysis, which only included students with 100% participation, demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in stoichiometry and related knowledge from 5.31 to 6.61. Furthermore, an analysis comparing the performance of students who completed the VOIS course with those who didn't reveal that the former group outperformed the latter by an average of 10.6 points in the general chemistry course. This statistically significant difference exhibited a large effect size (d = 0.8). In addition, a matching technique was employed to construct a synthetic control group in order to reduce bias in the quasi-experimental design. A successful propensity score analysis was conducted, controlling for variables such as gender, grade in high school, scores in the national test, and student ranking in their high school. The results of this analysis showed a statistically significant improvement of 8.6 points in the general chemistry performance for students who completed the VOIS course compared to those who did not enroll in the course. Furthermore, the feedback from 129 respondents indicated that 80% of the students either liked the VOIS course or liked it very much, with an overall satisfaction rating of 3.1 on a four-point scale. In conclusion, the VOIS course demonstrated positive outcomes in terms of enhanced stoichiometry knowledge, academic performance, and student satisfaction. These findings highlight the potential of online courses like VOIS in facilitating the transition to higher education.

Purpose: This study aims to address the challenge of sustainability in Catholic schools quantitatively, even more so knowing that there are few systematized and quantitatively elaborated approaches that help to determine their sustainability dimensions. Therefore, this study aims to estimate the structural relationships of organizational sustainability in primary and secondary religious schools in Latin America based on the substantive functions of the school, such as care, upbringing and education from an organizational approach. Design/methodology/approach: Deductive reasoning was used. In the preliminary phase, data were extracted from 420 educational leaders of primary and secondary schools in Latin America from the Lasallian Network, leading a school population of 200,500 students and impacting 166 schools; these previous results were again contrasted with the forthcoming literature with research from the Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain, to achieve the sustainability framework, which has an endogenous variable called the school organizational sustainability framework. Findings: The results reveal four dimensions of the first-order structural model: management, association, communication, well-being and curriculum, And eight second-order dimensions: governance, communication, resources, secular association, secular partnership, health, social commitment, and campus operation. The investigation results show that secular association and well-being are two dimensions that are constituted as the main elements of a sustainability framework for this type of organization. Research limitations/implications: The Catholic school has specific dimensions that need to be cared for with special attention, such as association, which comes from the laity and comes from the experience of the religious. In addition to this vital dimension, well-being, constituted as care for the people of the community, as care for all, is connatural to the religious school. Still, it is constituted by an edge that completes it, and that is the concern for the well-being of those outside regarding social justice. A limitation in the pretension of totality is that the study is conducted in a small portion of Catholic schools in Latin America. Practical implications: A practical impact in the schools investigated is to present this sustainability framework as a reference to incorporate these dimensions as a strategy to bet on sustainability. Although the realities and contexts of the Latin American school are very different, some factors can impact low-income schools and schools with more significant financial resources if they are strengthened and worked on with dedication. In addition, this framework can lead to roads and the construction of indicators within the school, which can measure the sustainable commitment of the whole school. Finally, a clear finding of the framework is the need for good governance processes related to leadership and leaders' commitment to school-wide sustainability. Social implications: The present study impacts the depth that the proposal of the global educational pact can reach in the reality of Catholic schools in Latin America. The seriousness with which its leaders take the issue of sustainability from this perspective can contribute to the sustainability of life itself. Originality/value: The originality of this research is that it constitutes the first Sustainability framework in Latin America in Catholic schools from an organizational approach.

In Spanish language curricula, it is essential that we teach about "afrodescendientes" in Latin America and the Caribbean to present an inclusive representation of the diverse people, practices, and cultural products. Their perspectives and cultural products must be integrated in the curricula of Spanish undergraduate programs beyond the few notable figures whose work is included in widely used anthologies. By introducing students of Spanish to the significant population of "afrodescendientes" in regions of Latin America and the Caribbean even at the earliest levels, we enable them to understand ideologies of homogeneity that work against an awareness of diversity. The hope is that through critical readings and analyses, students become aware of the complexities of race, color, and class in the development of a nations' cultural identity. In examining the history, literature, and cultural productions, students analyze the role that equity, justice, and power play in Latin America and the Caribbean, where whiteness is privileged and Blacks continue to be marginalized, from the colonial period to the present day.

Working at the intersections of Latin American film studies, Afro-Latin American studies, digital humanities (DH), and decolonial pedagogical praxes, this article aims to engage with educators interested in teaching about Afro-descendant representation, antiracist audiovisual productions, the legacy of the African diaspora in Latin America, and the diverse perspectives of Afro-descendants in the region--through the lens of Latin American film and media. In dialogue with calls to decolonize traditional film and media studies curricula, this article critically analyzes the scholarly, archival and digital landscapes of resources focused on Black representation in Latin American cinemas and Afro-Latin American media makers. I identify some of the archival and curatorial exclusionary practices that affect the visibilization of Afro-descendant representation and productions within national cinematecas from the region. Finally, I share a digital humanities project designed to amplify Afrodescendant representation and filmmakers in Latin American cinemas through the curation and creation of resources that center Black voices, experiences, and communities.

We adapted and evaluated the effects of a classroom intervention (extension of https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.04.006) on undergraduates' sourcing skills. Students (n = 266) received either a teacher-led intervention (trained group) or regular classes (control group) and were assessed before, after, and 6 to 8 weeks after the intervention. Additionally, we included an ecological indicator: the quality of references in a high-stakes team essay. Overall, the intervention group outperformed controls in both post-tests: They gave lower ratings for bad quality links and used source-based criteria more often to select a text deemed as more reliable when reading two conflicting documents. They also included better quality references in their essays (i.e. references applying the targeted source dimensions) and avoided lesser quality ones (i.e. references overlooking those dimensions). No differences were found in the mention of sources in a far transfer argumentation. We discuss that the intervention improved students' sourcing skills even in long-term generalized tasks.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been around for some time, but several studies highlighted different issues associated with them, including quality. The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed their second blooming, where MOOCs have seen a surge in enrollments since March 2020. This study intended to explore how this enrollment reflected on the research studies included in scientific publications, indexed by Web of Science. Specifically, the bibliometric mapping analyses of 108 studies have revealed an ongoing trend in the countries contributing to the MOOCs research, namely USA, China, UK and Spain. Additionally, MOOCs research coming from US, UK and other western countries was decreasing before the pandemic and showed a continuous dramatic reduction also during the COVID-19 pandemic. Growing attention in MOOCs research among less represented countries was also observed. Besides, most of the topics focused on by MOOCs research during the pandemic were mainly related to education and engineering.

This explanatory study explored what graduate programs should embrace in educating public serving professionals to become able to respond to paramount challenges unknown at the time of studies. For conceptual frameworks, the study employed: (1) principal-agent theory on how predominant philanthropic organizations pushed the creation of globalized higher education industry post-World War II (WWII); and (2) world-systems theory to delineate the spatial penetration of the hegemonic intellectual core. The study found that the post-WWII's geopolitically driven overseas engagements by US higher education institutions (HEI) orchestrated by well-resourced philanthropic giants such as Ford Foundation made a ground for what we see today: a globalized HEI industry governed by the core with the hegemonic power, termed for the study as a global higher education ecosystem. The study noted that irrespective of if the concerned HEI occupies the position in the core or not, rootedness in the place and its people is the key for public focused programs precisely because of their nature of public-ness. The study then drew three programmatic constructs as referential for latecomer HEI to assume meaningful roles for the society they serve through their public serving professionals focused graduate programs: (1) contextualization of globally standardized academic contents into classroom discussions by connecting with cases/situations surrounding given society; (2) positioning the program as a post-entry milestone for public sector professionals to become better prepared state-building force by focusing on the linkage of theories and practices; and (3) HEI specific, unique intellectual identify exploration that is anchored to the place and to its own constituency. The study concluded that today's graduate programs designed for public serving professionals could frame its objective, as a renewed purpose, to educate academically informed state-builders with the capacity to craft and perform own actions as new realities arise in front of them.

If the aim of developing public policies is to solve social issues, it is worth asking whether the higher education programs for future public servants are being adapted to the demands of our societies. If we also recognize a relationship between education and political capacity, then it is pertinent to study the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes promoted by these programs and the appropriate teaching-learning strategies employed. Therefore, this study aims to explore the usefulness of one specific active learning method -- problem-based learning (PBL) -- for teaching public policy in Latin America: Can the PBL be used as a pedagogical framework for Master of Public Policy (MPP) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs? To tackle this debate, I conducted a content analysis (supported on the software ATLAS.ti) from a corpus of information obtained from two axes: First, from a simple of empirical works on PBL I define this tool, identify its main characteristics, and create three categories to examine the implications of the PBL learning framework on the teaching of public policy & administration (PPA) higher education field. Second, through a simple of the region's MPP and MPA programs, I identify capacities that these programs intend to install in their students. The findings show the implications of the PBL's learning framework on the teaching of PPA higher education in this field and reveals the usefulness of this tool for achieving the programs' teaching-learning outcomes.

In recent years, research identifying the intersection between internationalization of higher education and sustainability development has gained relevance, as well as the role and responsibility of universities in addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although higher education institutions (HEIs) have addressed environmental sustainability through a range of measures, studies on the relationship between internationalization and environmental sustainability are scarce. Therefore, this study presents examples that seek to examine the relationship between internationalization and environmental sustainability in six non-central Latin American (LA) universities. Data were sourced from semi-structured interviews and a review of secondary data. The practices of these universities demonstrate that rich experiences can be offered to the wider world by institutions in non-central positions. The study shows that non-central LA HEIs have a strong connection with their local and/or regional environment and tend to focus primarily on global issues that support local development, rather than internationalization practices.

A documentary review was conducted on the production and publication of research papers on studying the variable Digital Transformation, Education and COVID-19. The bibliometric analysis proposed in this document aims to know the main characteristics of the volume of publications registered in the Scopus database from 2020 to 2022, achieving the identification of 464 publications in total. The information provided by this platform was organized using tables and figures, categorizing the information by Year of Publication, Country of Origin, Area of Knowledge and Type of Publication. Once these characteristics were described, the position of different authors regarding the proposed topic was referenced through qualitative analysis. Among the main findings of this research, it is found that Spain, with 49 publications, was the country with the highest global production. The area of knowledge that made the most significant contribution to the construction of bibliographic material related to the study of Digital Transformation, Education and COVID-19 was the area of Social Sciences with 253 published documents, and the type of publication that was most used during the period mentioned above was the journal article, representing 54% of the total scientific production.

A systematic review was carried out on the production and publication of research papers related to the study of the variable Literature of Oral Tradition, Social Justice and Inclusive Education under the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) approach. The purpose of the analysis proposed in this document was to know the main characteristics of the publications registered in the Scopus and WoS databases during the year and their scope in the study of the proposed variables, achieving the identification of 106 publications. Thanks to this first identification, it was possible to refine the results through the keywords entered in the search button of both platforms, which were "social justice" and "inclusive education," reaching a total of 18 documents, excluding duplicates and those that did not meet the analysis criteria. These were analyzed to find out the relationship between the variables and how the Americas have advanced in the fight against corruption. Among the main findings, one of the factors taken into account through oral tradition literature to achieve inclusive education is the recognition of plurality and cultural differences evident in society. For them, the authors highlighted cultural expressions transmitted from generation to generation creating an environment ready for the generation of new knowledge by supporting the diversity identified in the community, which translates into social justice through an education that recognizes differences without exclusion.

Latin American universities have struggled to ensure pedagogical continuity since the beginning of the pandemic. The objective of this research is to find out how Latin American universities responded to the many challenges posed by their commitment to pedagogical continuity, namely in the technological, pedagogical, financial, and socio-emotional domains, and the support received from their governments. Data was collected through a survey sampling 100 universities in the region covering 16 different countries. The results suggest that many of the challenges faced by universities were more related to the lack of pedagogical skills, from both students and teachers, than to the pitfalls of technological capacity. The survey results are also indicative that the forms of teaching and learning that have begun as emergency formulas to guarantee pedagogical continuity will evolve and consolidate from the time of the reopening, as part of the hybrid model with which we will have to coexist for the time being, and which may become the new pedagogical norm in higher education in the context of a foreseeable restructuring of its provision.

The present research article aimed to analyze the production and publication of research papers concerning the study of the variable referred to the development of digital competencies in university students in Latin America and to know the main characteristics of the volume of publications registered in Scopus database during the period 2016-2021. A total of 245 publications were identified. The information provided by said platform was organized by means of tables and figures categorizing the information by Year of Publication, Country of Origin, Area of Knowledge and Type of Publication. Once these characteristics were described, the position of different authors regarding the proposed topic was referenced by means of a qualitative analysis. Among the main findings of this research, it is found that Mexico, with 76 publications, is the Latin American country with the highest production. The area of knowledge that made the greatest contribution to the construction of bibliographic material related to the study of the development of digital competencies in university students was social sciences with 158 published documents, and the type of publication that was most used during the period mentioned above was the journal article, which represents 63% of the total scientific production.

A documentary review was carried out on the production and publication of research papers on the study of the variable Higher Education during COVID-19 and its Challenges in the Transition to Online Education. The purpose of this bibliometric analysis is to know the main characteristics of the volume of publications registered in the Scopus database during the period 2020 and January in Latin American countries in 2022, achieving the identification of 612 publications. The information provided by this platform was organized by means of tables and figures, categorizing the information by Year of Publication, Country of Origin, Area of Knowledge and Type of Publication. Once these characteristics were described, the position of different authors regarding the proposed topic was referenced by means of a qualitative analysis. Among the main findings of this research, it is found that Brazil, with 217 publications, is the Latin American country with the highest production. The area of knowledge that made the greatest contribution to the construction of bibliographic material referring to the study of education in higher education in COVID-19 was social sciences with 251 published documents, and the type of publication that was most used during the aforementioned period was the journal article, which represents 75% of the total scientific production.

A bibliometric analysis was carried out on the production and publication of research papers related to the study of the management variable in the quality of education in Latin America. The purpose of the analysis proposed in this document is to know the main characteristics of the volume of publications registered in Scopus database during the period 2016-2021 in Latin American countries, achieving the identification of 1183 publications in total. The information provided by said platform was organized by means of tables and figures categorizing the information by year of publication, Country of Origin, Area of Knowledge and Type of Publication. Once these characteristics were described, a qualitative analysis was used to refer to the position of different authors on the proposed topic. Among the main findings of this research, it is found that Brazil, with 589 publications, is the Latin American country with the highest production. The area of knowledge that made the greatest contribution to the construction of bibliographic material referring to the study of management in the quality of education was Medicine with 538 published documents, and the type of publication that was most used during the period mentioned above was the journal article, representing 71% of the total scientific production.

Background: Within the current labor market, continuously changing and accelerating since the COVID-19 crisis (World Economic Forum, 2021), the educational system must offer a pedagogical alternative to face and anticipate these 21st century changes and demands (OECD, 2018). Based on the four-dimensional education framework, from the Center for Curriculum Redesign (CCR), the online learning literature, and students' perspectives, the Beyond Education (BE) organization has proposed a series of interactive online pedagogical programs aiming to develop 21st-century competencies in school-age students. Methods: The aim of this paper is to propose both quantitative and qualitative data analyses of the first pilot program: "BE a Global Citizen" through a semi-experimental study, using a mixed-method approach, analyzing the pre- and post-tests results of 26 students aged 16 to 18 years old. Results: Analyses presented evidence of the program's efficacy at developing 21st century competencies in students, particularly those competencies targeted by the program, which were significantly increased. Conclusions: Although these are promising results, a replicability study needs to be done on a larger sample in order to generalize the results.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unique challenges to international students. Student Affairs and Services (SAS) across the higher education sector played a key role in supporting students and institutions during the pandemic. This article reports the findings of an exploratory survey with SAS practitioners from around the globe on the ways in which SAS responded to the pandemic and sought to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on students, in general, and international students specifically. The results demonstrate that international students were among the primary groups of students impacted by the pandemic. Specific challenges identified include mental well-being, inability to return home, financial hardships, fear, and uncertainty. Discrimination of certain groups was also noted. SAS intervened to assist international students in navigating these challenges across world regions, including services declared essential for international student support. Finally, financial implications and the future of international student support are explored.

This research consists of a quantitative analysis of the perspective of a group of university professors from different areas of knowledge and from 19 different Latin American countries on the use of humor and memes in virtual learning environments (VLEs) in higher education. The data have been obtained from an own-design survey, and the answers have been analyzed in a descriptive and inferential way with the aim of knowing the opinion of the 401 participants (professors) about the didactic effectiveness of humor and the benefits and employability of memes in virtual classrooms. The analysis differentiates the sample by the professors' area of knowledge as the main variable, and by gender, age and teaching experience. As results, the participants give a high evaluation of humorous didactic resources, particularly memes, although the evaluation of their usability in the classroom is intermediate. In this sense, it is shown that the area of knowledge has a significant influence on opinions in this regard.