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In 2004 the United Nations Organization commemorated the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family. The purpose established in 1994: revaluing the social function of the family is updated in this paper. Twenty years ago, the fact that the family is the basic social unit upon which rests the development of peoples was stressed. At present, the proposal goes deep into that glimpsed objective, its difficulties and problems--some new problems which are obstacles for the family welfare have been added since then; this situation carries in itself social unrest as a secondary, though immediate, effect. This paper examines, first of all, how the theme of sociability in the family is dealt with in international organizations such as the United Nations and in the institutions upon which it finds support for the research work that will be the basis for the proposal of social policies. The paper observes the way how this theme is focused and underlines the use of a methodology by means of which only a few conclusions that do not embrace the whole reality of the family are drawn. More precisely, these such conclusions fail in getting to the bottom of sociability and its education within the family, although they do recognize some efforts to bring near to the core issue of this theme. The paper concludes by establishing the need of including other approaches to complete the study of the theme and shows some key principles for an understanding of the close relationship between sociability and identity and how these are discovered within the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a reflection on the pedagogic strategies used to discuss the theme of ethical sensitizing in decision-making. The reflection stems from the authors' experience in the course on Management and its Public Responsibilities, within the MBA at Universidad de Los Andes. The central hypothesis refers to the possibility of achieving an ethical sensitizing of the students, starting from the use of pedagogic strategies such as collaborative learning. The paper discusses the concepts of collaborative learning and its importance in the field of university teaching, as well as its differences with traditional group work and cooperative learning experiences. In addition, the issue of evaluation as a central tool of the courses is discussed. Also, the paper explores these concepts within the experience gained during the evaluation of the above mentioned course. Even though the trial cannot be taken as a fact to validate or invalidate our hypothesis and it does not even constitute a complete experience of collaborative learning, it does illustrate the importance of the strategy in the discussion of issues such as ethics and responsibility. Our reflections are a starting point for a more rigorous, intentional application work of the pedagogical methodologies and their assessment, which will allow us to create the necessary spaces for ethical sensitizing as well as the incentive for an exercise of responsibility that we have named stage 2. At this stage, the students realize that making headway is not feasible without self-criticism; they welcome their peers' criticism and see all this as possibilities for their self-improvement as persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the independent work that, in its educational dimension, has been investigated by several authors, making possible to define it in many ways; is traditionally identified with the activity performed by the student to learn independently within or outside the classroom with the teacher's guidance or not. This paper overcomes this notion and proposes a concept that clarifies the role of the teacher in charge of the direction of the student self-activity. With the theoretical and experiences systematization defending the student's active role in learning and developed concepts on independent study and work, we made a historical periodization. Finally, we propose a suitable concept to university context, that under an approach on process, allows a dynamic teaching and student-centered learning, greater flexibility in the training process and to break with educational traditionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]