
Presentations at conferences
Identifying practices to promote character development in university residential settings: The case of Colegios Mayores
‘Hacia una educación renovadora del carácter’
Simposio Internacional, Madrid, 19th - 21th October 2022
UNIR
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Juan P. Dabdoub, Aitor R. SalaverrÃa, Marvin W Berkowitz
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In recent years, several initiatives have attempted to integrate character education in universities. However, it is difficult at the university level to find initiatives aimed at generating communities in which their climate or culture contribute to character development, a relatively common approach at the school level in the character education movement. University residential centers may be an ideal setting for generating such communities. However, studies, guides, or programs along these lines are scarce or non existent. A case worthy of study is that of Colegios Mayores, university residential communities in Spain with a centuries-old tradition that aim to contribute to the integral development of students. However, the literature on the educational dimension of this institution is also scarce and outdated. Contributing to outline its educational dimension, this study reports the results of a survey of directors of Colegios Mayores. The aims of this study are to: 1) explore whether the community of Colegios Mayores agrees in considering six practices as characteristic of this institution; 2) explore the level of implementation of each one of them; and 3) explore if the way in which the community members are involved in these practices responds to the social learning model of Communities of Practice proposed by Etienne Wenger. The questionnaire was answered by 19 directors, representing 15.2% of the population (N=125). Based on the results, it is reasonable to affirm that most directors of Colegios Mayores: 1) consider that the six practices proposed are characteristic of this institution; 2) already implement these practices in their centers; and 3) consider that the Communities of Practice model reflects the way in which the collegial community engages in these practices.
Keywords: Character development, Colegios Mayores, Communities of Practice, character education, residence halls, higher education, university
Leveraging Colegios Mayores for Character Development
Integrating Research on Character and Virtues: 10 Years of Impact
Oriel College, Oxford, 8th - 10th September 2022
Jubilee center for character and virtues
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Juan P. Dabdoub, Aitor R. SalaverrÃa, Marvin W Berkowitz, Concepción Naval
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Colegios Mayores are the Spanish version of the European Colleges, a relatively unknown and long-standing innovation in higher education to serve the socialization of future ethical leaders of society. Over nearly a millennium, they have existed at universities across Europe. In part, they represent a brilliant and extremely innovative approach to this task, by relying on democratic structures, long before democracy reemerged in Europe since ancient Greece. To capitalize on the promise and legacy of Colegios Mayores, it would be advantageous to build upon contemporary knowledge and practice in nurturing the development of ethical character and just leadership. The models PRIMED for character education and Kohlberg’s Just Community approach to moral education are proposed for this endeavor. First, we introduce and describe the common elements of the nature, mission, and practices of Colegios Mayores, and then apply these two models as prescriptions for the optimal developmental format of Colegios Mayores to serve its educational purpose.
Keywords: Colegios Mayores, Character Education, Character development, Moral education, PRIMED model, Just Community, Higher education, Value-driven community, Non-formal education.
Leveraging Colegios Mayores for moral development in higher educationÂ
through the Just Community approach
Moral Development and Moral Education in Global Transition
48th AME Annual Conference
Manchester, UK, 20-23 July 2022
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Juan P. Dabdoub, Aitor R. SalaverrÃa, Marvin Berkowitz, Clark Power, Concepción Naval, Miroslava Duranková​
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Colegios Mayores are the Spanish version of the European Colleges, a relatively unknown and long-standing innovation in higher education to serve the socialization of future ethical leaders, mostly by relying on democratic structures. Despite their long tradition, they do not have a formal statement regarding their educational goals, methods, or assessments, and little or no effort has been done to enhance their practices with the theory and experience of prominent moral education approaches. This paper aims to identify broad and adaptable guidelines from Kohlberg’s Just Community approach that can help to enhance the moral education potential of Colegios Mayores.
PRIMED for Character Education in Spain
Moral Development and Moral Education in Global Transition
48th AME Annual Conference
Manchester, UK, 20-23 July 2022
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Juan P. Dabdoub, Concepción Naval, Aurora Bernal, Aitor R. SalaverrÃa. In M. Berkowitz, M. Bier, & J. P. Dabdoub (Chairs) PRIMED for Character Education on Four Continents [Symposium]
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The PRIMED framework for effective character education (Berkowitz, 2021; Berkowitz, Bier & McCauley, 2017) presents six evidence-based design principles for effectively transforming schools to nurture the flourishing of human goodness. It is based on nearly a quarter century of collection and analysis of the empirical literature on school-based interventions (Berkowitz & Bier, 2007; Berkowitz, 2011). PRIMED has now been implemented in at least three languages and on at least four continents. This symposium will present the framework, and describe its adoption in English, Spanish and Chinese in the USA, Taiwan, Colombia, Mexico and Spain.