International audience

We introduce a DeGroot-based model for opinion dynamics in social networks. A community of agents is represented as a weighted directed graph whose edges indicate how much agents influence one another. The model is formalized using labeled transition systems, henceforth called opinion transition systems (OTS), whose states represent the agents' opinions and whose actions are the edges of the influence graph. If a transition labeled (i,j) is performed, agent j updates their opinion taking into account the opinion of agent i and the influence i has over j. We study (convergence to) opinion consensus among the agents of strongly-connected graphs with influence values in the interval (0,1). We show that consensus cannot be guaranteed under the standard strong fairness assumption on transition systems. We derive that consensus is guaranteed under a stronger notion from the literature of concurrent systems; bounded fairness. We argue that bounded-fairness is too strong of a notion for consensus as it almost surely rules out random runs and it is not a constructive liveness property. We introduce a weaker fairness notion, called m-bounded fairness, and show that it guarantees consensus. The new notion includes almost surely all random runs and it is a constructive liveness property. Finally, we consider OTS with dynamic influence and show convergence to consensus holds under m-bounded fairness if the influence changes within a fixed interval [L,U] with 0 < L < U < 1. We illustrate OTS with examples and simulations, offering insights into opinion formation under fairness and dynamic influence.

Many higher education institutions spend decades transforming their content-based to competency-based curricula. Furthermore, there is a clear tendency to improve summative to formative assessment, which demonstrates the learning process of students by measuring their learning outcomes. However, combining curriculum design, evaluation, and analysis of competency-based educational processes is a difficult task to implement in practice. For the design, it is necessary to understand a whole conceptual framework, also to comply with restrictions of the University, Faculty and Academic Unit, define clear models and methods for the curricular reform processes. Then, to implement them, technological support is required to make a more detailed evaluation and analysis. The lack of technological tools to support these processes makes it even more difficult. This work shows the work carried out so far in the framework of the curricular reform of the programs of the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad del Valle and led by the Escuela de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Computación (EISC). In this review of conceptual references for the development of a curriculum management proposal that involves the definition of a curriculum design method supported by a software prototype to manage the processes of curriculum management in the medium term. This paper first shows a systematic review of software models and applications used to support the design, evaluation, and analysis of courses that may be useful in higher education. These models and applications are focused on the design, the formative evaluation by competences and the analysis of the learning outcomes of the students in the learning processes. Second, the elements of the review are identified for the construction of a curriculum design model, including the definition of a new evaluation system that facilitates the analysis of competency-based learning. A particular challenge of this model is to obtain a quantitative grade depending on the detailed evaluation of the student's learning outcomes. For the EISC, it is also necessary to link the learning objectives of the new curriculum to those proposed by the Computer Science Curricula 2013 (CS2013). Finally, in the future work, the model should serve to produce learning analytics that allows measuring the level of the program and academic unit. Third, the proposed model for EISC curriculum management and advances in the software prototype is presented. Finally, validation is presented at the ESIC, where some proffesors designed their courses using the proposed model.