INTRODUCTION

The computerisation of a multitude of language-related processes, information and documentation, which was carried out with rudimentary methods and support until recently, has become an incontrovertible fact in advanced and competitive societies, to the point of no return. This is due to its multitude of advantages in terms of profitability, quality and reliability. It should be noted in this regard, that, aside from the expert status of each member of the teaching staff of this master’s degree in the field of ICT for language education and processing, the UNED (National University of Distance Education), by its very nature, offers its members a real platform to experiment and reflect on a daily basis on the application of more advanced ICT in a multitude of processes related to information and document management, as they are present in virtually all activities of the institution (teaching, evaluation, research, organisational and administrative activities, etc.).

The teachers at UNED which, with around 200,000 students, has the largest student population in Europe and the fifth largest in the world, are direct witnesses to the huge demand for resources for distance education, and not only in the context of our institution, but on a social level, due to profound changes in the educational demand of the population in developed countries. Owing to the growth, diversification and specialisation of the population in these countries, individuals face major difficulties in attending classes, as they are located far from the training centre or lack time due to a multitude of professional obligations, and social and personal commitments that are common to members of modern societies. The reconciliation of social, professional and educational life is only possible through ICT. In addition to responding to a real social demand, the benefits and possibilities of online learning have been highlighted by a large number of experts, both for knowledge-based subjects and also ones that entail the acquisition of practical skills and competences, such as languages. ICT is equally suitable for distance learning centres, where they make it possible to “reduce the distance” both between students, and teachers and students, and in educational institutions that provide face-to-face training, where they allow study time to be extended, as well as the contact or communication with other interlocutors. Therefore, it is not surprising that the method of computer-assisted language learning is spreading to countries, including Spain, that are both interested in and concerned about overcoming the language gap. Nevertheless, the dramatic proliferation of all kinds of products, systems and tools in the market is often mistakenly welcomed by language specialists who lack specific training on how to handle and benefit from them. This lack of technological training (known as digital competence, already objective of the curricula of compulsory education) leads to attitudes, such as alienating ICT-based language education and processing from the traditional didactic and scientific approaches, or creating unrealistic and absurdly high expectations of the role that ICT play in language education and processing, and rejecting it after those expectations have not been fulfilled.

In an interdisciplinary field like this, other factors, such as separating the work of linguists, teachers and technologists, and not integrating their results and advances in the different areas, which make any collaborative progress impossible, do not pass unnoticed. Those factors explain why ICT is not adequately present and frequently used in academic, professional and research activities related to languages. This master’s degree, using an interdisciplinary approach, aims to guide and assist experts in one or several languages in building various types of theoretical knowledge and developing practical skills and competencies that are necessary for the optimal use of ICT. A considerable number of language-related scientific (professional and academic, teaching and research) activities can be carried out more efficiently in this way.

We recommend watching the following video presentation of the master's degree: https://canal.uned.es/mmobj/index/id/17587 

It is also advisable to watch this video with important aspects that should be taken into account before enrolling in the master's degree: https://canal.uned.es/video/60746b45b60923270e1b16b2

MASTER’S DEGREE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATION IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND PROCESSING (UNED)

OBJECTIVES AND COMPETENCIES

The distance learning master’s degree programme in Information Technologies and Communication in Language Education and Processing has two main objectives that students need to prioritise. Firstly, it aims to provide to opportunity to complete their theoretical training and develop skills and competencies at an advanced level, which enables them to competently practise their language-related profession in the field of ICT. Secondly, it serves as an introduction to their theoretical and practical training as a researcher in education and/or other fields that involve computerised language processing at an advanced level. The latter can be attained by the student himself at a later stage by writing a dissertation related to the content of master’s degree.

CORE COMPETENCES

• To possess and understand knowledge that provides a basis or opportunity for originality in the development and/or application of ideas, often in a research context.
• To be able to apply their acquired knowledge and problem-solving skills in new or unfamiliar environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their area of study.
• To be able to integrate knowledge and deal with the complexity of making judgements based on incomplete or limited information, including reflections on the social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgements.
• To be able to communicate their conclusions and the ultimate knowledge and reasons underpinning them to specialist and non-specialist audiences in a clear and unambiguous way.
• To possess the learning skills that will enable them to continue studying in a largely self-directed or autonomous manner.

GENERAL COMPETENCES

• To acquire initiative and motivation.
• To acquire planning and organisational skills.
• To acquire higher cognitive competences in analysis and synthesis.
• To be able to apply knowledge in practice.
• To develop critical reasoning.
• To be able to make decisions.
• To develop written and oral communication skills in scientific and technological contexts.
• To acquire competences in the use of ICT.
• To develop competences in searching, processing and disseminating information and knowledge.
• To develop competences in the management and organisation of information and documentation.
• To develop competences in data collection and analysis, database management and presentation
• develop skills in coordinating with the work of others.
• To acquire ethical commitment (e.g. to plagiarism-free work, etc.).

SPECIFIC COMPETENCES

• To evaluate digital tools for the language teaching/learning process.
• To critically and reflectively analyse the methodological options presented in different linguistic research contexts, and justify one's own decisions.
• To recognise the importance of the use of ICT in the study of linguistic diversity and multiculturalism.
• To identify the linguistic bases of automatic language processing techniques and methods.
• To analyse and reflect on methodological frameworks for online foreign language teaching.
• To produce scientific and academic texts on languages and their computerised processing and/or teaching.
• To communicate and teach the knowledge acquired.

MASTER’S DEGREE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATION IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND PROCESSING (UNED)

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

In today’s professional world it is essential to be a competent and frequent user of ICTs in most professional positions, which are being filled by university graduates in languages: teaching, research, publishing, translation, lexicography, terminology, information and document management, corpus, design and coordination of language projects, organisation and culture management etc. The completion of this master’s degree will enable students, who are specialists in one or several languages, to develop specific technological skills to work efficiently and competitively in educational and civic institutions (teaching languages or other subjects in a second language, organising and coordinating language projects), at publishing and media companies (translating texts, proofreading and editing, documentation, developing, publishing and writing manuals, textbooks and multimedia materials), in broadcast media (audiovisual translation, subtitling and dubbing), in libraries and documentation centres (processing information, managing dissemination channels, searching and cataloguing printed and electronic texts), at cultural services agencies (in intercultural mediation, international cooperation and management of cultural products and services, designing cultural policies and promoting initiatives of such kind), in language services departments at companies, associations and institutions in general (coordinating and monitoring the standards of language use, drafting and disseminating internal manuals). In this Link you can check the professional opportunities that this master offers. 

Apart from career prospects, at the end of this master’s degree students may start an academic research career, which would begin with the completion of a doctoral dissertation on any of the topics of natural language processing, computational linguistics, CLIL, CALL, MALL, etc., covered in their different subjects, depending on the students’ own area of interest. Depending on their chosen subject, the dissertation would be supervised by a member of the teaching staff. Finally, professional and research objectives of the master’s degree may coalesce in certain activities in educational centres (as teacher and researcher), documentation centres (as researchers in philology, linguistics and documentation), and the language industry in general (as developers of corpus and information search tools, computational lexicographers and terminologists, language project managers, ICT centre coordinators, etc.).

MASTER’S DEGREE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATION IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND PROCESSING (UNED)

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

To access the master’s degree in Information Technologies and Communication in Language Education and Processing, you must be in possession of a 240 ECTS official Spanish university degree or other qualifications issued by an institution within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), namely, the following:

• Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent (comparable to the Spanish Titulo de Grado, Titulo de Licenciado or Titulo de Ingeniero Superior)

To provide some guidance, a prioritised list of different student profiles to whom this master’s degree is geared is included below. This list is by no means exhaustive and mostly refers to “degree groups”. The Degree Committee will make a decision in each case:

• Graduates in any branch of Philology / Graduates with 240 credits in any degrees substituting bachelor’s degrees in Philology

• Graduates in Translation and Interpretation / Graduates with 240 credits in any degrees substituting bachelor’s degrees in Translation and Interpretation

• Humanities graduates / Graduates with 240 credits in any degrees substituting bachelor’s degrees in Humanities

• Graduates in Information Technology (Management, System) / Graduates with 240 credits in any degrees substituting bachelor’s degrees in any branch of Information Technology

• Graduates in any branch of Education (Pedagogy, Psychopedagogy) / Graduates with 240 credits in any degrees substituting bachelor’s degrees in any branch of Education

• Graduates in Psychology, Philosophy, Library and Information Science or any other degree / Graduates with 240 credits in any other degree programme

ADMISSION CRITERIA

This master's degree is mainly aimed at students with a degree or bachelor's degree related to Philology, but its approach and contents allow it to be taken by students with another profile relevant to the master's degree, such as Translation, Library and Information Science and Documentation, Humanities, Computer Science or Education. In cases where the application does not provide documentary proof of linguistic knowledge or technological competence, students may be asked to take leveling credits in any of these areas as a requirement for definitive admission to the master's degree.

In order to study this master's degree, it is necessary to have user-level competence in the use of basic information and communication technology tools, such as those found on the Internet (web browser, email client, etc.). In addition, since most of the learning will be done online, the student will also be informed that he/she must have a fast and stable continuous Internet connection.

In terms of linguistic competence, most of the Master's subjects are taught in Spanish, so it is necessary to have at least a B2 level in terms of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) in this language. In addition, in the case of subjects taught in English (easily identifiable in the subject title), it is necessary to have at least a B2 level in terms of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) in this language.

IMPORTANT: It is necessary to fill in and send the self-assessment form following the admission criteria and scale specified in the document. It must be sent together with the documentation provided during pre-enrolment.

Self-evaluation form

The personal academic certificate provided by the student must specifically state the average mark of the degree. In cases where the overall average mark is not stated, the overall average mark will be considered to be 1.00 or 5.00, as appropriate in each case (RD 1497/1987 or RD 1125/2003). For the purposes of the assessment leading to admission to this master's degree, the equivalence must be calculated on a maximum of 3 points. To do so, use this equivalence table:

Equivalence table
 

MASTER’S DEGREE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATION IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND PROCESSING (UNED)

THE NUMBER OF NEW STUDENTS

The master’s degree can accept up to 80 new students. 

If you are a student of the master’s degree and wish to continue, remember that in order to do so, you should have first submitted your application form to continue with your studies on the UNED website within the set deadlines. Once they receive the admission letter they will be able to register.

Furthermore, if your maximum period of study has ended (either due to the number of academic courses taken or exams repeated, as specified in the permanence regulations), you should complete and submit both the abovementioned application form together with a request for a final study period, in order to stay in the programme.

MASTER’S DEGREE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATION IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND PROCESSING (UNED)

SYLLABUS

This Master's degree is structured in such a way as to offer a wide range of options, in order to respond to the diverse interests of our students. There are two tracks:

• Professionalising track: Indicated for those students interested in applying the knowledge acquired in a real working environment. In addition, internships offer the opportunity to develop professional skills and improve employability.
• Research track: Suitable for students interested in academic research and in learning how to present papers at conferences, publish in academic journals and those interested in a PhD.

The teaching of the Master's degree is divided into three modules. Depending on the choice of one pathway or the other, the number of credits completed in each module may vary:

• Common Content Module. Of these, students on the professionalisation pathway take 5 credits (1 subject, which must be ‘Methodology of linguistic research’) and those on the research pathway take 15 credits (3 subjects).
• Training Module. Students must choose 15 credits, regardless of the pathway.
• Specialisation Module. Students will have to take 20 credits, and in this module they can choose two itineraries with different optional subjects:
  • A) ICT in Language Teaching.
  • B) ICT in Language Processing.

IMPORTANT: The choice of training pathway in these optional subjects is independent of the choice of pathway (professional or research).

In addition, students on the professionalisation pathway will have to complete external internships (10 credits).

Master's Thesis: All students will have to complete the Master's Thesis (10 credits) on one of the research lines offered.

The following table summarises the distribution of credits according to the chosen pathway (professional or research):

The master’s degree can be completed in one academic year, although it is advisable to do it in two years to sequence the study of some subjects more evenly and facilitate the assimilation of its contents. It is also possible to complete the master over a larger time period, in which case, students have to comply with official regulations of the UNED regarding the maximum period of study in official postgraduate programmes (approved by the Governing Board, 28 June 2011):

UNED Students registered in official university master’s degrees have a maximum of four examination sessions per subject and two per academic year to sit an exam, regardless of the session (ordinary exam sessions in February / June or the retakes in September).

• RD 822/2021, de 28 de septiembre, Organización de las Enseñanzas Universitarias
• Normas y criterios generales de reconocimiento y transferencia de créditos para los másteres.
• Normas de permanencia en estudios conducentes a títulos oficiales de la Universidad Nacional de Educación A Distancia.
• Regulación de los trabajos de fin de master en las enseñanzas conducente al título oficial de master de la UNED.

MASTER’S DEGREE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATION IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND PROCESSING (UNED)

OFFICIAL DOCUMENTATION OF THE MASTER’S DEGREE

According to current legislation, all universities must submit their official degrees for a process of verification, 

tracing and accreditation.

In case of UNED, the University Council receives the degree report and submits it to ANECA for evaluation and the generation of a verification report. If the report is favourable, the University Council issues a verification resolution, and the Ministry of Education forwards the proposal of the official degree to the government, orders its inclusion in the Registry of Universities, Centres and Titles (RUCT) and its publication in the Official Gazette.

Official master’s degrees must renew their accreditation within four years after their verification or from the date of their last accreditation, in order to verify whether the obtained results are adequate to ensure the continuity of degree. If they are adequate, the University Council issues a resolution of the accreditation of the degree.

These resolutions and reports are stored in the Register of Universities, Centres and Titles (RUCT).

• Programme report
• ANECA Verification report
• CU verification resolution
• Registration of the programme in the RUCT
• Publication of the curriculum in the BOE
• Programme tracking report
• Syllabus modification report(s)

MASTER’S DEGREE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATION IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND PROCESSING (UNED)

INTERNSHIP

The master offers two possible routes for the students: professional or researcher. When opting for the first, the student is required to complete an internship, and has the support of companies and institutions related to the world of e-learning or distance language learning, translation, lexicography, speech technologies, documentation, etc. Those companies and institutions welcome/take our graduate students for a period of approximately 250 hours. The objective is that students complete an internship – face-to-face or online - on a topic related to some aspect of their studies.

 Agreements have been signed with a varied group of companies to collaborate with the master’s degree, and each of these companies and institutions have signed an agreement that has been delivered to the address of this master’s degree. Numerous companies and relevant institutions already have cooperation agreements with the UNED for internship for all of its qualifications.

All partner companies are committed to the following:

• To help students become familiar with the environment of their internship and provide them with all the available tools and resources available and needed for the designed practice.
• To appoint a company tutor for each student, who will be responsible for ensuring everything related to his/her internship, namely: 
  • To make a detailed prior proposal of the activity for a period of 250 hours (with objectives, methodology, timing, etc.), to negotiate with the relevant course coordinator and reach an agreement with the student.
  • To monitor and advise the student according to his/her needs during the practice.
  • To   submit a report with an evaluation of the student at the end of the internship according to the template provided by the course coordinator.

In  order for the Internship to fulfil its fundamental training objective, it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to have passed most of the subjects of the first four-month period and to have taken - or to be taking - most of the subjects of the second four-month period.

MASTER’S DEGREE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATION IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND PROCESSING (UNED)

INTERNAL ASSURANCE SYSTEM OF DEGREE QUALITY

UNED considers it essential to ensure the quality of all official qualifications of their programmes and services. To this end, it has developed a System of Internal Quality Assurance (SGIC), which has been certified by the ANECA. It includes the development of a set of guidelines by which the quality of teaching, continuous improvement and adequate response to the demands and expectations of all stakeholders is ensured.

The SGIC includes all processes that faculties / schools and other university services develop to ensure control and revision of the objectives of the degrees, the processes of access and admission of students, planning, monitoring and evaluation of the results of the training, mobility, academic counselling and job placement, the adequacy of academic and support staff and material resources, among others.

For the implementation of SGIC, UNED has created:

• A Statistical Portal, which provides information to the entire university community on both training results and the results of perception obtained through satisfaction surveys applied to the various stakeholders.

• A repository called the information system for degree tracking (SIT), which collects all the evidence of the operation of the SGIC.

The Office for information processing and the Quality office annually provide all this information to those responsible for the qualification, while reflecting and establishing improvement actions.

• Satisfaction and training results (Statistic Portal)
• Documentation of the Information System for the monitoring of the programme (SIT)
• UNED Internal Quality Assurance System (SGIC)

The composition of the Coordinating Committee is as follows:

• Dr. Elena Martín Monje (Coordinator)
• Dr. Iria da Cunha Fanego (Academic Secretary)
• Dr. Tamara García Vidal (Member) (substitute: Dr. María Moreno Celeghin)
• Ms. Azucena Berguío (Administrative representative)

Not applicable. 

• To request information on general academic questions related to the master’s degree, contact the course Coordinator, Dra. Elena María Martín Monje (emartin@flog.uned.es), or the Academic Secretary, Dra. Iria da Cunha Fanego (iriad@flog.uned.es).
• For queries and questions related to virtual courses of the subjects of the master’s degree, contact the Academic Secretary, Dra. Iria da Cunha Fanego (iriad@flog.uned.es).
• For general technical problems, contact the Technical Support Service by phone on: 91 398 88 01 or via the following form: https://www.uned.es/universidad/inicio/ctu/cau.html. For general information, contact by phone on:  91 398 60 00 / 66 00.
• For information about Students Mobility programme, contact its coordinator, Dra. Elena María Martín Monje (emartin@flog.uned.es).
• For information on research seminars, contact the Academic Secretary, Dra. Iria da Cunha Fanego (iriad@flog.uned.es).
• For information on the internship (practicum), contact Dra. María Elena Bárcena Madera (mbarcena@flog.uned.es) or the rest of the teaching team.
• For academic information on the master’s thesis, contact its Academic Secretary, Dra. Iria da Cunha Fanego (iriad@flog.uned.es).
• For enqueries on general administrative matters of the master’s degree, contact tic@adm.uned.es.
• For administrative consultation of the master’s thesis, contact tfmfilologia@flog.uned.es.

The Final Master's Thesis (TFM) is an academic dissertation in which students apply and develop the knowledge acquired in the master's degree course. Its aim is to demonstrate their academic and research training in the fields of computer-assisted language processing or teaching. This dissertation may consist in a descriptive or experimental study and, in any case, must contain a certain theoretical and/or methodological contribution that contributes to the development of one of these fields.

The TFM must deal with a topic related to the research lines of the master's degree, in such a way that students apply the knowledge acquired during this course. They must also demonstrate that they can analyse and deal with the chosen line or topic with academic and scientific rigour. This is precisely one of the main objectives of the TFM.

The possible lines of research for the TFM can be found on the website of the Faculty of Philology:

https://www.uned.es/universidad/facultades/filologia/bienvenida/estudios/informacion-masteres/trabajo-fin-de-master/asignacion-tutor.html