Teaching Crossroads: 11th IPB Erasmus Week

In the wake of the latest news regarding IPB’s award for best Polytechnic Institute in Portugal, we would like to congratulate the IPB community who has always striven for the quality of the institution within the national and international academic milieu. We are, undoubtedly, bowled over by the 1st place in the national context (out of the 27 national institutions under evaluation) and the 7th position in the international scope. In fact, it is worth mentioning that the IPB has won this award, three years in a row, being in a leading position in the ranking promoted and sponsored by the European Union. This year’s edition has selected and evaluated over 1300 world higher education institutions. Teaching Crossroads intends thus to give a watershed contribution to the IPB’s successful and most valued pathway. Numbers indicate that Teaching Crossroads has had over 2550 downloads since it first came out. But let’s cut to the chase. Once again, we are delighted to present the 5th number of Teaching Crossroads. This wholly calculated and well-sustained editorial adventure started in 2012 when the first number of Teaching Crossroads first saw the light. This year’s publication includes the areas of Human Geography/anthropology, Information Technology and Forensics and Language and culture, focusing on minority languages. Alongside this, as in the two last previous numbers, we’ve included the specific area for International mobility, Intensive Programmes and Erasmus+ Mobility of Individuals, being the latter financed by the European Union within the Erasmus+ Programme, whereas the former is sponsored uniquely by the foreign partner institution, in this case, Lillebaelt Academy in Denmark. These types of programmes convey very positive and overarching ideas, resonant in cross-cultural and educational benefits, valuable for all the involved partners. We would very kindheartedly like to thank the authors for having contributed with much enlightening and serious articles on a wide array of areas. Pablo M. Orduna Pórtus’s article focuses on border culture and heritage management. The author’s study is placed on two borderlands of the Iberian Peninsula: Roncal Valley (Navarre) and Riverbanks of Douro. Going beyond the linear or physical conception of the border, the author centres his study on the metaphysical and symbolic ideas of the frontier that sustain his anthropological analysis. Michal Popdora manages to find evidence for his proposal of a new conception of teaching Image Processing, based on the student-centered approach. A hands-on experience on a Project-based Learning methodology sustains the teaching project. Grounded on “a forensic-flavored style”, using the author’s own words, he shows how students can become engaged in a highly effective learning process. Cláudia Martins is already a confirmed habitué of this publication, as in every Erasmus Week she delivers a lecture on Portuguese language and culture to visiting teaching and non-teaching staff. This time, the author decided to delve into a Portugal’s official language, Mirandese, spoken in a small designated area in the northeastern part of Portugal, Miranda do Douro and its surrounding area. The author gives account of some thought-provoking facts about the language, from the origin and the survival of the language, however still a minority language, up to the moment when it was acknowledged Portugal’s second official language, together with the challenges that nowadays faces. Luís Frölen Ribeiro, João Eduardo Ribeiro, Carlos Casimiro Costa, António Duarte, Carlos Andrade from the Polytechnic Institute and Arne Svinth, John Madsen, Morten Thomsen, Kent Smidstrup, Carsten John Jacobsen from the Lillebaelt Academy, in Denmark, participate in a joint project which they describe, outlining the main goals and gains of the project. To overcome teaching difficulties regarding the engineering degrees, a 12-ECTS joint course from Lillebaelt Academy and Polytechnic Institute of Bragança was created based on the Danish model. The course Product Development and Industrial Processing was hence created. Rui Pedro Lopes presents an insightful and acute account of the Internationalization programmes in Higher Education in Europe. At one go, the author describes his own experience as a visiting lecturer, within the Erasmus+ programme, to Università Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona, Italy, in a Master’s degree in computer science, bringing to light a personal reflection on the goals and benefits of the mobility for both students and teachers. Finally, the author puts forth some suggestions that would improve the whole mobility process. We sincerely hope to have stimulated you to keep on reading, upholding the belief that these texts can represent valuable sources for both teachers and students in their research work.

Prontidão de alunos do ensino superior para a aprendizagem de álgebra linear

Neste artigo estuda-se a prontidão de alunos do ensino superior para a aprendizagem de álgebra linear, salientando a natureza teórica desta área de conhecimento. Participaram no estudo alunos do ensino superior, de uma turma do 1.º ano, de um Instituto Politécnico do norte de Portugal. Os alunos responderam a um teste diagnóstico, cujas questões incorporavam conteúdos lecionados durante os anos escolares anteriores à entrada no ensino superior, considerados como pré-requisito para a aprendizagem de álgebra linear numa vertente mais teórica. Dos resultados do estudo, destacam-se as grandes dificuldades dos alunos em todos os conteúdos avaliados, verificando-se que mais de metade apresentou respostas incorretas ou não respondeu às questões colocadas, donde se conclui que os alunos não apresentam um grau de prontidão adequado para aprendizagem de álgebra linear.

Prática de ensino supervisionada em ensino do 1.º e do 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

O Relatório Final de estágio, que apresentamos, foi elaborado como parte integrante da unidade curricular da Prática de Ensino Supervisionada (de agora em diante mencionada por PES), no âmbito do Mestrado em Ensino do 1.º e do 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico da Escola Superior de Educação, do Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, referente ao ano letivo de 2011/2012. Referimos que a PES foi realizada em dois níveis de ensino, 1.º e 2.º Ciclos do Ensino Básico, e em diferentes áreas curriculares destes dois ciclos de estudos. No 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico (de agora em diante, referido como 1.ºCEB), realizou-se Língua Portuguesa, Estudo do Meio, Matemática, e Expressão Plástica, numa turma de 4.º ano de escolaridade do Centro Escolar da Sé, agrupamento da Escola Paulo Quintela. No 2.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (de agora em diante, referido como 2.ºCEB), o estágio nas áreas de Matemática, Língua Portuguesa e História e Geografia de Portugal foi realizado na mesma escola, Paulo Quintela, com a mesma turma de 5.º ano de escolaridade. Na área de Ciências da Natureza, a PES foi realizada na escola Augusto Moreno, numa turma de 6.º ano. Consideramos ter obtido bastante sucesso educativo com os alunos do 1.º ciclo e com os alunos de 2.º ciclo, na área de Ciências da Natureza. Relativamente aos alunos do 2.º ciclo, nas áreas de Matemática, Língua Portuguesa e História e Geografia de Portugal, o sucesso educativo foi mais limitado mas, mesmo assim, pensamos que foi relevante, como explicaremos na reflexão sobre as experiências de ensino-aprendizagem.

Guia de artesanato do Norte de Portugal

O presente trabalho servirá de apoio aos turistas e visitantes, facilitando-lhes o acesso aos produtos artesanais que mantêm vivas as nossas seculares tradições. Foi neste sentido que, com este trabalho, procuramos ampliar a fonte de conhecimentos humanos, principalmente sobre a temática artesanato como produto turístico de excelência, para que este possa constituir uma fonte de informação no âmbito do Marketing Turístico, contribuindo, de forma cabal, para o aumento da sua procura gerando mais rendimento, de forma sustentável, beneficiando social e economicamente as comunidades. Lamenta-se que o Município do Porto não faça parte deste trabalho, dado não facultar qualquer informação sobre o artesanato aí desenvolvido, nem haver uma base de dados sobre possíveis artesãos que eventualmente possam desenvolver esta atividade. Considerando esta limitação, o presente estudo envolveu 85 Municípios dos 86 que constituem a Nuts II Norte.

Surgical site infection in colorectal surgery

Surgical Site Infection is one of the most common infection associated with health care, but can also be the most preventable situation. Surgical site infection in patients undergoing colorectal surgery varies according to the literature, from 3.5 to 21.3%, being identiied as the highest rate of infection among elective procedures and emergency. Objectives: To identify and characterize the occurrence of surgical site infection in patients undergoing colorectal surgery at a hospital in northern Portugal. Methods: A prospective study in a hospital in the north of Portugal in 2015, patients admitted to the surgical service who underwent colorectal surgery. Patients were selected more than 24 hours of admission, obtaining a sample of 102 participants. The characterization of the patient and the surgery was done using a search in the irst 24 hours after surgery and the registration of the infection at the time of occurrence and 30 days after the intervention. Results: 102 participants, 67 (65.7%) were male with a mean age of 71.92 years (37-93 years) and 40.2% underwent emergency surgery. There was a prevalence of surgical site infection in 21 patients (20.6%). Among these 15 were male (71.4%) with mean age of 72.24 years. They were hospitalized on average 22 days, with an average of 19 days of hospitalization after surgery. Escherichia-coli was the microorganism most frequently isolated in culture studies with 13 (60.0%) cases of surgical site infection and organ/space was the main site identiied with infection - 38.1%. Conclusions: The prevalence of surgical site infection was 5.1% and Escherichia coli most common etiologic agent. It is suggested that other studies can analyze the associated factors with this type of infection.