A reflexive evaluation of technology-enhanced learning

This article explores the lived experiences of two academics in a UK Higher Education Institution who have embedded digital learning approaches within their curriculum delivery. Achieving student excellence can be impeded by a lack of engagement and sense of identity on large courses. Digital learning strategies can offer opportunities to overcome these challenges by empowering students to engage self-confidently. Through an evaluation of the authors’ own experiences of using social media, polling and web-conferencing software, the article shows how interacting with students via a range of learning technologies can create more inclusive and engaging learning environments. Including feedback from students within this article provides evidence that diversification of communication within teaching and learning practice gives students more choice and opportunity to interact with both their peers and teaching staff. The article concludes with recommendations for embedding technology, whilst acknowledging the well-established value of face-to-face interaction.

The space for social media in structured online learning

In this paper, we explore the benefits of using social media in an online educational setting, with a particular focus on the use of Facebook and Twitter by participants in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed to enable educators to learn about the Carpe Diem learning design process. We define social media as digital social tools and environments located outside of the provision of a formal university-provided Learning Management System. We use data collected via interviews and surveys with the MOOC participants as well as social media postings made by the participants throughout the MOOC to offer insights into how participants’ usage and perception of social media in their online learning experiences differed and why. We identified that, although some participants benefitted from social media by crediting it, for example, with networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities, others objected or refused to engage with social media, perceiving it as a waste of their time. We make recommendations for the usage of social media for educational purposes within MOOCs and formal digital learning environments.

O ambiente virtual de aprendizagem e sua incorporação na Unicamp

The text describes a study about the adoption of virtual learning environments and its consequences to the learning process of undergraduate students at the State University of Campinas - Unicamp. These environments can be incorporated in various ways into the academic daily life of students and teachers. One efficient way to promote the adoption of these environments, as observed by the Distance Learning support team, is to train teachers and students in their use. Two training alternatives are described in this text to instruct the academic community in the use of TelEduc, a freeware developed and coordinated by the NIED - Núcleo de Informática Aplicada à Educação (Center for Information Technology Applied to Education), and officially adopted by Unicamp. Training courses are offered in two ways - presence or distance learning - to suit each teacher's preferences. This article compares the two modes of training, showing their strong and weak points. The adoption of TelEduc and its direct consequences to the learning process are described in a study carried out with some engineering undergraduates at Unicamp. The authors' questions and the general views of teachers and students regarding the effectiveness of the use of TelEduc as a supporting tool to presence teaching are presented. This investigation revealed the importance of training teachers in the effective use of these environments.

Using the World Wide Web to revolutionise technology transfer and training in the water and wastewater industries

Industry professionals of the near future will be supported by an IT infrastructure that enables them to complete a task by drawing on resources and people with expertise anywhere in the world, and access to knowledge through specific training programs that address the task requirements. The increasing uptake of new technologies enables information to reach a diverse population and to provide flexible learning environments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This paper examines one of the key areas where the World Wide Web will impact on the water and wastewater industries, namely technology transfer and training. The authors will present their experiences of developing online training courses for wastewater industry professionals over the last two years. The perspective is that of two people working at the coalface.

Teaching with Moodle in higher education

Nowadays, with the use of technology and the Internet, education is undergoing significant changes, contemplating new ways of teaching and learning. One of the widely methods of teaching used to promote knowledge, consists in the use of virtual environments available in various formats, taking as example the teaching-learning platforms, which are available online. The Internet access and use of Laptops have created the technological conditions for teachers and students can benefit from the diversity of online information, communication, collaboration and sharing with others. The integration of Internet services in the teaching practices can provide thematic, social and digital enrichment for the agents involved. In this paper we will talk about the advantages of LMS (Learning Management Systems) such as Moodle, to support the presential lectures in higher education. We also will analyse its implications for student support and online interaction, leading educational agents to a mixing of different learning environments, where they can combine face-to-face instruction with computer-mediated instruction, blended-learning, and increases the options for better quality and quantity of human interaction in a learning environment. We also will present some tools traditionally used in online assessment and that are part of the functionalities of Moodle. These tools can provide interesting alternatives to promote a more significant learning and contribute to the development of flexible and customized models of an evaluation which we want to be more efficient.

Aprender brincando: a atividade lúdica na construção de aprendizagens, na educação Pré-Escolar e no 1º ciclo do Ensino Básico

Mestrado (PES II), Educação Pré-Escolar e Ensino do 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico, 26 de Junho de 2014, Universidade dos Açores.

Ensinar teoria e desenvolvimento curricular online : a importância da avaliação formativa

XI Colóquio sobre Questões Curriculares / VII Colóquio Luso-Brasileiro & I Colóquio Luso-Afro-Brasileiro sobre Questões Curriculares. Complexo pedagógico I, Campus de Gualtar - Universidade do Minho, Braga - Portugal, entre quinta-feira, 18-09-2014 e sábado, 20-09-2014.

A tradição oral nas práticas do ensino Pré-Escolar e 1.º ciclo do Ensino Básico

Mestrado (PES II), Educação Pré-Escolar e Ensino do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico, 21 de Janeiro de 2015, Universidade dos Açores.

Ensinar teoria e desenvolvimento curricular online : consolidação de um modelo

XII Congresso da Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências da Educação: Espaços de investigação, reflexão e ação interdisciplinar. Vila Real de 11 de Setembro a 13 de Setembro de 2014.

Desesenvolvimento de recursos educativos para a área de matemática em dispositivos móveis

A combinação do avanço tecnológico com o crescimento da aquisição de dispositivos móveis refletiu-­‐se na vida diária das pessoas, sendo usado nas atividades de trabalho e lazer. A transposição dessa realidade para a sala de aula, não se fez esperar, inicialmente até de uma forma marginal mas acabando por ser aceite. Confrontada com esta nova realidade as autoridades educativas começaram a apoiar e a incentivar as instituições. O desenvolvimento de tecnologias como b-­‐learning, m-­‐learning e dos sistemas de aprendizagem (Learning Management System) deram uma grande contribuição para o desenvolvimento das tecnologias móveis no ensino, no entanto ainda hoje os intervenientes da educação, especialmente professores e alunos, sentem diversas necessidades. Neste contexto procedeu-­‐se ao desenvolvimento de um recurso educativo para a disciplina de matemática. Este recurso educativo está suportado numa plataforma que permite colocar conteúdos, visualiza-­‐los, alterá-­‐los e elimina-­‐los. Numa vertente mais lúdica, foi desenvolvido um jogo didático para um dispositivo móvel, neste caso o iPhone. Desta forma o aluno aprende sem se aperceber que está a aprender e pode faze-­‐lo em qualquer lugar e em qualquer período de tempo. Explorando, assim, a interatividade e a mobilidade.

O Moodle e as comunidades virtuais de aprendizagem

Após expansão da internet e face às rápidas transformações tecnológicas e sociais, inclusivamente nos modelos de ensino (construtivismo social e Processo de Bolonha), surge software vocacionado para ensino a distância, em código de fonte aberta. Excelente exemplo é a plataforma de gestão da aprendizagem — Moodle. Faz-se a sua caracterização. Analisa-se a utilização na FCT/UNL e em ambiente de blended-learning em Geologia de Portugal (Licenciaturas de Engenharia Geológica e de Ensino de Ciências da Natureza).

Structuring and moodleing a course: case studies at the polytechnic of Porto - School of engineering

This work presents a comparative study covering four different courses lectured at the Polytechnic of Porto - School of Engineering, in respect to the usage of a particular Learning Management System, i.e. Moodle, and its impact on students' results. Even though positive correlation factors exist, e.g. between the number of Moodle accesses versus the final exam grade obtained by each student, the explanation behind it may not be straightforward. Mapping this particular factor to course numbers reveals that the quality of the resources might be preponderant and not only their quantity. This paper also addresses teachers who used this platform as a complement to their courses (b-learning) and identifies some particular issues they should be aware in order to potentiate students' engagement and learning.

Engaging students by moodleing a course? Case studies at the Polytechnic of Porto–School of Engineering

This work presents a comparative study covering four different courses lectured at the Polytechnic of Porto - School of Engineering, regarding the usage of a particular Learning Management System, i.e. Moodle, and its impact on students' results. This study addresses teachers who used this platform as a complement to their courses (b-learning) and identifies some particular issues in order to potentiate students' engagement and learning. Even though positive correlation factors exist, e.g. between the number of Moodle accesses versus the final exam grade obtained by each student, the explanation behind it may not be straightforward. Mapping this particular factor to course numbers reveals that the quality of the resources might be preponderant and not only their quantity. These results point to the fact that some dynamic resources might enlarge students' engagement.

Teaching accounting and management through business simulation:

Everyday accounting and management teachers face the challenge of creating learning environments that motivate students. This chapter describes the Business Simulation (BS) experience that has taken place at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Institute of Accounting and Administration (IPP/ISCAP). The chapter presents students’ perceptions about the course and the teaching/learning approach. The results show that pedagogical methods used (competency-oriented), generic competencies (cooperation and group work), and interpersonal skills (organisational and communication skills) are relevant for future accounting professionals. In addition, positive remarks and possible constraints based on observation, staff meetings, and past research are reported. The chapter concludes with some recommendations from the project implementation.

Integração de aplicações Web 2.0 e sistemas de gestão de conteúdos em ambientes pessoais de aprendizagem

A utilização de aplicações Web 2.0 no processo ensino/aprendizagem tem vindo a intensificar-se nos últimos tempos, mais por iniciativas individuais de docentes e estudantes do que por estratégia das Instituições de Ensino. Este artigo apresenta um projecto já em curso que consiste na implementação de uma plataforma de criação de ambientes de aprendizagem controlados pelos estudantes, integrando aplicações Web 2.0 e sistemas de gestão de conteúdos. A plataforma permitirá a utilização segura de conteúdos criados em aplicações Web 2.0, no processo de avaliação, possibilitando a sua publicação na infra-estrutura controlada pela Instituição de Ensino Superior, contribuindo assim para a adequação do binómio ensino/aprendizagem ao novo paradigma implicado no processo de Bolonha.