La carpeta de aprendizaje y la evaluación entre iguales de los estudiantes. Resultados de una innovación docente en los estudios universitarios de las artes

Students reflect more on their learning in course subjects when they participate in managing their teaching–learning environment. As a form of guided participation, peer assessment serves the following purposes: (a) it improves the student’s understanding of previously established learning objectives; (b) it is a powerful metacognitive tool; (c) it transfers to the student part of the responsibility for assessing learning, which means deciding which learning activities are important and choosing the degree of effort a course subject will require; (d) it emphasizes the collective aspect of the nature of knowledge; and (e) the educational benefits derived from peer assessment clearly justify the efforts required to implement activities. This paper reports on the relative merits of a learning portfolio compiled during fine arts-related studies in which peer assessment played an important role. The researchers analyzed the student work load and the final marks students received for compulsory art subjects. They conclude that the use of a closed learning portfolio with a well-structured, sequential and analytical design can have a positive effect on student learning and that, although implementing peer assessment may be complex and students need to become familiar with it, its use is not only feasible but recommendable.

Learning design guided learning analytics in MOOCs

Poster presentation for our paper Brouns, F., & Firssova, O. (2016, October).The role of learning design and learning analytics in MOOCs. Paper presented at 9th EDEN Research Workshop, Oldenburg, Germany.

Evaluation of creative problem solving abilities in undergraduate structural engineers through interdisciplinary problem based learning

For a structural engineer, effective communication and interaction with architects cannot be underestimated as a key skill to success throughout their professional career. Structural engineers and architects have to share a common language and understanding of each other in order to achieve the most desirable architectural and structural designs. This interaction and engagement develops during their professional career but needs to be nurtured during their undergraduate studies. The objective of this paper is to present the strategies employed to engage higher order thinking in structural engineering students in order to help them solve complex problem-based learning (PBL) design scenarios presented by architecture students. The strategies employed were applied in the experimental setting of an undergraduate module in structural engineering at Queen’s University Belfast in the UK. The strategies employed were active learning to engage with content knowledge, the use of physical conceptual structural models to reinforce key concepts and finally, reinforcing the need for hand sketching of ideas to promote higher order problem-solving. The strategies employed were evaluated through student survey, student feedback and module facilitator (this author) reflection. The strategies were qualitatively perceived by the tutor and quantitatively evaluated by students in a cross-sectional study to help interaction with the architecture students, aid interdisciplinary learning and help students creatively solve problems (through higher order thinking). The students clearly enjoyed this module and in particular interacting with structural engineering tutors and students from another discipline

How using Technology Enhanced Learning could help modernise traditional large group teaching or Lecturing.

The efficiency of lecturing or large group teaching has been called into question for many years. An abundance of literature details the components of effective teaching which are not provided in the traditional lecture setting, with many alternative methods of teaching recommended. However, with continued constraints on resources large group teaching is here to stay and student’s expect and are familiar with this method.

Technology Enhanced Learning may be the way forward, to prevent educators from “throwing out the baby with the bath water”. TEL could help Educator’s especially in the area of life sciences which is often taught by lectures to engage and involve students in their learning, provide feedback and incorporate the “quality” of small group teaching, case studies and Enquiry Based Learning into the large group setting thus promoting effective and deep learning.

Seeing How it Sounds: Observation, Imitation and Improved Learning in Piano Playing

Research in various fields has shown that students benefit from teacher action demonstrations during instruction, establishing the need to better understand the effectiveness of different demonstration types across student proficiency levels. This study centres upon a piano learning and teaching environment in which beginners and intermediate piano students (N=48) learning to perform a specific type of staccato were submitted to three different (group exclusive) teaching conditions: audio-only demonstration of the musical task; observation of the teacher's action demonstration followed by student imitation (blockedobservation); and observation of the teacher's action demonstration whilst alternating imitation of the task with the teacher's performance (interleaved-observation). Learning was measured in relation to students' range of wrist amplitude (RWA) and ratio of sound and inter-sound duration (SIDR) before, during and after training. Observation and imitation of the teacher’s action demonstrations had a beneficial effect on students' staccato knowledge retention at different times after training: students submitted to interleaved-observation presented significantly shorter note duration and larger wrist rotation, and as such, were more proficient at the learned technique in each of the lesson and retention tests than students in the other learning conditions. There were no significant differences in performance or retention for students of different proficiency levels. These findings have relevant implications for instrumental music pedagogy and other contexts where embodied action is an essential aspect of the learning process.

O contributo da arte/expressão plástica na inclusão de alunos com dificuldades de aprendizagem específicas

Com este estudo, pretendeu-se realizar uma reflexão sobre a problemática dos alunos com Dificuldades de Aprendizagem Específicas (DAE) e sua inclusão na comunidade educativa. Para isso, procurou-se resposta à pergunta inicial “Qual o contributo da Arte/Expressão Plástica, na inclusão de alunos com Dificuldades de Aprendizagem Específicas”. A intervenção, passou por trabalhar a Expressão Artística com sete alunos do segundo ciclo, com DAE, integrados numa Oficina de Artes, denominada “Oficina SentirArte”, com recurso a estratégias de intervenção diversificadas e motivadoras. Atendendo à problemática proposta a estudo, e à questão de partida à qual se pretendeu responder, recorreu-se a um estudo quase-experimental, com pré-teste e pós-teste, numa perspetiva de Investigação-Ação, em que a Expressão Plástica, proporcionou a estes alunos a exploração das suas capacidades e o seu desenvolvimento, servindo para descobrir a emoção estética que reside, justamente, na satisfação que todos experimentam ao sentir-se capazes de explorar ao máximo as próprias capacidades de perceção e expressão. Concluiu-se, através de observação direta, da aplicação de um inquérito por questionário e de uma entrevista aos alunos, que a Expressão Artística e nomeadamente a Expressão Plástica teve um papel primordial, quer na promoção de competências como a de comunicação, a criatividade e a socialização, quer na da autoestima, da autoconfiança e do autoconceito, quer na inclusão destas crianças na escola e até na sociedade.

Papel do PCT na diferenciação pedagógica e curricular de alunos com DEA/Dislexia

O presente estudo partiu de preocupações da prática relacionadas com o papel do PCT no desenvolvimento pedagógico e curricular sobretudo de alunos com dislexia. No sentido de se responder à pergunta de partida: “de que forma a diferenciação pedagógica e curricular dos alunos com DEA/Dislexia, é contemplada no PCT?” elaborou-se um quadro teórico onde se começou por discutir o papel da escola recorrendo inclusivamente à sua perspectivação histórica. Esta permitiu perceber a escola actual nomeadamente nas tensões entre os processos de massificação escolar conducentes a uma hegemonia do currículo e os processos de flexibilização curricular. O nosso interesse principal situou-se nestes últimos pela sua importância para a diferenciação curricular e pedagógica na sala de aula necessária para os alunos com dislexia. A formação dos professores desempenha neste contexto uma grande relevância, pelo que lhe atribuímos elevada importância. Utilizando como instrumentos de recolha inquéritos por questionário articulados com a análise dos PCTs inquirimos uma amostra de vinte e oito professores de um agrupamento de escolas do distrito de Santarém sobre a sua percepção face à dislexia e à importância dada à utilização do PCT. Os dados recolhidos e tratados permitiram verificar que nem os PCT são encarados como um instrumento de diferenciação curricular e pedagógica, resultando em algumas contradições entre o que se diz fazer e o que se faz efectivamente, nem a DEA/Dislexia é encarada como um problema, que apesar de real não se vê contemplada, de forma explícita nos PCT. Desta forma, consideramos que o estudo realizado (embora limitado no tempo e espaço) permite desvendar algumas das suas representações mostrando uma forte relação entre a ausência de formação e o impacto que esta lacuna tem nas práticas docentes.

Cultural citizenship and its implications for citizenship education: Chinese university students’ civic experience in relation to mass media and the university citizenship curriculum

A growing body of research has argued that university citizenship curricula are inefficient in promoting civic participation, while there is a tendency towards a broader citizenship understanding and new forms of civic engagements and citizenship learning in everyday life. The notion of cultural citizenship in this thesis concentrates on media practices’ relation to civic expression and civic engagement. This research thus argues that not enough attention has been paid to the effects of citizenship education policy on students and students’ active citizenship learning in China. This thesis examines the civic experience of university students in China in the parallel contexts of widespread adoption of mass media and of university citizenship education courses, which have been explicitly mandatory for promoting civic morality education in Chinese universities since 2007. This research project raises significant questions about the meditating influences of these two contexts on students’ perceptions of civic knowledge and civic participation, with particular interest to examine whether and how the notion of cultural citizenship could be applied in the Chinese context and whether it could provide certain implications for citizenship education in China. University students in one university in Beijing contributed to this research by providing both quantitative and qualitative data collected from mixed-methods research. 212 participants contributed to the questionnaire data collection and 12 students took part in interviews. Guided by the theoretical framework of cultural citizenship, a central focus of this study is to explore whether new forms of civic engagement and civic learning and a new direction of citizenship understanding can be identified among university students’ mass media use. The study examines the patterns of students’ mass media use and its relationship to civic participation, and also explores the ways in which mass media shape students and how they interact and perform through the media use. In addition, this study discusses questions about how national context, citizenship tradition and civic education curricula relate to students’ civic perceptions, civic participation and civic motivation in their enactment of cultural citizenship. It thus tries to provide insights and identify problems associated with citizenship courses in Chinese universities. The research finds that Chinese university students can also identify civic issues and engage in civic participation through the influence of mass media, thus indicating the application of cultural citizenship in the wider higher education arena in China. In particular, the findings demonstrate that students’ citizenship knowledge has been influenced by their entertainment experiences with TV programs, social networks and movies. However, the study argues that the full enactment of cultural citizenship in China is conditional with regards to characteristics related to two prerequisites: the quality of participation and the influence of the public sphere in the Chinese context. Most students in the study are found to be inactive civic participants in their everyday lives, especially in political participation. Students express their willingness to take part in civic activities, but they feel constrained by both the current citizenship education curriculum in universities and the strict national policy framework. They mainly choose to accept ideological and political education for the sake of personal development rather than to actively resist it, however, they employ creative ways online to express civic opinions and conduct civic discussion. This can be conceptualised as the cultural dimension of citizenship observed from students who are not passively prescribed by traditional citizenship but who have opportunities to build their own civic understanding in everyday life. These findings lead to the conclusion that the notion of cultural citizenship not only provides a new mode of civic learning for Chinese students but also offers a new direction for configuring citizenship in China. This study enriches the existing global literature on cultural citizenship by providing contemporary evidence from China which is a developing democratic country, as well as offering useful information for Chinese university practitioners, policy makers and citizenship researchers on possible directions for citizenship understanding and citizenship education. In particular, it indicates that it is important for efforts to be made to generate a culture of authentic civic participation for students in the university as well as to promote the development of the public sphere in the community and the country generally.

e-Tutor : papel e intervenção na aprendizagem colaborativa em ambientes híbridos

Relatório de estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Santarém para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de mestre em Educação e Comunicação Multimédia

e-Tutor : papel e intervenção na aprendizagem colaborativa em ambientes híbridos

Relatório de estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Santarém para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de mestre em Educação e Comunicação Multimédia

Project work in a Basque L2 classroom: students’ perceptions

[EN] Project Work has been acknowledged as an efficient medium for language learning for more than two decades (Stoller, 2006) according to the numerous successful applications of project-based programmes that have been reported. In spite of the lack of sufficient controlled studies to assess the benefits of project work, and the existence of some studies giving evidence of students discontent with project work, the reports given by second language (SL) and foreign language students (FL) who have experienced project based instruction give support to the success attributed to project-based learning, as they recognised having improved language skills, learnt content, developed real life skills, as well as gained in self-confidence and motivation (Sierra, 2008 and 2011; Stoller, 2006). The aim of the present study is to explore some key issues involved in implementing a project-based programme focusing on the students’ perceptions of learning gains, their views on the collaborative assessment scheme used in the programme, and the students’ overall evaluations of the implementation of project work in a post-compulsory secondary education context in Navarre, Spain, with students learning Basque as a second language. A group of 12 students enrolled in a project work based programme participated in the study. Results showed that the students’ perceptions were very positive concerning doing projects, learning gains and group work, although more grammar instruction and teacher-fronted activities were requested by the students. However, the collaborative assessment process and the use of a Notebook/Diary as a reflection tool bore mixed evaluations.

Investigating problem-based learning in Saudi Arabian mathematics education: a TIMSS-related study

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) on students’ mathematical performance. This includes mathematics achievement and students’ attitudes towards mathematics for third and eighth grade students in Saudi Arabia. Mathematics achievement includes, knowing, applying, and reasoning domains, while students’ attitudes towards mathematics covers, ‘Like learning mathematics’, ‘value mathematics’, and ‘a confidence to learn mathematics’. This study goes deeper to examine the interaction of a PBL teaching strategy, with trained face-to-face and self-directed learning teachers, on students’ performance (mathematics achievement and attitudes towards mathematics). It also examines the interaction between different ability levels of students (high and low levels) with a PBL teaching strategy (with trained face-to-face or self-directed learning teachers) on students’ performance. It draws upon findings and techniques of the TIMSS international benchmarking studies. Mixed methods are used to analyse the quasi-experimental study data. One -way ANOVA, Mixed ANOVA, and paired t-tests models are used to analyse quantitative data, while a semi-structured interview with teachers, and author’s observations are used to enrich understanding of PBL and mathematical performance. The findings show that the PBL teaching strategy significantly improves students’ knowledge application, and is better than the traditional teaching methods among third grade students. This improvement, however, occurred only with the trained face-to-face teacher’s group. Furthermore, there is robust evidence that using a PBL teaching strategy could raise significantly students’ liking of learning mathematics, and confidence to learn mathematics, more than traditional teaching methods among third grade students. Howe ver, there was no evidence that PBL could improve students’ performance (mathematics achievement and attitudes towards mathematics), more than traditional teaching methods, among eighth grade students. In 8th grade, the findings for low achieving students show significant improvement compared to high achieving students, whether PBL is applied or not. However, for 3th grade students, no significant difference in mathematical achievement between high and low achieving students was found. The results were not expected for high achieving students and this is also discussed. The implications of these findings for mathematics education in Saudi Arabia are considered.

Projeto Fénix : inovação na organização pedagógica no 1º ciclo : estudo de caso

A dissertação que aqui se apresenta resulta de um trabalho de investigação junto de um Agrupamento de Escolas que adotou, a partir do ano letivo 2011/2012, como medida de promoção de sucesso educativo, o Projeto Fénix. Teoricamente, este estudo pretendeu analisar a escola enquanto organização social em que a comunidade escolar e social são partes interessadas na inovação e na mudança; esclarecer o conceito de projeto nos quadros dos novos regimes de autonomia e de gestão das escolas; compreender a importância e o papel dos projetos educacionais como fatores promotores de mudança e inovação pedagógica nas organizações escolares. Assim, adotando uma metodologia de trabalho de caráter qualitativo, descritivo e interpretativo procurou-se, através de um estudo de caso, analisar as medidas organizacionais que a escola assumiu para dar um apoio mais personalizado aos alunos que evidenciavam dificuldades de aprendizagem, nomeadamente, na disciplina de português; de que forma se procedeu à sua implementação na prática diária e o impacto do projeto nos professores e alunos; e, ao mesmo tempo analisar a relevância e o sentido da avaliação no decorrer e no término de um projeto, como importante processo de apoio à transformação, à melhoria, à transparência, no desenvolvimento de projetos educativos. A concretização destes objetivos só foi possível graças à colaboração da direção do agrupamento que autorizou a consulta de vários documentos essenciais e de todos os outros intervenientes no processo (alunos, professores, diretora, coordenadores e encarregados de educação), que prontamente se disponibilizaram para responderem às entrevistas. Sucintamente pode dizer-se que o estudo permitiu perceber que a implementação do Projeto Fénix, no geral, foi bem aceite por toda a comunidade educativa, mesmo tratando-se de um desafio ambicioso que exigiu determinação, rigor e trabalho de equipa, no qual alunos, professores e pais se comprometeram a melhorar o sucesso educativo. Apesar dos entraves que surgiram em consequência das políticas economicistas e de contenção, do quadro político atual, e da falta de recursos humanos (bolsa de professores de apoio), a nova organização pedagógica fundamentada pelo Projeto Fénix conseguiu melhorar o clima de aprendizagem, recuperar os alunos com mais dificuldades de aprendizagem e aprimorar as excelências.

The educational problem that MOOCs could solve: professional development for teachers of disadvantaged students

The demographics of massive open online course (MOOC) analytics show that the great majority of learners are highly qualified professionals, and not, as originally envisaged, the global community of disadvantaged learners who have no access to good higher education. MOOC pedagogy fits well with the combination of instruction and peer community learning found in most professional development. A UNESCO study therefore set out to test the efficacy of an experimental course for teachers who need but do not receive high-quality continuing professional development, as a way of exploiting what MOOCs can do indirectly to serve disadvantaged students. The course was based on case studies around the world of information and communication technology (ICT) in primary education and was carried out to contribute to the UNESCO “Education For All” goal. It used a co-learning approach to engage the primary teaching community in exploring ways of using ICT in primary education. Course analytics, forums and participant surveys demonstrated that it worked well. The paper concludes by arguing that this technology has the power to tackle the large-scale educational problem of developing the primary-level teachers needed to meet the goal of universal education.

Natação para crianças portadoras de deficiencia visual : uma proposta de ensino

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Educação Física