Distance Education and Elearning Laboratory

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Publications

Tecnologias e estratégias de comunicação online durante a pandemia covid-19: o caso das instituições de ensino superior em Portugal

Publication . Loureiro, Ana; Vieira, M. F.; Oliveira, Nuno Ricardo; Morgado, Lina; Runa, Ana; Seco, C.; Cardoso, Paula; Messias, Inês; Paz, João; pereira, hugo; Paiva, Ana; Mendes, Elisabete

The suspension of classroom classes from March 2020, determined by the Portuguese government in response to the CoViD-19 pandemic, imposed on educational institutions an unprecedented urgency of innovative pedagogical practices facilitated by technology. Among the many challenges, teachers had to adapt and reinvent their teaching strategies and methodologies. Having additional difficulties such as the lack of access to technologies that facilitate online classes and a concern about the possible decrease in the quality of learning due to the sudden switch to emergency remote learning (ERE). This communication proposal is an integral part of a broader study, still in progress, and from which we will present the results regarding the use of technologies for synchronous and asynchronous communication, in Portuguese higher education institutions, during the period of social confinement. The main objective of the investigation was to understand how higher education professors and students experienced the digital transition to the ERE, the pedagogical practices and the communication strategies adopted during this period. The investigation used mixed methods and, in order to respond to the proposed objectives and describe the pedagogical practices implemented and the communication strategies, specific instruments were built for data collection. A questionnaire was developed, aimed at students, and interviews aimed at both students and teachers, focusing on the technological, pedagogical and emotional dimensions, as well as on the evaluation of the experience. Data collection was carried out after the first confinement, at the end of the first semester of 2020, and took place in eight Portuguese higher education institutions (four Universities and four Polytechnic Institutes). In this communication, we will present a preliminary analysis of the results obtained and that are related to the pedagogical strategies adopted and the use of technology in synchronous and asynchronous online communication. We will also discuss the impacts of remote teaching on teaching work, evaluating whether they can bring positive and/or negative consequences to the pedagogical activity.

2021Journal article

Open access

Student’s digital transformation during higher education: entrance and exit digital profile

Publication . Messias, Inês; Loureiro, Ana

Digital technology has entered almost all areas of our daily lives to the point that we call our own society the Digital one. In the last 2 years with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, that has forced most of us to work from our homes, connecting online, this aspect of growing more digital has accelerated. This transition to remote work reminded us, once more, of the need to empower students with the required digital skills, or e-skills, to enter the labour market that “demands highly skilled people” [1], to perform lifelong learning, and to help answering the call of the European Commission’s Digital Compass targets of developing digital competences until 2030. This paper is the first part of an ongoing research that aims to understand the Higher Education (HE) Students’ Digital Profile when they enter HE, and then assess if their existing digital profile is correspondent to the labour market´s ideal profile when they finish their studies. This research also and foremost aims to design a research model for Student’s Digital Profile, providing us with the opportunity to assess this on a yearly basis, to the students that enter HE and the ones that are finishing their studies, helping Higher Education Institutions perceive if their studies’ syllabus are adequate to empower students with the needed workforce digital competences each specific field of expertise requires. As this study is correspondent to the first part of this research, this paper will focus on the literature review and research methodology that will lead us to our first results.

2022-07Journal article

Open access