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  • DER in Portugal: state-of-the-art of the two major Repositories in Elementary and Secondary Education
    Publication . Castro, Cornélia; Ferreira, Sérgio André; Andrade, António
    In the last decade, there has been an expansion of Repositories of Digital Educational Resources (DER), funded and stimulated by government authorities and non-profit institutions, in order to publish, collect, distribute and pre-serve DER. In this environment, inspired by the Open Content Movement, it is recognized the importance of the vast heri-tage of DER, produced by the collective intelligence, for pedagogical innovation. Following this trend, in Portugal, about three years ago, two repositories were created at the elementary and secondary education levels: Schools Portal, of Gov-ernment responsibility with a generalist vocation, covering the entire spectrum of the curriculum and the House of Sciences, headed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which is a private institution of public utility, and dedicated to the areas of natural and exact sciences. In this study the state of the art of these two repositories is presented once they are the ones most visible in Portugal in what concerns the main dimensions that interfere on their quality. The methodology of data col-lection was based on the analysis of the portals from the point of view of the producers and users of the DER of the reposi-tories. The main results and conclusions are presented and considerations about the factors that in the future may contribute to the sustainable improvement of some of the characteristics of the repositories covered in this study are stated.
  • Cognitive communication 2.0 in the classroom - resonance of an experience in higher education
    Publication . Ferreira, Sérgio André; Castro, Cornélia; Andrade, António
    The communication in the classroom is often carried out on a one-to-many basis, with the teacher, before an audience of dozens of students, playing a traditional role. In this context, still commonly practiced, it is pertinent to introduce mechanisms of interaction mediated by technology, since research shows a significant correlation between the use of technology, the time spent in social media and the engagement of students. In fact, literature shows that social media has attracted the interest of academics more likely to use technology in education, who thereby seek new ways to motivate their students to a more active learning. The adoption of cognitive communication 2.0 morphology, in traditional contexts such in communication one-to-many, is a challenge to be overcome. We consider so of great importance creating and evaluating resources and pedagogical practices that are aligned with this new paradigm. In this study, we intend to make a contribution to understanding the problematic of the morphology of cognitive communication in the context of the classroom in Higher Education, with the integration of web 2.0 tools. On the approach to the problem, we have explored a PowerPoint presentation with the integration of the micro blogging tool Twitter, as a basis for addressing the characteristics of cognitive communication 2.0. For data collection a questionnaire was designed, based on literature, and intended to evaluate several dimensions of the resource used, namely: i) pedagogical issues, ii) technological aspects, iii) cognitive learning; iv) interactions in the classroom; v) positive behaviour in the classroom; vi) negative behaviour in the classroom. The goals of this study are: i) to validate the instrument for data collection, ii) to assess the perceptions of students regarding the effects of the resource and pedagogical practices used in the classroom dynamics iii) to set in context and to relate the cognitive communication 2.0 in the classroom with other components of the Hybrid Institutional Personal Learning Environment. This is an exploratory type research, since it seeks to provide a greater familiarity with the problem and to identify dimensions and items to be included in the questionnaire. The data collected will be processed under a quantitative perspective. Considering, therefore, the nature of the study we did not seek to establish correlations between variables, but only to identify trends, using descriptive statistics. It is expected that the results obtained will contribute to the articulation of web 2.0 tools with traditional cognitive communication in the classroom, in such a manner that positive impacts will result in pedagogical and technological effectiveness and thus in students learning achievements.
  • Cognitive communication 2.0 in higher education: to tweet or not to tweet?
    Publication . Andrade, António; Castro, Cornélia; Ferreira, Sérgio André
    Research has been fertile in producing studies on pedagogical change and innovation through technology in Higher Education Institutions, namely the integration of the social media in pedagogical practice. However, there is a lack of studies on the integration of the social media in the particular field of lectures. In this context, commonly practiced, the teacher faces a wide audience and feels the need to activate mechanisms of direct instruction, for reasons of economy of time and because it is the most dominant pedagogical model. As a result there is a communication paradigm 1.0 (one-way communication, one-to-many, low or non-existent interaction). In this study, exploratory and quantitative in nature, an approach to the thematic of the exploration of the social media in order to upgrade the cognitive communication from 1.0 to 2.0 (many-to-many, interaction between all the participants) in lectures was made. On the approach to the problem, we explored a PowerPoint presentation with the integration of the micro blogging tool Twitter, as a basis for addressing the characteristics of cognitive communication 2.0. For data collection a questionnaire was designed, based on literature, and intended to evaluate several dimensions of the resource used, namely: i) pedagogical issues, ii) technological aspects, iii) cognitive learning; iv) interactions in the classroom; v) positive behavior in the classroom and vi) negative behaviour in the classroom. The results indicate that students recognize the potential of this tool in the dimensions assessed. Twitter integration in PowerPoint allowed the teacher and the students to read each other’s views and each had the opportunity to contribute to the debate. It also allowed the release of multiple choice questions to the audience, with answers via Twitter and projection of results via PowerPoint. This way, a true cognitive communication 2.0 took place.
  • Digital educational resources repositories in lower and middle education in Portugal: quality criteria in the international context
    Publication . Castro, Cornélia; Ferreira, Sérgio André; Andrade, António
    The thematic of Digital Educational Resources (DER) and digital educational repositories at primary and secondary education levels is of growing centrality in the educational themes in the international debate. In order to make it easier for teachers and students to find the best and relevant learning resources and to encourage teachers’ uptake of innovative materials and learning styles, authorities and/or companies in European countries have launched web based educational repositories. Following this trend, about two years ago, three major institutions in Portugal have launched their repositories: Portal das Escolas (ME), Casa das Ciências (FCG) and BOA (INESC-ID). After examining the state of the art of educational repositories in Europe, it was found that those three Portuguese repositories are not mentioned in recent European reports and so the study here presented seemed to be very relevant. This work aims to develop a descriptive and comparative study, in order to characterize the reality of the Portuguese repositories and compare it with European examples of good practices. To guide this investigation, the following question was theorized: “How are the Portuguese institutional repositories, for primary and secondary education levels, positioned in what concerns international quality criteria?” Our methodology design is a qualitative one and of type i) descriptive, as it is intended to characterize the main Portuguese institutional DER repositories for primary and secondary school education, aiming to assess the key dimensions that affect their quality and ii) comparative since it has in view comparing those repositories with reference European ones. In this sense, Lektion in Sweden and Scoilnet, Portal for Irish Education in Ireland are considered. The study was undertaken from the view of the DER producers and users. As a tool for data collection it was used a framework of analysis built on the Guía para la Evaluación de Repositorios Institucionales e Investigación (GERII), a joint publication of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and other organizations in the fields of Education, Science and Technology (Villar et al, 2010). The GERII guide includes a set of guidelines for the creation and evaluation of a repository, bringing together a battery of 31 evaluation criteria, distributed over seven dimensions that any repository must accomplish to meet quality and therefore was considered an excellent basis for our analysis. Comparing the three Portuguese repositories, target of this study, with two reference European repositories in order to contextualize the national reality in the international arena will stand for the Portuguese institutions that hold the repositories as an opportunity for improvement. Thus, Portuguese teachers will have an increased chance to access an eclectic collection of quality resources, in order to diversify their teaching strategies.