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- Designing learning outcomes in design higher education curriculaPublication . Soares, Diana; Carvalho, Paula; Dias, DianaNew and flexible educational paradigms, based on creative, innovative and open-minded competences, are required in the development of curricula in design, working as an essential skill toolkit for future designers, particularly in higher education. This study aims to explore how learning outcomes, usually expressed by the knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes and competences expected to be achieved by students as a result of an educational experience, are defined and formulated in design study programmes in Portugal. The investigation relies on the linguistic analysis of a corpus composed of a collection of learning outcomes extracted from the Portuguese undergraduate and post-graduate study programmes in design. The analysis was performed through the application of natural language tools and resources to that corpus. Specifically, we used computational lexicons and grammars to gather information on word frequency, lexical density, syntactic distribution and the morphology used in texts. Additional discourse dimensions, such as the length of sentences, the frequency of specific linguistic patterns, and the presence of subjective items, like evaluative adjectives, were also considered. Results suggest that Portuguese design and art higher education institutions are committed to follow the learning outcomes recommendations, trying to identify measurable ‘design’ skills. Moreover, the results show that, despite of being confined to 1,000 characters, learning outcomes are expressed differently, both in terms of lexicon and grammar, depending on the study cycles, fostering the idea that skills and competences required become more complex as the level of qualification increases.
- Building bridges between industry and academia: what is the profile of an industrial doctorate student?Publication . Tavares, Orlanda; Sin, Cristina; Soares, Diana
- Coursework in industrial doctorates: a worthwhile contribution to students’ training?Publication . Sin, Cristina; Soares, Diana; Tavares, OrlandaThe integration of coursework in doctoral programmes is becoming increasingly common worldwide. In Portugal, too, coursework is now part of many doctorates and is usually assigned to the first year. This paper aims to understand if coursework is also an element of the relatively recent industrial doctorates in Portugal and, in this case, if it represents an added value for the training and experience of doctoral candidates in a primarily research-based degree, but driven by the shared interests of industry and academia. The perceptions of students enrolled in industrial doctorates were gathered through focus groups. Findings suggest that students tend to believe that compulsory coursework does not add much value to their training, although its relevance seems to increase when students are given the possibility of choosing courses which are related to their research topic or when courses have a practical orientation. These findings invite a reconsideration of curriculum design in doctoral degrees in the direction of increased flexibility and more personalised learning plans.
- The parents’ role in the general council of portuguese schools – effective participation or mere orchestration of reality?Publication . Cabral, Ilídia; Alves, José Matias; Soares, Diana; Palmeirão, CristinaThe Portuguese public educational administration and management follows the norms established by the Decree-Law no. 75/2008, which was later reviewed by the Decree-Law no. 137/2012. The Decree- Law no. 75/2008, in effect since 2008, intended to “strengthen the participation of families and communities in the strategic direction of educational establishments and in favouring the establishment of strong leadership”. In addition to these two objectives, the preamble of this Decree- Law mentions "the need to strengthen the autonomy of schools [which] has been called for by all sectors of opinion.” In order to achieve these objectives, this Decree-Law reorganizes the configuration of public schools’ administrative bodies, by introducing a major change: the institution of a strategic management body – the General Council - made up of representatives from teaching and non-teaching staff, parents, students (if adults or secondary education students), municipalities and local community (representatives from institutions, economic, social, cultural and scientific organizations and activities). By introducing this change, this legal document establishes the following school administration and management bodies: i) the General Council; (ii) the School Director / Principal; (iii) the Pedagogical Council and (iv) the Administrative Council. The General Council is the strategic management body responsible for approving the fundamental rules of the school’s functioning (internal regulations), the strategic and planning decisions (educational project, activities plan) and for monitoring their implementation (annual activity report). Moreover, this body is responsible for the election and destitution of the Principal, who reports to the General Council. None of the bodies or groups represented in the General Council holds, on its own, the majority of the seats. All the interested groups must be represented and the bodies that represent the school staff (teaching and non-teaching staff) may not hold the majority of seats in the council. An open-ended single question was applied to a sample of parents who have a seat in the General Council of their children’s school, in order to collect their suggestions about ways to improve its action. We obtained a total of 42 answers that correspond to parents from 32 different General Councils across the country. A content analysis of the answers given reveals that the majority of respondents think that the General Council is dominated by the school Director / Principal, becoming a propaganda body for his action. Moreover, they affirm that parents should have an increased presence in this body, in order to counterbalance teachers’ excessive power in the General Council. In terms of the decision-making processes, the results show that the General Council seems to be perceived by parents as a forum for the legitimation of previously made decisions, which leads to a deficit of parents’ participation in these processes. The results of the study are presented and discussed under the light of some classical organizational theories.
- For a healthy (and) higher education: evidences from learning outcomes in health sciencesPublication . Leite, Ângela; Soares, Diana; Sousa, Hélder Fernando Pedrosa e; Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Dias, DianaIncreased recognition of outcomes, or competency-based education, has evolved across higher education on health sciences. However, there is significant diversity in the current study of Portuguese programmes. Considering learning outcomes (LO) as indicators of knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes and the understanding that the student will gain as a result of an educational experience, this study aims to explore which LO are emphasised on the study programmes of health sciences in Portugal. Through a qualitative methodology, carried out through MAXQDA software, all LO of all Portuguese health sciences study programmes submitted to quality accreditation to the Portuguese Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES) since 2009 until 2016 were analysed. Although specific knowledge was the most referenced LO, transversal skills were also emphasized, such as critical and reflexive analysis/critical thinking, research, ability to organize and plan and professional ethics. Significant diferences were found between LO selection when the analysis was made by comparing the diverse study programmes. This required assortment of knowledge and skills seems to reflect not only the specificities of each health science programme but also the challenging demands on professionals in the 21st century, along with the necessary changes imposed by society, fostering intercultural understanding, tolerance, mutual respect and an ethic of global citizenship and shared responsibility, crucial enablers of educational development for all in the scope of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Beyond the grade: defining school success and failure profilesPublication . Soares, Diana; Almeida, Leandro SilvaBased on a set of variables associated with school success / failure, this study analyses how they combine in differentiated school profiles. In a longitudinal design, 140 pupils from 7th to 9th grade were accompanied by repeated measurements of psychological, social and family variables and school grades. In the cluster, analysis three school profiles were identified. The first, called failure profile not involved with school corresponds to the group with low grades, whose personal and socio-family characteristics make learning difficult. The second group also corresponds to a failure profile but has characteristics that cushion these negative effects (engaged school failure profile). The last group, school success profile, includes students with good grades, and whose personal and socio-family characteristics support their good results. These results emphasize the need to go beyond the grade; counteracting the importance it has in defining what is the school success / failure.
- Industry–university collaboration in industrial doctorates: a trouble-free marriage?Publication . Tavares, Orlanda; Soares, Diana; Sin, CristinaThis article explores the perceptions of Portuguese students enrolled in industrial doctorates, regarding potential conflicts that may arise from their supervision, their research topic and their research outputs. The study uses data collected from focus groups and subjected to content analysis. The findings suggest that industrial doctoral students recognise a divergence between university and industry, mainly regarding research outputs, and particularly industry’s need to keep data confidential and the university’s need to disseminate knowledge via the publication of articles. Convergence was noted at the level of joint supervision, sometimes facilitated by the fact that academics were also entrepreneurs. The success of this kind of collaborative doctorate depends on compromise between the two parties and on how students can manage this relationship. Therefore, their perspectives are an important source of information worth consideration.