Católica Learning Innovation Lab fosters interdisciplinary peer-to-peer learn

Monday, March 4, 2024 - 16:40

The 2nd Cycle of UCP Pedagogical Workshops, promoted by CLIL - Católica Learning Innovation Lab, took place from 30 January to 16 February. The 2nd edition of the event, aimed at faculty and researchers from the four regional centres of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP), managed to mobilise 369 participants in the different thematic sessions over three weeks.

"This number of participants is very satisfactory, as it shows the real interest of the UCP teaching community in pedagogical innovation topics," says Diana Soares, CLIL coordinator and lecturer at the Faculty of Education and Psychology (FEP).

25 workshops on pedagogical innovation organised by 30 faculty, researchers and senior technicians

The programme of the 2nd Cycle of Workshops included 25 workshops/thematic sessions, 20 online and 5 face-to-face, organised by 30 faculty, researchers and senior staff from within and outside the UCP. The face-to-face sessions were organised in cooperation with the CApS - Service-Learning and ERASMUS+ PBL4COLLABTT / PBL4TEA projects.

"The workshops were full of exchange of experiences, debates and reflections on different approaches to pedagogical innovation in higher education. The challenges and potential of implementing active methodologies in the classroom were discussed in the light of different contexts, respecting the specificities of each scientific field on the one hand, and promoting interdisciplinary peer learning on the other", adds the CLIL coordinator.

Next step: building Communities of Learning and Practice

The 2nd Cycle of Workshops enabled the identification of the training interests of the teaching community in terms of pedagogical innovation. These interests will serve as a starting point for the launch of the Communities of Learning and Practice (CAP), scheduled for March 2024.

"Having completed the 2nd cycle of workshops, we are now moving forward with the launch of the CAP at the UCP. These communities will be open to faculty from the University's four regional centres. The aim is to give faculty the opportunity to join a group or community that will explore new methodologies and pedagogical strategies that allow for the reformulation of teaching practices," concludes Diana Soares.

The CAP programme and registration procedure will be announced shortly.