More than 50 higher education professors and doctoral students from Portuguese and foreign institutions attended a training on active learning using technology at the Faculty of Education and Psychology (FEP) between 14 and 16 February.
The training, entitled "Digital Enhancement of Active Learning in Higher Education" and part of the ERASMUS+ project "PBL4TEA - PBL framework for Digital Collaborative Teacher Training", challenged participants to transform a course unit (UC) or part of it, considering the use of active learning approaches and alternative assessment methods using technology (e.g. artificial intelligence). The transformation of the course unit and its subsequent implementation is intended to enhance the learning experience of higher education students.
"Fifty proposals for the transformation of curricular units have been developed and will be implemented in the coming semesters," explains Diana Mesquita, a FEP faculty and a member of the team responsible for the training, made up of facilitators from Turkey, Ireland, Lithuania and the University of Minho.
According to the CEDH lecturer and researcher, "this training is an initiative that aims to promote pedagogical innovation practices in higher education, through conscious reflection on what happens in the classroom in order to transform it. That's why the participants were challenged to transform a curricular unit of their choice".
Working in teams, in a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment
"Throughout the training experience, participants worked in teams, in a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment. The teams were formed randomly on the first day in order to get to know other realities, other institutions in Portugal and even in other countries. They therefore developed activities together, discussed and reflected together, created together and also had fun together," adds Diana Mesquita.
Following this meeting, a community of practice, called the #PBL4TEA Community, will be set up to monitor and support the implementation of the proposals made by the course participants.
This first edition of the training was attended by faculty and doctoral students from eleven higher education institutions in Portugal, as well as Lithuania and Brazil. Two more editions are planned: one in May 2024 at the University of Vilnius (Lithuania) and another in November 2024 at the University of Minho.
About the PBL4TEA project
The training is part of the activities of the ERASMUS+ project "PBL4TEA - PBL framework for Digital Collaborative Teacher Training", funded by the European Commission and part of the Research Centre for Human Development (CEDH) of the Faculty of Education and Psychology (FEP),
The two-year project (2022 to 2024) is coordinated by the Universidade do Minho, and has the partnership of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Koç University (Turkey), Munster Technological University (Ireland), and Vilnius University (Lithuania).
At UCP, the training was part of the 2nd Cycle of Pedagogical Workshops organised by CLIL | Católica Learning Innovation Lab.
