Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are open courses available online without costs for the user and designed in such a way as to be scalable, thus allowing for a large number of participants. In this framework, a team of researchers from Universidade Aberta (UAb.pt) has developed a specific pedagogical model which has being tested, discussed and improved. This model is based on a number of socio-constructivist principles which combine autonomous learning with a strong social dimension. This paper analyses and discussed to which extent the use and improvement of the model in the MOOC Digital Competencies for Teachers promotes knowledge appropriation and the sharing of experiences, as well as the development of digital competencies. Taking into consideration that learning is conducted through interaction with materials, facilitators and with fellow participants, the research starts by analyzing interactions which took place in the virtual learning environment. In a second phase, it is conducted a content analysis of the different digital artefacts produced by the participants. In conclusion, the paper shows how this innovative model contributes to the appropriation of new knowledge and reflection on practices, highlighting the possibility of these courses being powerful tools for the training of teachers and other professionals. The authors also discuss the new pedagogical approaches emerging from MOOCs.

The central theme of this study is the analysis of a balanced integrated teaching methodology (face-to-face and virtual, as blended learning) and the extent of its implementation in teacher training, as well as the importance of leadership in planning, supervising and coordinating this process. We began with a systematic review of the literature of the last 15 years (2002-2017) on the Web of Science (WOS), the most highly rated database in the scientific community. We identified 190 studies related to blended learning, professional teaching development and leadership in education. We then selected 163 documents that fell specifically into the educational research category, of which 75 were articles. We further fine-tuned the search by excluding those articles related to research fields other than teachers’ professional development, and arrived at 35 articles that fulfilled our preliminary criteria. We reduced the sample to the 24 articles that contained all the features required by our investigation. The results show that blended learning is a valuable training tool that enables teachers to acquire competences and which can aid their professional development; it can also foment collaborative work, augment teachers’ technical and didactic skills around technology, promote interdisciplinary experiences and help teachers to share innovations, etc., among other potential outcomes.

This article presents the results of the study carried out among a group of students from a B.A. in Film, Television and Media Studies, on how to implement a SPOC as part of a practice course. Classroom experience has revealed a noticeable gap in the students' technical skills when operating the equipment. The aim of the research was to assess the utility values attributed by the students to blended learning tools and to find out which audiovisual production skills they find fit to be developed through a SPOC. The research was conducted simultaneously with a pilot SPOC on video editing and the assessment was elaborated through group discussions and individual polls. As a result, a preliminary list of SPOC utility values was drawn and content proposals to complement face-to-face learning were put forward. Students widely supported the view of having online material on technical devices operation available anytime throughout their degree course, so that they can learn at their own pace.

The convergence, the confluence, between the methodologies and resources of the face-to-face and distance education systems is now a reality. One of the variants of dual or mixed institutions is to offer a particular program, subject or course with a combination of face-to-face moments in the classroom, and other work activities outside the academic institution with the support of technologies. It is the “blended-learning”. We clarify that this blend and combination of methods and resources was already being carried out by the first distance universities with the support of face-to-face tutorials long before the arrival of digital technologies. In this work, rather than consider it a blend or combination of educational modalities, we are inclined to consider it as an integration of means, resources, technologies, methodologies, activities, strategies and, both face-to-face and distance learning, techniques to satisfy each specific learning need. As a further variant of this integration there appears the “flipped classroom” in which there are times planned to be spent in the classroom and times to be at home with the emphasis placed on reorganizing the work of the students in the classroom (more interaction) and at home (more autonomous work), as opposed to what used to be, as well as the new role of the teacher.

At the start of the new century, teaching was transformed by the new communication technologies.  Teaching-learning models, mediated through computers, have catalyzed new ways of teaching and learning beyond spatial and temporal coordinates.  E-learning, blended learning and mobile learning offer a new universe of interactivity for teaching purposes.  This work reviews the state of research studies and scientific literature on the new reality created by blended learning, analyzing its conceptualizations in the main scientific databases, with more than 7000 entries in Web of Sciences and almost 95000 in Google Scholar.  The outcomes of this work show the strong momentum of good practices and the subsequent research in all the areas and levels of education, transversal competencies, teaching methods, educational materials and technologies.  The main conclusion is that new ways of teaching and learning should be studied and understood regarding their connections with new learning media and contexts, starting from the incursion of the blended learning revolution.

In this paper we present a thorough literature review of different analyses and meta-analyses recently made to define the concept of e-learning and its impact on university. We consider the models, tools and strategies that can be implemented in Higher Education from the perspective of teachers, students or the teaching and learning planning process, and offer recommendations oriented to pedagogical planning and the integration of different training modalities (e-learning, b-learning and face-to-face), taking into account the need to guide training processes based on flexibility and continuous change. We approach b-learning from a general perspective oriented to plan its implementation in Higher Education as a strategy of change with an organizational character.

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This work aims to present a systematic review of the literature on Cognitive Flexibility as the ability to inhibit a response, change an opinion or attitude by another more appropriate. This feature of human behavior is present in the learning theory developed by Spiro and colleagues, as well as in the executive functions cognitive neuropsychology. The activities prepared for discussion forums based on these principles can provide the conceptual basis for teachers to stimulate coping cases or problem situations, in order to promote the flexibility of thinking, active learning and the role of students, based on a body of knowledge already seized earlier. We used as a source of search 12 databases, resulting in a total of 224 documents founded, of which 56 were selected as relevant to the present study, after application of the exclusion criteria. Cognitive Flexibility was appointed as a learning theory able to develop the ability of flexible thinking and cognitive constructs that promote the knowledge of the students, helping them to better understand the social conventions and technological interference that combine verbal and non-verbal texts with various mathematical, graphic, diagrammatic and schematic expressions, as well as the apprehension of resolute way of a case or problem situation.

The objective of this study was to present a model to measure the quality of didactic material used for distance learning (EaD). The research method used was data modeling to support multi-criteria decision-making, through Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and it used the software Assistant 7,0 Beta in order to obtain hierarchical matrices and their respective Consistency Index. The literary review identified the didactic material commonly used for distance learning. Following, specialists assessed and adapted the model to introduce it to the actors in the study. The results were that guiding quality in distance learning (EaD) documents that assess didactic material did not elect a degree of importance to the elements, they just listed and offered general guidelines to the quality standard; the AHP ranked the didactic materials according to their importance, the textbook had the highest percentage, followed by the video lessons. These items should absorb more attention from managers in terms of quality, followed by chat and radio. Considering all subcategories assessed by each didactic material, it was possible to observe that the text book is the one that requires more attention in terms of priority, in relation to the scope of its content, then the content must be error-free, without conceptual or approach bias , and finally with good graphic and visual quality. The quality subcategory that derives from video lessons are error-free material and without conceptual or approach bias. These categories were outlined in accordance with two reference standards for quality and didactic materials: AFT (2000) e MEC (2007). 

This article discusses the evaluation of e-learning or b-learning teacher performance, given the significance of such performance both in the overall learning process (specifically in its development and success, and also in the change, transformation and improvement of educational practices), and in the various contexts of virtual education in particular. Based on a bibliography analysis, we approach the conceptualization and characterization of the educational processes in virtual training and its evaluation, and the studies and proposals that enable the identification of the elements and strategies to be considered in the construction of an evaluation model. We understand that it is necessary to propose a model that is structured around the following dimensions: disciplinary knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, technological knowledge and compliance performance, integrating the perspectives of different actors (teacher, students, authorities) and a combination of instruments (questionnaires, self-reports, portfolio, learning results). Analyses will allow the practice of policies on teacher performance evaluation under either blended learning processes or online. At the same time, it will be possible to adopt assessment models that serve for teaching and research practice, considering the views of the different actors: students, teachers, and academic authorities.