The Experience of Remote Teaching in Higher Education: A Scenario of Challenges and Opportunities

In March 2020, within a short space of time and no prior preparation, the educational offer of HE institutions shifted from in-person teaching to remote online teaching. All teaching and learning activities started to be conducted through digital platforms and technologies, rarely used before then. This study used qualitative methodology, two data collection instruments were used: semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers from different institutions, and opinion essays about the experience written by 10 students. To analyze the data, we conducted content analysis. The results obtained suggest that this experience of teaching and learning in a digital environment represented a great challenge, both from the teaching point ofview and the way students learn. In addition, it boosted the digitalisation of pedagogical action, advocated for more than a decade by the Bologna Process, opening new paths for the reformulation of teaching and learning processes in higher education. This challenging scenario has opened a window of opportunity for a new paradigm of teaching to emerge, based on the use of digital technologies.

CONTINUOUS TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETENCES TO LEARN TO READ AND WRITE IN THE 1ST CYCLE

This study aims to analyse the effects of a continuous training course in Portuguese, in the pedagogical practice of teachers, regarding the development of reading and writing skills of their students in the first and secondyears of the 1st cycle of basic education, in the metropolitan area of Porto. In recent years, due to the contextual evolution of education, as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic, teachers felt the need to attend training actions, in order to improve the quality of the teaching and learning process. In particular, they were interested in developing new professional skills, in the digital area, aiming at promoting school success, in a time of school metamorphosis. Furthermore, the transversality of the mother tongue to all curricular subjects is highlighted. In this study, a qualitative methodology was chosen, taking into account a starting point and an arrival point. The data collection instrument was the structured interview, centered on the comparative analysis between the perceptions of practices, in pretraining and post-training. For data processing, the WebQDA software was used. The textual corpus was divided into two categories and the subcategories were listed a priori and a posteriori of the units of meaning. The results point to the fact that the attendance of a continuous training course in Portuguese allowed teachers to become more reflective through critical analysis of classroom practices. By perfecting teaching strategies in their classes, the teachers boosted the development of reading and writing skills in their 1st cycle of basic education students and, transversally, in all subjects. However, it is necessary to continue to strengthen the use of digital technologies and the metacognition of teachers, combining external and internal training, among peers, through collaborative work and sharing of good practices in the community.

THE EXPERIENCE OF REMOTE TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A SCENARIO OF CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

This article aims to present and reflect on some of the results of a study on the perceptions of teachers and students in the Porto Metropolitan Area, regarding their experience with remote learning in Higher Education (HE), during the first period of COVID-19 confinement. In mid-March 2020, within a short space of time and with no prior preparation, the educational offer of HE institutions shifted from in-person teaching to remote online teaching, leading to a paradigm shift. All teaching and learning activities started to be conducted through digital platforms and technologies, rarely used before then, but which proved to be essential in times of social confinement. As such, it became necessary to offer continuous intensive training within the academic community, aiming to provide teachers and students with the digital skills required to effectively use and maximize the potential of the new teaching and learning platforms. This sudden and dramatic change in HE motivated us to understand the challenges of remote teaching, involving both teachers and students in this reflection, and the potential of the answers found. This study used qualitative methodology, wherein two data collection instruments were used: semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers from different institutions and subject areas, and opinion essays about the aforementioned experience by 9 students. To analyse the data derived from those sources, we conducted content analysis. The results obtained suggested that teaching and learning within a digital environment posed a great challenge, not only from a teaching perspective but also regarding the way students learn and the demand for greater responsibility. At the same time, this challenging scenario opened a window of opportunity for a new teaching paradigm to emerge, one that is based on the exclusive use of digital technologies. In addition to boosting the digitalization of pedagogical action, which was advocated for more than a decade in the Bologna Process, it opened new paths to reformulate teaching and learning processes in HE.

E-MENTORING AS A SUPERVISION APPROACH IN DISTANCE UX EDUCATION

This study aims to analyze the connection between e-mentoring and the impact of this type of supervision during UX students' first-time experience with a real industry project. An interdisciplinary field like User Experience (UX), devoid of its own recognized body of disciplinary knowledge, poses its own educational challenges by requiring a holistic and versatile approach to learning. While traditional education has struggled to meet and adapt to the ever-evolving industry needs in UX, more flexible alternatives within the distance education space have been providing opportunities for students to develop hands-on skills and experience real-life projects for a while. It was in 2020, however, that the interest in online education grew the most, due to COVID-19 and pandemic-induced constraints, especially in tech career paths, such as UX, with the potential to provide profitable work-from-home (WFH) job opportunities. A common learner-centered approach in online UX education is project-based learning (PBL), in which students are involved in both fictional and real projects, with the guidance and support of a mentor. Within this context, we used qualitative research methodology to conduct a thematic content analysis of the following: 10 portfolio industry projects from 10 postgraduate students located in the United States of America who completed an online UX course to complement their education;and 10 session logs of 2 supervisors who mentored them during their 4-week assigned client project. According to the themes which emerged from our analysis, we concluded that being exposed to a safe environment where students were able to experiment with mentors' guidance, helped them develop critical thinking skills, adapt to uncertain circumstances, and gain networking opportunities. Additionally, students struggled with the time available to conduct a real-life project and the inability to apply theoretical concepts within constraints, which implies a cognitive dissonance between the theory and the actual practice of UX. Further research is required to explore how different pedagogical approaches to e-mentoring and supervisory styles may contribute to its quality and the overall impact on the students' learning experience.