João Batista

The Use of Communication Technologies in Higher Education in Portugal: Best Practices and Future Trends

This chapter presents and discusses best practices and future trends in the use of Communication Technologies (CT) in Portuguese public Higher Education Institutions (HEI), from a literature review between 2008 and 2013, triangulated with the opinion of Higher Education teachers, using interviews. This contribution emerges from the project “TRACER—Portuguese Public Higher Education Use of Communication Technologies”, which aims to contribute towards the characterization of HEI according to their adoption and use of CT in educational contexts.

Considerations on Information and Communication Overload Issue in Smart Cities

This paper addresses the issue of information and communication overload in the context of smart cities. However this issue has been widely studied and its negative effects on individuals, organizations and societies are already known, as well as the multiple and diversified causes and solutions which have gradually been identified, the literature shows that it has been neglected in the context of smart cities. This paper approaches the subject of smart cities and mentions some contributions found on the literature to face the information and communication overload. The main concepts of information and communication overload are also described. Then, some measures are proposed to identify, prevent and deal with the information and communication overload in smart cities.

Digital media as a driver of a more inclusive higher education: towards a proposal of an action plan

Digital media may have a fundamental role in promoting more inclusive social and learning experiences, particularly when considering the challenge of widening participation that Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are currently facing. This article briefly overviews recent policies, initiatives and recommendations that address the use of digital media in promoting a more inclusive higher education (HE) system; the review focuses especially on actions involving HE students and that promote innovative uses of digital media solutions that provide flexible delivery models and alternative ways of communicating, helping students from a variety of non-traditional backgrounds and contexts to actively participate and engage with HE in a more open and inclusive approach. The article also presents preliminary results of an exploratory survey on how Portuguese public HEI websites present the challenge of inclusion, namely through digital media. The results of the review show the increasing importance for HE of ensuring open and inclusive student experiences through the use of digital media, although it seems that there is a lack of policies and information widely available about how this can be achieved, especially for publics other than the learners with disabilities or special education needs. Also, the analysis of the HEI websites does not seem to reveal a great concern in presenting HEI as open, flexible and inclusive for all learners, particularly using digital media. Drawing on the revision undertaken and on the collected data, the authors make recommendations for future research and propose an action plan towards the development of a future research project.

Desafios no desenvolvimento de competências comunicacionais nos cursos de licenciatura das universidades do Nordeste brasileiro

O artigo apresenta resultados de um estudo que aborda a problematica do desenvolvimento das competencias comunicacionais dos estudantes nos cursos de licenciatura das universidades federais do Nordeste brasileiro. O desenvolvimento dessas competencias e critico para a formacao de nova geracao de profissionais do setor da educacao dispondo de um nivel de literacia digital apropriado as exigencias colocadas pelas novas midias. A investigacao abrange coordenadores e docentes dos 126 cursos de licenciaturas que tratam da formacao de professores para a educacao basica nas 18 universidades federais da Regiao Nordeste do Brasil. Apresentam-se os resultados da primeira etapa de recolha de dados, baseada num inquerito do tipo survey on-line, sobre o estudo do uso das tecnologias da comunicacao pelos professores das licenciaturas. Esta etapa permitiu identificar quais as praticas docentes utilizadas envolvendo as tecnologias da comunicacao e perceber quais os principais desafios para inserir estas tecnologias nas praticas cotidianas. Os resultados obtidos indicam que as plataformas de gestao de aprendizagem sao a tecnologia mais utilizada pelos professores, o que estabelece desafios importantes no que respeita a diversificacao e a flexibilizacao das tecnologias utilizadas, a estrutura curricular dos cursos e a formacao dos docentes das licenciaturas. O artigo inclui ainda a identificacao das proximas etapas da investigacao e uma reflexao sobre os principais contributos que o estudo pretende sistematizar.

A Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of the Use of Advanced Communication Technologies in Higher Education: The Institutional Perspective

This paper presents and discusses a conceptual framework designed to analyze how higher education institutions are using advanced communication technologies to support learning. The focus is on the institutional perspective and the paper includes a review of literature and a proposal of a model of analysis, supported by two main concepts - institutional framework and use, whose dimensions and components are detailed. The application of this model to the Portuguese public higher education system is presented, and some major results are summarized. Some final remarks about the application of this conceptual framework to other higher education contexts are also included.