3.1.6. BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLES

At the University of Aveiro several teachers have been engaging in Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) – both developed in the scope of the European Consortium of Innovative Universities, which brings together eleven European universities, committed to developing and implementing innovative teaching and learning methodologies and to sustaining and nurture an internationally-minded culture. Regarding CBL, it is grounded on learning environments that guarantees multidisciplinary teamwork and decision making. In terms of format, CBL projects differ in four dimensions: duration and workload; time of engagement; level of investigation to find a solution; and breadth of action to open the findings to society.

In what concerns COIL,  the projects are based on the involvement of teachers and students, with different geographical origins, language and culture, for the development of collaborative teaching and learning processes using online communication tools. The main purpose of COIL initiatives is to promote learning experiences in international context within the courses offered at partner universities. Thus, it represents an additional opportunity to promote the co-construction of new knowledge, as well as the development of skills and values/ responsibilities.

COIL projects involve a partnership between teachers from different countries in order to provide students with an opportunity to collaborate online in international teams. Thus, participation in these projects promotes the development, for instance, of multidisciplinary teamwork, intercultural awareness and sensitivity, as well as the digital, communication, language competences. COIL projects implemented and/or in progress at the University of Aveiro are in different scientific areas ranging from communication, to management or medical sciences and can be accessed at https://www.ua.pt/en/inovacaopedagogica/coil.

Fig. 1. Example COIL projects developed at the University of Aveiro. Source: https://www.ua.pt/en/inovacaopedagogica/coil

A concrete educational best practice identified at the University of Aveiro integrates several teaching and learning methodologies, based on a flipped classroom approach, to promote the students' accountability for their individual and collective learning.

In practical terms, as you can see in the image, for the pre-class stage (planning and monitoring), there was a clear focus on the subdivision of the themes into modules, followed by the collaborative (teacher and students) creation  of questions in an asynchronous online environment, to create a comprehensive online quiz per module. Students were then asked to answer a selected set of (these) questions in class, and the answers were discussed to clarify doubts.

Fig. 2. Example of an innovative learning strategy at the University of Aveiro.

As to after-class activities, the students embraced the challenge of participating in two projects with international partners. The V-interESP Project was developed with the Universities of Niš (Serbia), Vilnius and Technical Vilnius Gediminas (Lithuania) and the students enrolled were asked to developed videos focusing on technical descriptions of artefacts, which were shared and discussed among all participants in the end. The Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project involved the courses Quality Models and English Applied to Quality (University of Aveiro, Portugal) and the course  Scientific Methodology, in which the students were challenged to develop a bilingual directory of Quality Models (learning output). This process implied that the integrated development of the language competence (for specific purposes), as well as the digital, collaboration and intercultural communication competences, which are increasingly relevant in professional context. Furthermore, the learning dynamics generated in these online and international environments was very rich and authentic. For more information:  https://www.ua.pt/en/inovacaopedagogica/mencao-honrosa-premio-boas-praticas-pedagogicas-ana-balula