Aprender sobre quadros interativos numa comunidade de prática

: investigação-ação numa escola do Funchal

Abstract

Digital technology, multimedia and interactivity are omnipresent in today’s world but, in schools, the educational environment seems to register some difficulties in dealing with technological development. With the contribution of an interactive whiteboard (IWB) the learning environment may be enriched and foster interactions with the educational resources and the reality outside the school. However, despite of some schools already have these equipments, the exploitation of its existence and of all its potential does not seem to reach the intended levels. In order to find out if teachers favor the use of ICT and IWB in their pedagogical relationship with the pupils and if a community of practice (CoP) online would be an appropriate means to drive such professional approach, an action-research study was held in a school of Funchal, the main town in Madeira, Portugal. This study found expression in the implementation of a virtual CoP, during six months, using the Moodle platform and basically stimulating group discussions and databases in order to promote contribution and collaborative learning among participating teachers. Three different questionnaires, applied at different times, and the Moodle activity registrations have been used as evaluation instruments. Although most of the teachers prefer to delay their investment in IWB training, for when there will be higher availability of equipments, or present a low-interventional profile at CoP, there was an overall highly favorable review regarding the pedagogical potentialities of that equipment and of virtual CoP as a means to promote the professional development through collaborative learning.

Date of Award	30 Sept 2011
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	José Reis Lagarto (Supervisor)