Pedagogical Sessions

The mental health of students has implications for their academic life. It is important to know how to identify warning signs and what to do when we detect them. Experience shows that teachers can make a difference in the decision-making process for requesting psychological support. This educational session, aimed at teachers and organized by the Student Counseling Office of the Social Action Service in partnership with the Iscte Pedagogical Council, aims to answer these and other questions related to students' mental health.

Following a session held on June 18, 2024, in which some aspects of the linguistic challenges faced mainly by PALOP students in the Portuguese university context were discussed, it is now proposed to delve deeper into grammatical themes that constitute critical areas of use by these and other students. Criteria for linguistic correction are also presented, considering the conditions under which linguistic variation and deviations may or may not be accepted, taking into account both the needs for social inclusion and the demands of academic activity, particularly in terms of oral and written communication.

It is an initiative that aims to promote joint reflection on the processes of social and academic integration of international students in higher education.
The late arrival brings new challenges to institutions, which are important to debate in order to find collective solutions that facilitate the transition of this contingent of students to Portuguese higher education. By sharing the experiences of students and class delegates, this educational session aims to identify good practices, recurring challenges and reception strategies on the part of those who are welcomed and also those who host.

This session will cover effective study techniques and time management strategies that help students balance their academic and personal responsibilities. Through the introduction of content on study methods (supported by scientific evidence) and reflection on planning and organization practices, it will be possible to reflect on how to organize time more efficiently and, therefore, contribute to improving academic performance. Registration and participation in the session is open to teachers, students and staff.

The pedagogical session will focus on the importance of space as a pedagogical element, based on theoretical and empirical work carried out and the identification of success stories at Iscte and in higher education. It also arises in a context of community growth and transformation of the profile of Iscte's campus, in its physical, digital and academic dimensions. Thus, the aim is to reflect, identify and characterize significant spaces for the creation of experiences that promote, in the present and in the future, integrative and inclusive environments, efficient working conditions and effective learning in the context of higher education.

The mental health of students has implications for their academic life. It is important to know how to identify warning signs and what to do when we detect them. Experience shows that teachers can make a difference in the decision-making process for requesting psychological support. This educational session, aimed at teachers and organized by the Student Counseling Office of the Social Action Service in partnership with the Iscte Pedagogical Council, aims to answer these and other questions related to students' mental health.

This session aims to promote reflection on Special Educational Needs (SEN) in higher education, addressing the main challenges that teachers may encounter and exploring effective strategies to make learning more accessible and inclusive. During the meeting, the procedures and agents involved in granting student status with SEN will be discussed, clarifying the recognition process and available support. The diversity of special educational needs will also be explored, allowing a better understanding of the different student profiles and their specificities. In addition, practical suggestions will be presented to make the classroom more accessible and inclusive, promoting teaching that responds to different forms of learning. Finally, there will be a space dedicated to sharing experiences between teachers, through the exchange of pedagogical practices and collective reflection on inclusion in higher education.

Educational research – from Schön (1983) and his "reflective practitioner" approach, to Edmondson (1999) and the concept of psychological safety – demonstrates that error, when exploited intentionally, can be a powerful catalyst for learning and pedagogical innovation. This interactive session will have a dual approach: on the one hand, we will explore how student errors can be used as effective pedagogical tools, promoting a growth mindset (Dweck, 2006) and encouraging active learning; on the other, we will reflect on the impact of teachers' own errors on teaching, and how their analysis can foster professional development, according to the perspectives of organizational learning (Argyris & Schön, 1978) and practice-based in evidence (Hattie & Timperley, 2007).

This session will challenge higher education teachers to reformulate their perception of errors, promoting more effective, innovative, reflective and inclusive teaching. Teachers who wish can register to also present their experience and practices.

Empathy is not just a desirable trait – it is an essential tool for more effective and humane higher education. Advances in neuroscience show that empathy activates brain circuits that improve cooperation and reduce conflicts, while research in educational psychology proves that empathetic relationships between teachers and students increase the motivation and academic performance of both groups. In this interactive session, designed for both teachers and students, we will combine science and practical application: through experiential exercises, both will better understand the challenges of the other group, challenging their perceptions, and developing concrete strategies to improve communication and collaboration. Anyone who wishes can register and also present their experience and practices.

The Pedagogical Council organizes two Pedagogical Sessions with the aim of promoting issues related to ecological sustainability in teaching and learning at Iscte. These sessions are designed as spaces for sharing, reflection and debate.

The sessions will begin with two 15-minute presentations by two teachers, the aim of which is to launch the discussion and sharing of ideas and experiences.

On 9 December from 3pm to 4:30pm, the debate will be launched by Carlos Coutinho, who will talk about how he addresses the ecological footprint of digital technologies in the curricular unit (CU) of “Cloud Technologies and Systems” and by Helena Lopes who will talk about how she talks about the challenges posed by ecological sustainability in the “Labor Economics” UC.

The Pedagogical Council organizes two Pedagogical Sessions with the aim of promoting issues related to ecological sustainability in teaching and learning at Iscte. These sessions are designed as spaces for sharing, reflection and debate.

The sessions will begin with two 15-minute presentations by two teachers, whose objective is to launch discussion and sharing of ideas and experiences.

On 11 December from 11am to 12:30pm, the session will be led by Ana Simaens who will address the integration of environmental themes across curricular units in the management area, and by Cristina Sousa who will talk about how she approaches sustainability and ecological transition in the “Economy of Knowledge and Innovation” UC.

Learning styles refer to the different ways in which people prefer to receive, process and retain information. As Teachers, we daily face the reality of having students with different learning styles in our classroom – some who favor individual work and reading, others group work and discussion, and still others who prefer predominantly expository methods. We often do not fully recognize these differences, nor adapt our methodologies to address them effectively. This session aims to not only support Teachers to identify and understand students' diverse learning styles, but also to explore active learning methodologies that align with each style - applying these will make it possible to create a learning environment that encourages and enhances participation, critical thinking and knowledge retention.

Active learning methodologies refer to instructional methods in which students are at the center of the learning process – some examples include problem-based or project-based learning, collaborative or cooperative learning, debates, simulations, among many others. Despite all the evidence already published on the merits and results of active learning, when compared to the traditional lecture method, the pace of adoption of these methodologies has remained low. Two of the most widely documented barriers to adoption relate to the lack of knowledge of these methodologies, and the caution that Teachers show in their application, not wanting to risk applying a methodology that has not been properly tested. This session is designed to address these barriers, aiming to equip participants with the knowledge and practical experience necessary to (re)design their teaching sessions, maximizing the knowledge acquired there.

Iscte is committed to sustainable practices, promoting sustainability, inside and outside the university campus, in the Planet, People and Prosperity dimensions. Therefore, in the context of its activities, it intends to contribute to the sustainability transition through the creation of knowledge, innovation, education, training and culture for the sustainability of students, as well as teachers, researchers and technicians. At the academic level, its operationalization is achieved by identifying the Sustainable Development Objectives associated with each curricular unit (CU), in the respective curricular unit form (FUC).  In this session, we will discuss challenges and opportunities and share experiences to promote sustainability-oriented pedagogical practices.

Designing educational programs should not just be about offering old and new knowledge to students. You must also seek to stimulate, inspire, activate and reach your full potential as a human being. Following the conversation and reflection in the pedagogical session on June 24, 2024 led by Rita Jerónimo and Sara Soares on active learning in the classroom, the master's degree in Development Studies (MED@ISCTE) wants to challenge the ISCTE community to explore, discuss and help create a new and potential pedagogical model to be experimented with in the second semester of the program: a laboratory of development practices. A pedagogical model co-constructed by teachers, students and partner organizations (active in the area of ​​global development) focused on the active and critical participation of students that inspires them to be more autonomous, responsible and collaborative.

The Pedagogical Council, in conjunction with Iscte-Sintra, organizes a session to share pedagogical practices. This session is open to teachers from all Schools who wish to share ideas and experiences about student assessment methods, pedagogical strategies they apply in their respective UC and reflect on new pedagogical and assessment methods that could be implemented. Each teacher will be able to have 15 minutes for their curricular unit, of which 5 minutes will be dedicated to presenting their pedagogical strategy and the remaining 10 minutes to exchanging ideas and suggestions among everyone present. All teachers interested in joining in this sharing will be very welcome. The session will be hosted by Joana Martinho Costa, member of the Iscte-Sintra Installation Committee.

Classrooms are increasingly plural. Iscte is, increasingly, a university with a great capacity to attract international students, whether in mobility programs or, in a special way, fulfilling an educational and life project, by completing its bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees. Many of these students that Iscte welcomes come from the Global South and choose a university in the Global North for their training. Based on this context of increasing diversity in the classroom and given the debates on the decolonization of academic curricula, this session aims to think and debate ways of developing more plural and decolonial programs that accommodate and promote this diversity. The session is structured around the different components of the teaching-learning process: theoretical, empirical and pedagogical perspectives that reflect a more plural and integrative curriculum.

The student's psychological suffering has implications for their school life. Experience shows that teachers can make a difference in the decision-making process for requesting psychological support. But, to do so, it is important to identify warning signs and know what to do when we detect them. This educational session, aimed at teachers and organized by the Student Counseling Office of the Social Action Service in partnership with the Iscte Pedagogical Council, aims to answer these and other questions related to students' psychological suffering.

The Portuguese language, like other languages ​​with international projection and a long literary and administrative history, today presents an important degree of variation resulting from its geographical dispersion — it is spoken in a pluricentric language — and the multifunctionality of uses in society. The purpose of this session is to describe fundamental aspects of the functioning of Portuguese in two areas of personal interaction that prove to be critical in the academic context: the challenges of the coexistence of European Portuguese with the normative varieties of Brazil and the other CPLP; countries and the adoption of registers and styles of written and oral communication appropriate to work and coexistence in a university environment. The characteristic features of the current varieties of Portuguese are presented, the traces of the formal style in academic speaking and writing are identified, as well as some strategies that promote good use of Portuguese among students and teachers are suggested.

Pedagogical communication does not only happen in the classroom context, in the direct relationship between teacher and student. This communication also takes place through institutional documents, such as the Curricular Unit Sheets and the General Regulation for the Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (RGACC), among others. In this session, we will present and work on examples of the application of the guiding document for completing the FUC, taking into account the new version of the RGACC (which will come into force from the 2024/2025 academic year), as a basis for reflection around important pedagogical elements: learning objectives, planned activities, assessment instruments.

Pedagogical Session 20 June 2024

The rapid development of AI is often seen as a threat, but these fears benefit from being framed as symptoms of a larger problem. Namely, the apparent decline in the ability to think deeply, critically and flexibly, evident both in global indices such as those from the OECD and in reports from teachers. In a world where there are more and more students per classroom, interaction becomes more distant and assessment more formatted, there is an urgent need for a transformation of educational practices. In response, we propose thinking about tools in which learning is an active, situated, and dialogical process, rather than the mere exposition of content. In this approach, students engage in a participatory and critical way in learning, articulating their interests and concerns with their daily reality (immediate, national or global) in constant social interaction. The teacher assumes a facilitation role and learning becomes a bilateral process, in which knowledge is co-constructed.

In the session "Discovering the Potential of ChatGPT in the Classroom", we will explore how this artificial intelligence tool can be a valuable ally in the educational environment. We'll start with an introduction to ChatGPT, highlighting its text understanding and generation capabilities based on an advanced language model. We will discuss practical cases of how teachers can use ChatGPT to create personalized teaching materials, answer complex questions and even simulate classroom debates. Additionally, we will address the ethical implications of using AI in education, including privacy issues. The objective is to equip participants with the necessary knowledge to integrate this tool effectively and responsibly into their teaching methods, enhancing student learning and interaction.

The construction of new knowledge is supported by references that must be duly presented in accordance with the institutionally established and regulated codes of academic conduct (such as documents such as the General Regulations for the Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, the Code of Academic Conduct and the Student Disciplinary Regulations), which define standards of good practice and also sanctions for cases of non-compliance, such as plagiarism.

In this session we will talk about fraud and academic integrity, with a main focus on plagiarism in its different forms, the motivations for its practice and how to avoid it. We will also talk about the relationship between Iscte students and Artificial Intelligence platforms (ChatGPT and others) as a resource for learning, as well as the challenges faced by institutions in order to ensure that these tools are used in an ethical and responsible manner.

Session PDF

In recent years, generative artificial intelligence (AI), namely large language models and the chatbots built on them, has gained enormous public notoriety, even reaching the general media and government officials around the world. This notoriety has been accompanied by high levels of concern about potential risks: from the replacement of human beings in multiple tasks (including in areas involving creativity) to the generation and dissemination of fake news with consequent threats to social cohesion and democracy and even existential risks for humanity. In education, particularly secondary and higher education, generative AI can have a huge impact and has stimulated large doses of concern and forced us to rethink many aspects, particularly assessment. The purpose of this presentation and discussion is precisely to address the issues raised by the impact of AI on education, posing the question: is it a threat, an opportunity, or both?