Critical and Creative Thinking education in Higher Education Institutions

Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin, from the Center for Educational Research and Innovation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD-CERI), talks with Caroline Dominguez, coordinator of the ‘Critical Thinking Across the European Higher Education Curricula – CRITHINKEDU’ European project, about Critical and Creative Thinking education in Higher Education Institutions

Hints to Improve Motivation in Construction Companies

AbstractMotivation in work teams has a key role to play for the survival and competitiveness of businesses in the harsh environment of economic recession. This paper characterizes motivation in small and medium-sized construction companies in Portugal. It draws on data collected from in-person surveys which were carried out to employees of 32 companies. Results reveal the presence of some motivating factors specific to the profession such as the fact that the work requires a wide range of skills and is not very routine. Also, although employees in general feel a sense of equity and recognize that managers provide constant feedback, results show the need for improvement in motivation's management, particularly in regard to more autonomy and participation in setting goals

Nota Introdutória

O desenvolvimento do pensamento crítico na educação é um desafio pre- mente que envolve um trabalho sobre as disposições do pensador crítico, as áreas de aplicação/transferibilidade, as estratégias de ensino e a avaliação dos resultados da aprendizagem. Este dossier temático pretende contribuir para este roteiro apresentando dez trabalhos com perspetivas diferenciadas e ricas, desenvolvidos em diferentes ambientes, mas com potencial para evoluir no sentido de desenvolver novas/outras metodologias, mais ou menos transversais, abordadas para favo- recer, nos nossos estudantes, o desenvolvimento de competências na área do pensamento crítico

Governança e Turismo. Santana Talavera, Agustín; Gonçalves, Eduardo; Pereiro Pérez, Xerardo: Maia, Edições ISMAI, CEDTUR e CETRAD, 2016. ISBN 978-972-9048-73-9

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With a little help from my peers: professional development of higher education teachers to teach critical thinking

Critical Thinking (CT) has become a fundamental competence of the 21st century. However, university teachers still face several difficulties in promoting it through their teaching practice, mainly due to the lack of pedagogical training aimed at this purpose. In the scope of the CRITHINKEDU Erasmus+ project, a 5-day European training course for university teachers was held in Rome (Italy) aiming to engage participants with CT teaching practices and to prepare them with the required tools suitable for its development. Some teachers from the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) attended the course as trainees, and later, along with other colleagues, assumed the role of trainers during its replication in Vila Real (Portugal). Through the analysis of a focus group of eight teachers from UTAD, the current exploratory case study aims to understand teachers’ conceptions on CT and characterize how those are integrated in the teaching practices. It also tries to evaluate the impact that both training courses (as trainees and/or trainers) had on their professional development. Preliminary reflections on the implementation of CT teaching practices and the design of teacher's training courses in this field are discussed. Keywords: critical thinking; teaching practice; teacher training; professional development; higher educatio

Critical thinking education in the portuguese higher education institutions: a systematic review of educational practices

Critical Thinking (CT) education has been a field of growing concern within the Portuguese Higher Education (HE) context, in an attempt to meet the labour market needs and the most demanding and complex societal challenges. However, there is a lack of systematic literature review studies characterizing the different CT educational practices adopted by faculty teachers. Thus, this review intends to understand to what extent the Portuguese teachers in HE have been developing CT skills and dispositions in their students, in a continuous, explicit and effective way. Following the steps of review methods, 27 empirical studies complying with the inclusion criteria were analysed. Results show that CT educational practices are gradually increasing over the years, but they tend to be developed with an implicit, non-intentional and short-term basis, neglecting the development of CT dispositions in the classroom. Studies from different nature are needed (experimental, longitudinal) in order to assess the permanency or generalization of CT in students. Several difficulties were found and future work should stimulate the discussion on the ways to overcome them, guiding HE teachers and institutions in the development, support and evaluation of CT practices. Keywords: higher education; critical thinking; educational practices; literature revie

NOTA INTRODUTÓRIA: Pensamento crítico no ensino superior: formação docente, práticas letivas e instrumento de avaliação

Nota Introdutória ao Dossier sobre Pensamento Crítico (PC) no Ensino Superior

Implementation of CRM systems in portuguese municipalities

Customer relationship management is a business strategy which dynamically integrates a set of services with the purpose of creating value for the organisation and for their customers. In Portugal, the 2009/2010 edition of ‘Simplex for Municipalities’, the action plan carried by the Portuguese government through the Secretary’s Office of State for Administrative Modernisation, makes a commitment to promote a set of initiatives in order to help citizens using the public services. This process intends to reduce costs of context which burden the economic activities, making way for the modernisation of administration. Customer relationship management assumes a central role in this context. This paper presents the main results of a survey that was carried out with Portuguese municipalities, aiming a general characterisation of the adoption of customer relationship management systems, covering several aspects, fromthe motivations for CRMadoption to the obtained results. The improvement of the relationship with citizens and a higher information quality are some of the most important results obtained by municipalities

Critical success aspects in project management: similarities and differences between the construction and software industry

Uspjeh projekta uveliko ovisi o procesu upravljanja projektom i nekoliko je gledišta koja treba pažljivo razmotriti. Cilj je ovoga članka odgovoriti na pitanje: ima li sličnosti u raznim industrijskim granama u onome što se odnosi na gledišta bitna za uspjeh upravljanja projektom? Opsežnom anketom provedenom u srednjim i velikim kompanijama građevinske i industrije računarskih programa, zaključili smo da su dva, trenutno najvažnija gledišta za uspjeh upravljanja projektom zajednička za te dvije industrijske grane vezana uz "planiranje projekta" i "dobro definiranje ciljeva i zahtjeva". "Učinkovitost voditelja projekta" se također nalazi pri samom vrhu. S druge strane, postoje bitne razlike u odnosu na druga gledišta.Project success is highly dependent on the project management process, and there are several aspects that need to be carefully considered. This article aims at responding to the research question: are there similarities in different industries in what concerns the critical aspects for the success of project management? Throughout a comprehensive survey applied to medium and large companies of the construction and software industries, we came to the conclusion that the two currently most important project management success aspects are common to both industries: "project planning" and "well defined objectives and requirements". The "project manager efficiency" is also in the top of the critical success aspects. On the other hand, other aspects show major differences in the studied industries

Balancing European SME managers’ training contents: perceived importance & training needs

Background: Given the limited available time of in-service professionals, the balance between the perceived importance of the course content and training needs is essential for the acceptance and attractiveness of training courses aimed at them. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to contribute to the development of entrepreneurship and business training programs for European SME managers. Methods/Approach: In six European countries a survey focusing on SME managers’ views on the importance of individual items from a list of potential course content items, and their training needs was carried out, and followed by an analysis using exploratory and multivariate techniques. It was aimed at identifying homogeneous groups of managers with common training needs and perceptions of content importance. Results: Homogeneous groups of managers who assign the same importance to certain competences and who have common training needs are identified. Conclusions: Results of our research could help training institutions to develop courses aimed at SME managers. The balancing approach proved to be an interesting method of combining conflicting requirements for the training course curriculum development.This paper is based on work developed with support from the European Commission (Education and Culture Directorate-General, Lifelong Learning Programme). This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein. The development of this paper was partly financed by the ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within projects "FCOMP - 01-0124-FEDER-022701" and "FCOMP-010124-FEDER-022692"