Internationalization and english language in a public institution

Internationalization is defined as an integration process of international, intercultural or global dimensions with educational purpose and offers. There are many dimensions of educational institutions internationalization from research partnership to international mobility. Among the several requirements for students to participate in exchanging programs promoted by international universities and organizations is English language proficiency. On the other hand the proficiency level requirements can vary according to the mobility programs which set the minimum English level. One example is the SAKURA Science High School Program promoted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) which selected science and technology students to participate in an exchanging program in Japan. In order to be selected, applicants needed to have B1 (CEFRR) as minimum English proficiency level. Thus this study aims to investigate if Brazilian students of an educational institution have such required level to successfully take part in mobility programs. The qualitative methodology of this research includes documents analysis - internationalization documents and English course program - and questionnaires to students and English teacher. The results show that students are expected to achieve B1 level by the end of high school according to the English subject program. However students believe that they do not have such level in speaking skill which would be one of the main skill in JST program. Most of them classify their level in A2. Furthermore the English teacher claims that although some students have already achieved B1 or even higher level the majority is at A2.Thus in order to allow more students to participate in mobility programs the institution should invest in extra-curricular English courses to increase study hours and focus more on developing speaking skills

Evaluation of the effects of radiation on the chemical composition and bioactivity of the plants used in the pharmaceutical and/or food industries

Tesis por compendio de publicaciones[EN] Medicinal plants and their extracts or isolated compounds have various applications, especially as food additives and as health promoters, as nutraceuticals and ingredients in formulations of functional foods, for pharmaceutical and food industries. However, medicinal plants may be contaminated by soil, water, air and powder, not only during the growth process but also during harvest and drying. Microbial contaminations reduce their quality and shelf life and pose a threat to public health, as they may involve the presence of pathogenic bacteria. Irradiation is a simple, modern and clean physical non-thermal method of processing that allows significant reduction in the microbial load, which is being increasingly applied as a feasible technology for different purposes: disinfestation, decontamination, sterilization or shelf-life extension of food products. It is authorized in several countries, including the European Union (Directive 1999/2/EC). In the present work, the feasibility of using gamma and e-beam (EB) radiation for preservation and decontamination of several aromatic and medicinal dried plants was evaluated, verifying that the main physico-chemical characteristics and relevant molecules were, in general, satisfactorily preserved, as also microbiological safety. The nutritional value was determined by official methodologies for food analysis; free sugars were analysed by HPLC-RI, fatty acids by GC-FID, organic acids by UFLC-DAD, tocopherols by HPLC-fluorescence, and phenolic compounds by HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS. The antioxidant properties were evaluated through free radicals scavenging activity, reducing power and inhibition of lipid peroxidation in brain homogenates assays. Cytotoxic properties were tested in tumor (MCF-7, NCI-H460, HeLa and HepG2) and non-tumor (PLP2) cell lines. Mycotoxin levels were determined by HPLC-fluorescence after immunoaffinity column (IAC) cleanup. Irradiation proved to produce heterogeneous effects on chemical, nutritional and bioactive variables, preserving or degrading molecules, and also increasing the bioavailability of some compounds. The preservation of sensible compounds over time (12 to 18 months) was not observed equally in all species submitted to irradiation, however, in general, EB stood out as the best processing option for the studied materials

Colaboração online: como avaliar?

Nesse artigo vamos apresentar um instrumento destinado a avaliar a aprendizagem colaborativa ocorrida em ambientes mediatizados pelas TIC, com comunicação predominantemente assíncrona, que teve como ponto de partida o modelo desenvolvido por Murphy (2004). O referido modelo tem como base a interação e colaboração como elementos desencadeadores de um clima favorável à construção conjunta do conhecimento. Esses elementos representam um processo em contínua evolução e que se concretiza ao longo das seguintes fases: i) presença social; ii) articulando perspectivas individuais; iii) acolhimento ou refletindo as perspectivas dos outros; iv) co-construção de perspectivas comuns e significados; v) construção de objetivos compartilhados e propósitos e vi) Produzir artefactos compartilhados. Partindo deste princípio, apresentaremos uma grelha de avaliação que desenvolvemos e validámos a partir dos instrumentos originais propostos pelo autor. E por fim faremos breves considerações finais sobre a importância do referido instrumento para o estudo dos processos de ensino e aprendizagem na educação online.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Utilização educativa da rede social orkut : um contributo para o estado da arte

Nesta comunicação vamos equacionar o potencial educativo das redes sociais a partir de uma revisão de literatura que envolveu a análise de estudos em que a rede social Orkut foi integrada com sucesso no elenco curricular do ensino superior e não superior. Começamos por conceptualizar o conceito de rede social virtual, para, na fase seguinte, apresentarmos a rede social Orkut destacando-se os princípios básicos que presidiram à sua criação bem como as funcionalidades técnicas que a individualizam e lhe conferem potencial para utilização no apoio ao ensino presencial e/ou a distância. Numa segunda fase apresentamos uma resenha de estudos já realizados com a rede social Orkut, no sentido de inventariar eventuais cenários de integração curricular destas novas ferramentas da Web social num processo de ensino e aprendizagem capaz de propiciar uma aprendizagem construtivista, em que o aluno passa a ser agente activo e responsável pela sua própria aprendizagem utilizando para isso um arsenal de ferramentas que contribuem não só para a pesquisa, mas também oferecem condições para que o conhecimento seja construído, partilhado e socializado no mundo global.CIED, FC

Redes sociais como espaços informais de partilha de informações : análise de um fórum na PROEDI

Com advento da Internet e das tecnologias digitais, a aprendizagem informal assume uma importância acrescida ao tornar possível uma interacção maior entre as pessoas independentemente do contexto social ou geográfico, contribuindo para que as informações sejam divulgadas e actualizadas de uma forma mais rápida e dinâmica. Essa nova forma de conceber a informação tem influenciado significativamente todos os segmentos sociais, em especial a educação, no que diz respeito ao ensino e aprendizagem dos alunos, bem como a formação do professor que precisa entender todo este novo contexto e adequá-lo à sua prática. Tendo como base as reflexões até aqui realizadas, iremos nesse artigo analisar o 1º fórum realizado na rede social PROEDI – Professores na Era Digital (www.proedi.ning.com), que tem como objectivo explorar novas abordagens para a formação e desenvolvimento profissional de professores tornadas possíveis pela emergência do paradigma Web 2.0. O primeiro fórum teve como desafio questionar as potencialidades educativas das redes sociais na formação de professores buscando em primeira mão auscultar a opinião dos membros da comunidade sobre se as redes sociais poderiam (ou não) constituir-se como meios propulsores de múltiplas aprendizagens.CIED - Universidade do Minh

Design and validation of an analysis grid of social networks (virtual communities)

The Internet and communication technologies have caused profound changes in the circulation of information, and consequently in the ways we teach, learn, and interact with each other. A research project was initiated in the year 2009 in order to investigate whether virtual communities, created from the existing social software on the web, provide the development of meaningful learning, the result of interactions, and knowledge sharing among its members. The first phase of the presented project assumed the design, development, and validation of an analysis and evaluation grid of virtual communities, which in the social web developed around the central theme Education-Training- Technologies.Universidade do Minho. Centro de Investigação em Educação (CIEd

Comunidades da Rede Social Orkut que versam sobre o Eixo Temático Educação, Formação e Tecnologia: um estudo exploratório

Na actual sociedade, também denominada sociedade da informação, do conhecimento e, mais recentemente, da aprendizagem, temos vivenciado profundas mudanças na economia, na política, na educação e, principalmente, nas formas de conceber o conhecimento. O presente artigo pretende investigar se as comunidades virtuais criadas a partir de software da Web social, podem (ou não) constituir como ambientes de aprendizagem informal para o desenvolvimento profissional dos professores. Para o efeito, foi realizado um estudo exploratório envolvendo 75 (setenta e cinco) comunidades da rede social Orkut que versavam sobre o eixo temático Educação, Formação e Tecnologia. No contexto da análise realizada, detectámos que havia diferenças nas dinâmicas de funcionamento das comunidades que tinham o e-moderador como elemento dinamizador (comunidades moderadas) e as que não tinham esse elemento (comunidades públicas), aspectos que são o objecto de estudo na presente comunicação.Nowadays, the society we are living in is commonly called information and knowledge society. Recently, it has been called learning society and has been suffering deep changes in economy, politics, education and, mostly, in the way we conceive knowledge. The present article investigates whether virtual communities created from Social Web Software, can (or cannot) constitute an informal learning environment to the professional development of teachers. To achieve this aim, an exploratory study was done involving 75 (seventyfive) communities from Orkut Social Network, which approached the themes of Education, Formation and Technology. In this context of analysis, we have detected some differences in the functioning dynamics of communities that had an emoderator has a dynamizor element (moderated communities) and those who hadn't that element (public communities), aspects that are the theme of the present communication/speech

O papel do E-moderador em comunidades virtuais : um estudo na rede social Orkut

In today's society, the technologies have a role of prominence in all social segments, allowing the understanding of the new social structure - the network society - and thus a new economy in which information technology and communication tools are considered indispensable in handling the information and construction of knowledge by individuals. Therefore, this communication will begin addressing the second generation of Internet (Web 2.0). Introducing the concept of social network as a virtual space where information can be shared in a democratic and egalitarian, focusing our attention on Orkut. Then, we discuss the concept of virtual communities and finally, present an analytical study on the role of e-moderator in virtual communities of Orkut that focused on themes: "Web 2.0", "Teacher education" and "ICT". The objective of this study was to hear what they think the e-moderators about the roles they play in the community since the literature identifies as the subject that streamline and motivate the group, contributing to their integration and socialization, to the construction of knowledge through an informal and collaborative learning.Centro de Investigação em Educação da Universidade do Minho (CIED

Social networks as spaces for the professional development of teachers

The study presented in this paper integrates a research project whose main goal is to explore new approaches to teacher education and professional development that emerge from the Web 2.0 paradigm. In this paper we present three different experiences on the use of social networks for the creation of a virtual community whose main goal is the professional development of teachers. The first experience is a Portuguese project named dajaneladomeujardim – (http://janelajardim.ning.com/). The second example is a north american project created and managed by Steve Hargadon and called Classroom 2.0 (http://www.classroom20.com/). The third project cames from Brasil and is called Eadamazon – Portal de EAD e e-learning da Amazónia (www.eadamazon.com). Lessons learned from the analysis of those projects will be presented and discussed.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)Universidade do Minho. Centro de Investigação em Educação (CIEd

Knowledge construction in social networks: does it really matter?

Knowledge construction in social networks is a critical issue for educators who research the opportunities and challenges those new environments offer for online education. In order to contribute to the debate we present in this article an empirical study whose objective was to analyze online interactions in a discussion forum of a social network that gathers a community of Portuguese speaking teachers who discuss online topics related to professional development in ICT. The theoretical framework is the Online Collaborative Learning Theory – OCL developed by [1] as well as the concept of cognitive presence as presented by [2] who developed a grid to detect and evaluate the process of knowledge construction in online asynchronous interactions. As advocated by OCL although modest, results show that in the analyzed social network forum of discussion it is possible to attain higher levels thinking and collaboration. The study also shows that Garrison´s grid to detect cognitive presence is useful to pursue and anatomize the process of knowledge construction in a social network. However results also show that there is a long path to go in order to enhance the processes of collaboration and the development of the so desired autonomy of social network member to manage their own processes of knowledge construction becoming more and more independent of the e-moderator of the environment.CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, UM (FCT R&D 317