The use of digital technology in the learning process and teaching practices in formal teaching is highly dependent on the ability of teachers of introducing it without jeopardizing the richness of the classroom environment, namely the attention that students need to follow the flow of argumentation and to guarantee the quality of the inquiring. Although several studies value the importance of technologies in our media-enriched world and the "learn anytime and anywhere" motto associated with mobile learning, we argue that the classroom dynamics are becoming more and more at risk with the addictive dimension brought about by the ubiquitous presence of digital devices and social media in students’ lives. In this article, we will make a critical review of the literature related to mobile learning because there is still a need of more extensive research on the interference of technology in the classroom, especially on how multitasking affects the teacher role in-class as a media orchestrator and learning facilitator. Finally, we will discuss the use of technology in the formal classroom environment, mainly to stimulate a much-needed discussion about the bright-not-so-bright impacts of technology in the teaching and learning process.

SECRET is a collaborative European Training Network (ETN) committed to create an excellent educational training platform for Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in the field of wireless communications and networking for 5G. The project is recently funded by the European Commission under the H2020 research and innovation program, through the Marie Curie People Program. This project targets to narrow the gap between current networking technologies and the foreseen requirements of future 2020 networking, through the recruitment and training of 17 ESRs. SECRET aims to strike a note by delivering higher capacity, ability to support more users, and lowering the cost per bit by adopting technology trends widely accepted to form part of the 5G roadmap, through the deployment of new disruptive “femtocell” type cells on demand, to what we refer to as mobile small cells. This will be complemented by a wireless high-speed fronthaul to bridge the small cell network to the core. Moreover, novel techniques will be investigated, including “network coding”, “cooperation”, and “energy-aware smart front-end”. Additionally, due to the confidential information that will be communicated over in future networks, a lightweight security framework built on secure network coding will be proposed.

The main purpose of this article is to highlight the potential of the Instagram social network as a didactic resource for teaching and learning languages. To do so, it presents a pilot study titled #aveiroenossople (Aveiro is ours PLE) about the use of Instagram in complementary activities in the teaching of Portuguese for Chinese students of Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PFL) of the University of Aveiro, whose products were advertised on the page Of the # AveiroeNosso-PLE project on the Wix platform. In order to study whether the Instagram social tool can contribute to the development of discursive skills of Chinese learners, both in the oral and written modalities, the study proposal was anchored in a conception of language as process and interaction, from which one understands the production and comprehension of text – oral or written – as social practice. In the methodological path, three stages were accomplished in the development of the work, namely: (i) planning, (ii) implementation, and (iii) evaluation. In general terms, the results point to contributions from the use of Instagram for the development of competences related to textual and multimodal production and comprehension, the cultural competences necessary and intrinsic to the learning of a foreign language, as well as for the formation of learning communities by means of the interactions between the participants.

What is new? There is a widespread lack of clarity and consensus regarding the role of Research Project Managers (RPMs) in collaborative research projects, which this paper aims to address. This is the most extensive attempt to define the role of a Research Project Manager (RPM) in collaborative research projects. What was the approach? The paper draws on the authors' combined experience managing collaborative research projects, synthesising insights from theoretical frameworks and practical implementations in diverse research environments. What is the academic impact? The paper provides a much-needed definition of the Research Project Manager's role, distinguishing it from related roles in the Research Management and Administration (RMA) field. It contributes to RMA and project management by offering a framework that clarifies the RPM's responsibilities, which have largely been underexplored in academic literature. What is the wider impact? For research and management practitioners, this paper highlights the critical role of RPMs in ensuring project success, from ideation to execution. It underscores the importance of well-defined project management practices in collaborative research to meet the expectations of funding agencies and ensure scientific outcomes.

Multitasking, especially involving media, has become a constant in our daily lives, increasingly promoted by technological developments on ever-developing personal equipment. Media multitasking has frequently been studied from the perspectives of both gender and age, so as to determine who multitasks more or better: men or women, adults or younger people. There are, however, fewer studies on how origin, cultural or geographical background can affect the tendency to media multitask. This paper will attempt to analyse a possible link between geographical affiliation, media use and the tendency to multitask of a group of 36 researchers of different nationalities, working in the same research institute. Differences in the use of several media and global media-use values have been recorded, with Europe presenting the lowest media use - less than half of the values of the highest cluster (Latin America). SMS is the least prevalent media, with Computer-based applications and web-surfing constituting the most prevalent media in most clusters. The European cluster also presents the lowest multitasking values, while the West African cluster registers the highest index.

Social Networking Sites (SNSs), though not initially designed for educational purposes, have long had a presence in educational contexts. In particular, the potential of Facebook (FB) and its Closed Group feature as a tool for language learning has been analyzed by several studies, although most seem to limit their scope to the use of Facebook for developing reading and writing skills. This paper attempts to investigate potential complementary activities that can be performed in connection with a Facebook Closed Group, using freely accessible tools, to assist with the development of oral skills in an English learning setting at the primary school level. Selected tools have been assessed, tested, and integrated into a Facebook closed group, in the scope of the topic “English-speaking countries”.