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.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been part of every citizen's life for several years. Still, the emergence of generative AI (GenAI), accessible to all, has raised discussions about the ethical issues they raise, particularly in education. GenAI tools generate content according to user requests, but are students using these tools ethically and safely? Can teachers guide students in this use and use these tools in their teaching activities? This paper argues that teacher professional development (TPD) is an essential key trigger in adopting these emerging technologies. The paper will present an integrative literature review that discusses the components of TPD that may empower teachers to guide their students towards the ethical and safe use of GenAI. According to the literature review, one key component of TPD should be AI literacy, which involves understanding AI, its capabilities and limitations, and its potential benefits and drawbacks in education. Another essential component is hands-on activities that engage teachers, their peers, and students in actively using these tools during the training process. The paper will discuss the advantages of working with GenAI tools and designing lesson plans to implement them critically in the classroom.

This paper reports research work related to a wider study, aimed at developing a mobile app for Science Education in primary-school. Several studies reveal that Science Education can be improved by using technology, namely educational software. However, to promote a structured use of technology, innovative learning approaches must be designed for educational software. This paper aims to answer how the interaction between students and a mobile app for Science Education can promote students’ scientific competences development and self-regulated learning. To achieve this, a learning approach was designed, combining the Universal Design for Learning principles, Inquiry-Based Science Education and the BSCS 5E – teaching model for Science Education designed by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, which results in the acronym of the model. The 5E is related to each phase of the model: Engagement; Exploration; Explanation; Elaboration; Evaluation. The proposed was based on a grounded, participatory, and user-centred approach, crossing literature contributions with data collected among primary-school teachers through the application of a questionnaire (n = 118). Data collected allowed deductions about the expected adequacy of the learning approach, according to Nieveen’s criteria for high quality educational interventions. This adequacy was revealed through the teachers’ conceptions about the potential impact of the conceptualized mobile app (i) to provide a comprehensive and practical Science Education learning; and (ii) to enhance students’ scientific competences development and self-regulated learning. The paper aims to contribute to the design of an innovative learning approach in Science Education and to share it with other researchers since it can be expanded to other educational software.

This paper was developed within the scope of a PhD thesis that intends to characterize the use of mobile applications by the students of the University of Aveiro during class time. The main purpose of this paper is to present the results of an initial pilot study that aimed to fine-tune data collection methods in order to gather data that reflected the practices of the use of mobile applications by students in a higher education institution during classes. In this paper we present the context of the pilot, its technological settings, the analysed cases and the discussion and conclusions carried out to gather mobile applications usage data logs from students of an undergraduate degree on Communication Technologies.Our study gathered data from 77 participants, taking theoretical classes in the Department of Communication and Arts at the University of Aveiro. The research was based on the Grounded Theory method approach aiming to analyse the logs from the access points of the University. With the collected data, a profile of the use of mobile devices during classes was drawn.The preliminary findings suggest that the use of apps during the theoretical classes of the Department of Communication and Art is quite high and that the most used apps are Social networks like Facebook and Instagram. During this pilot the accesses during theoretical classes corresponded to approximately 11,177 accesses per student. We also concluded that the students agree that accessing applications can distract them during these classes and that they have a misperception about their use of online applications during classes, as the usage time is, in fact, more intensive than what participants reported.

This paper, reporting on research at an early stage, aims to analyse the impact of badges when used in conjunction with an introductory tutorial that aims to help users getting to know its most important areas and functionalities. With that in mind, a test session was designed, asking learners new to SAPO Campus platform (an institutionally supported social Web platform), to complete a tutorial, discovering the existence of badges and how they could be earned and associated with their profile page, visible to the community. Learners were also asked about the impact of badges on their desire to complete the tutorial, and their general attitude towards being rewarded for completing several actions inside and outside the platform. Preliminary data reveals that learners considered that badges had a significant positive contribute to make them feel more engaged and motivated to complete the tutorial.