The aim of this work is to think about how technologies can have a role in motivation for learning. To respond to the necessary paradigm shift school faces, resulting from a different way of life in very recent past, the use of technology proves to be a powerful ally, ensuring student’s ability to respond to technical and scientific questions as well as creating an environment of trust and security in classroom. Considering that we are at a critical turning point in technological evolution and changes seem irreversible. What new challenges does the teacher also face in this field? To understand what makes the activity and the class remarkable for students, we are using semi-structured interview, focus group and questionnaire. Methods and technics used in the classes were diversified, and according to the intended goal. The use of these methods was not conditioned by technology but by the defined learning goals. Although this work is still beginning and needs to be continued, the results show that technology helps students to feel confident since it doesn’t expose individual (un)knowledge, allows them to learn with pleasure, generates group dynamics and globally, creates happy moments that increase motivation and improve learning. Results show us that it is imperative to realize how much the teacher as an important integrative agent mediating between the real/virtual, technological/scientific, curriculum/skill, cognitive/emotional worlds.

The existing environmental imbalances and the need to promote actions that minimize the impact and promote awareness and behavioral change are now primary needs. As a reflection of this situation, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are faced with the need for more sustainable development practices in their environmental, social, and economic aspects both in curricular and non-curricular spaces. This paper aims to show how the activities developed under the International University Sports Federation (FISU)’s Healthy Campus (HC) program can be an asset in promoting the environment, sustainability, and social responsibility in an HEI in Portugal. The methodology reflects a case study at the Polytechnic Institute of Beja (IPBeja) and includes (1) diagnosis, (2) drawing up the action plan, and (3) preparation, development, and monitoring of activities. The methodology approach adopted to analyze the activities uses the following: (1) the Mentimeter tool; (2) a mind map; and (3) a SWOT analysis. The results show that when activities are designed in a collaborative and participatory way, they end up geared towards the aspirations of the participants, allowing for greater involvement of people and growth of the institution in the aspects of the environment, sustainability, and social responsibility. The HC program is an asset program to align HC requirements, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), integrated and transdisciplinary approaches, and people’s environmental awareness and sustainable mindset. In political terms, this case study contributes to what is recommended in the institutional strategic plan.

A diversidade de saberes e olhares, que as diferentes formações académicas e experiências profissionais fazem convergir, promovem o diálogo, a reflexão e discussão complexa e integrada das temáticas, e enriquecem o conhecimento e a investigação à escala individual, de grupos de trabalho e de organizações. Assim, um grupo de cinco representantes de diferentes organizações e formas de conhecimento, integra o projeto Educação Comunitária Ambiental: ações colaborativas para um desenvolvimento costeiro sustentável integral. O grupo reúne, num formato que promove o colocar “à deriva” ideias resultantes do diálogo sobre colaboração e sustentabilidade, buscando a implementação dessas ideias nas práticas individuais e do coletivo. A metodologia dos encontros, com recurso a dinâmicas participativas promotoras do desenvolvimento holístico, visa a participação de todos, o confronto de ideias, a reflexão, a partilha de conhecimento e a aprendizagem, potenciando a educação que cada um carrega em si. Este artigo pretende dar a conhecer o papel da Educação Comunitária Ambiental para um pensar coletivo, crítico e gerador de ações concretas, bem como a metodologia processual dos encontros. O processo evidencia a relevância do elevado sentido de pertença dos membros do grupo que se traduz em aprendizagens individuais e partilha de diferentes saberes. Palavras-chave: educação comunitária ambiental; desenvolvimento holístico; ações colaborativas; sustentabilidade costeira; ideias “à deriva”.

Motivating students and / or researchers to learn and preparing them to deal with the complexity and uncertainties of this rapidly changing world seems to be the biggest challenge facing teachers and educators. The challenges that society poses to us bring the School and teachers an opportunity to redefine their role and their ways of acting. In the midst of an information age, with increased access to information technologies and facing technological challenges, the ability to learn and make sense of experiences and forms of knowledge also requires innovation in education and (re) signifying the act of teaching, in itself. Faced with the role of a learning challenger, the teacher now uses different methodological approaches to allow the expression of the different visions, perceptions, knowledge, convictions and forms of expression of his / her students. The work of developing socio-emotional skills, often referred as soft skills, until recently devalued, is now recognized as an asset in this challenge that the school faces in promoting the integral development of students in the various dimensions: cognitive, ethics , civic, social and emotional. Aspects such as the ability to listen to others, to promote dialogue, to manage emotions and to better define commitments in situations of conflict, are examples of essential skills that the teaching-learning process (s) they must not ignore. This work illustrates practices used, reflects on their importance, systematizes them and shares them as a set of participatory techniques that have been shown to be advantageous in the construction of knowledge in formal education contexts, making it informal.