Title: Planning innovative teaching practices in a community of practice: a case study in the context of the project IPEC

Authors: Margarida Morais Marques; Maria João Loureiro; Luís Marques

Addresses: Department of Didactics and Educational Technology, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal. ' Department of Didactics and Educational Technology, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal. ' Department of Didactics and Educational Technology, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of the contribution of the collaborative work developed by a Portuguese community, involving teachers and researchers, and created in the context of the project |Investigação e práticas lectivas em Educação em Ciência: Dinâmicas de interacção| (IPEC), to the development of innovative practices in formal education. The community members developed, implemented, and evaluated curricular modules about sustainability, through continued interactions in an online platform and some face-to-face meetings. The case study revealed that the community created challenging innovative practices, since we uncover: a) evidence of 13 of the 14 descriptors of innovative teaching practices taken into account for the analysis; b) disruptive practices when compared to traditional practices, presenting high risk-taking, large scope and complexity. In the final session, we present suggestions concerning design issues for web-based communities, such as the need to combine online interaction with face-to-face meetings.

Keywords: innovative teaching practices; science education; online communities; communities of practice; CoP; virtual communities; web based communities; Portugal; collaborative learning; sustainability; sustainable development; higher education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWBC.2011.042989

International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2011 Vol.7 No.4, pp.429 - 441

Published online: 11 Jan 2015 *

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