CLIL starts the Communities of Learning and Practice for faculty at UCP
Are you a scholar at Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) who is interested in exploring innovative pedagogical practices and testing new active learning methodologies and strategies to implement in the classroom? You can do so by joining the Communities of Learning and Practice, organized by CLIL | Católica Learning Innovation Lab, the Pedagogical Innovation Lab of UCP. This activity will take place online, between March 22 and June 30, 2023, and the registration period will be open until March 17. The Communities online kick-off event will happen on March 22, starting at 5:30 pm.
The Communities of Learning and Practice are designed for faculty at UCP who wish to join an online group or community that will explore new pedagogical methodologies and strategies in one of the following areas: Transversal pedagogical empowerment, Learning with digital technologies, Peer learning, Service-Learning, and Problem-based and Project-based Learning.
These activities will take place throughout three months, between March and June 2023, and will be accompanied by a facilitation team.
Faculty who are interested in participating in this initiative should select one of the five Communities proposed, according to their pedagogical interests and perceived needs of professional development. Together, participants and facilitators will define the periodicity, format, agenda, and work dynamic of each Community.
Possibility of exchanging experiences and establishing interdisciplinary partnerships
There are many advantages in participating in the Communities of Learning and Practice: the exchange of experiences among faculty, the establishment of interdisciplinary partnerships, the deepening of a pedagogical area of interest, and the development of different pedagogical outputs. These outputs include, for instance, to rethink the content of the Curricular Unit Sheet of a Curricular Unit, the design and testing of activities in the classroom, and the reflection about one’s pedagogical practices.
“By joining a community, faculty at Universidade Católica can get to know peers who share their pedagogical interests, who face the same challenges and who are also looking for solutions. Besides, they can, in a very practical way, produce very useful materials for their classes”, as explained by Diana Soares, the coordinator of CLIL and professor at UCP Faculty of Education and Psychology.
“We believe that this is an opportunity of strong professional growth that shall ultimately contribute to improving the processes of teaching and learning at UCP”, as added by Isabel Vasconcelos, Vice-President of UCP.
In order to maximize the quality of the interactions between different participants, each Community of Learning and Practice will be limited to 10 faculty. Faculty who are interested in participating in this initiative must respond to this form until March 17. The selection of participants will be done in order of registration.
The kick-off event happens on March 22
The Communities of Learning and Practice start on March 22, at 5:30 pm, with a 2-hour online event. The first part of the event is open to the entire academic community and will count with the presence of Professor Isabel Vasconcelos, Vice-President of UCP, and a presentation by Karen Matthewman (University College, London) about the concept, advantages, and challenges inherent to this kind of learning community of practice. The second part of the event will be reserved to faculty who will participate in the Communities of Learning and Practice.
Further details about the kick-off session of the Communities and their way of functioning can be found in the program.
The Communities of Learning and Practice derive from the 1st Cycle of Pedagogical Workshops at UCP, between January 23 and February 3, 2023, which received more than one thousand registrations.
This activity counts with the participation of the Learning Innovation Office team from CATÓLICA-LISBON, and other very special guests, and with the support of the Rectory of UCP.
The program of this initiative is available HERE.
About CLIL
CLIL was created with the goal of identifying, testing, and exploring innovative pedagogical approaches, and it counts with the collaboration of faculty, researchers, and students at UCP, as well as with the support of strategic partners from business and civil society.
This Lab is funded by the project “Skills 4 PósCOVID - Competências para o futuro no Ensino Superior” [Competences for the future in Higher Education], which is financed by Portugal 2020, in the frame of the PO CH – Programa Operacional Capital Humano [Human Capital Operational Program], through FSE – Fundo Social Europeu [European Social Fund].