© 2019 AISTI.The parade of 'Festas in honor of Nossa Senhora d'Agonia', which is celebrated every year in the city of Viana do Castelo, it is one of the highlights of the traditional festival, that gathers hundreds of people in one giant parade throughout the city streets, this event attracts thousands of spectators. Due to its big dimension, it presents some difficulties regarding its organization. The lack of cohesion of the parade during its course is one of the issues observed that originates several and large empty spaces, which end up to discredit the parade. This paper presents the study the issue related with the Parade's organization/planning, by proposing a solution based on low-cost technologies. In this work we intend to study the problem of empty spaces, proposing a solution based on low cost technologies and evaluating the performance of this solution with its potential users. In this way, a process of collect information was initiated through the observation of the Parade, an interview with the organization and a inquiry of the collaborators and another one for the drivers. Based on the collected information, it is proposed a solution that uses smartphones to interconnect through a mobile application and also a web management application, in order to monitor the Parade and help in suppressing empty spaces. The proposal was evaluated to its potential users through a functional prototype. Usability and User Experience tests were performed and the results were promising. It is intended to validate the proposed solution in the field and extend the proposal to other Parade.

© 2019 University of Minho. All rights reserved.In engineering courses, basic formation is maintained over the time, with a strong component in basic sciences, predominantly in the area of mathematics. However, several technological and socio-economic changes have interfered in the development of the society, which today is known as the knowledge society. It is possible to communicate in increasingly favourable conditions in terms of speed, quantity, accessibility and credibility of the information that is communicated. Consequently the construction of knowledge is continuous. From a very early age the students have access to information in a variety of ways. Higher education institutions have to accompany today's more competitive and ever-changing global society. Thus, it is necessary to develop teaching methodologies, namely at the level of higher education. In this article we intend to share innovative pedagogical practices, supported by the use of information technologies, in an educational context, namely, through the use of online platforms to support the learning of mathematics, at the higher education level, in engineering courses. Two approaches will be presented: one consists in the previous exploration of the programmatic contents, in an online platform, before they are presented in a classroom context. And, the other is the exploitation of the contents in the online platform, after the teachers introduce them in the classroom. The results demonstrate that the use of online platforms have contributed to the construction of knowledge. Moreover, it was possible to verify that the previous exploitation of the contents in the online platform facilitates the development of the students' autonomy. It was also verified that the use of the platform in an educational context stimulates the interest and have motivated the students to study more and, consequently, impelled to a greater school performance.

Copyright © 2019 by SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved.The parade of "Festas in honor of Nossa Senhora D'Agonia", which is celebrated every year in the city of Viana do Castelo, it is one of the highlights of the traditional festival, that gathers hundreds of people in one giant parade throughout the city streets, this event attracts thousands of spectators. Due to its big dimension, it presents some difficulties regarding its organization. The lack of cohesion of the parade during its course is one of the issues observed that originates several and large empty spaces, which end up to discredit the parade. This paper presents the study the issue related with the Parade's organization/planning, by proposing a solution based on low-cost technologies. In this work we intend to study the problem of empty spaces, proposing a solution based on low cost technologies and evaluating the performance of this solution with its potential users. In this way, a process of collect information was initiated through the observation of the Parade, an interview with the organization and an inquiry of the collaborators and another one for the drivers. Based on the collected information, it is proposed a solution that uses smartphones to interconnect through a mobile application and also a web management application, in order to monitor the Parade and help in suppressing empty spaces. The proposal was evaluated to its potential users through a functional prototype. Usability and User Experience tests were performed and the results were promising. It is intended to validate the proposed solution in the field and extend the proposal to other Parade.

© 2019 University of Minho. All rights reserved.Many higher education institutions, namely engineering and applied sciences schools have been adopting innovative, active learning methodologies, not only to respond to contemporary world challenges, but to prepare students to be professionals capable of responding to the demands of the new society. One of methodologies that has gained acceptance over the last decade is project-based learning (PjBL), which is believed to empower the development of cognitive skills, important for the training of future engineers, such as knowledge transfer, critical thinking and metacognitive strategies, fundamental for a better response to the current labour market needs. PjBL approaches often require a collaborative, multidisciplinary context, because the focus is on real world problems, which need to be analysed at the light of, and to bring together, contributions from different knowledge fields. In this article we present the adoption of the PjBL methodology within NMSPCAM project, whose main aim is to develop new media solutions (e.g. digital games and videomapping projections) aiming at raising awareness and value cultural heritage in Viana do Castelo, Portugal. The project was conceived and developed as a multidisciplinary cooperative project-based learning program, and the outcomes comprise contributions from different degree levels (Technical Superior Courses, Bachelor's and Master's), and different programmes (Computer Graphics and Multimedia Engineering, Education, Tourism and Arts) offered by two Polytechnic Institutions in the North of Portugal (Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo and Instituto Politécnico de Bragança). Initial results show that a multidisciplinary, cooperative PjBL context can be a valuable experience, with both opportunities and challenges for students and teachers. On one hand it is highly demanding on integrating all participants involved, namely curricula and teaching methods, as they differ according to each HEI's framework. But, on the other hand, it represents a unique and enriching experience, offering students conditions to the development of problem-solving, teamwork and lifelong learning skills, as well as technical knowledge, beyond that of individual achievement.

© The Authors, 2018. All Rights Reserved.The use of communication technologies in the teaching-learning process has increased tremendously. The use of mobile technologies (e.g. smartphones and tablets) has not been an exception and it appears as an innovative tool for both teachers and students. Current higher education students belong to the so-called “native digital generation” that use mobile devices from a very early age. Students, innately, constantly access information through these same devices. In Portugal, in higher education, there is a week timetable where teachers clarify students’ doubts, in their offices. These are called office hours. It should be noted that the presence of students in this timetable is optional. Although it turns out that attending office hours is beneficial to them, many students do not take advantage of them. Thus, a question arises: how to encourage students to use office hours for doubts clarification, without the need of student and teacher being simultaneously in the same classroom or teacher’s office? A possible solution was considered: the development of a collaborative web platform, to be used in mobile devices, to support tutoring at distance. Thus, it is intended to facilitate the communication between a teacher and his/her students, to clarify doubts through the use of mobile devices, which students use in an informal way in their everyday life. This paper presents an e-learning web platform, developed with the purpose of doubts clarification, at distance, between teacher and students, in a collaborative way, in real time, using mobile devices, enhancing a better teacher-students communication. The web platform was developed allowing the users to share a drawing area, in real time, with other users, using different devices, allowing all connected users to freely draw or use the available tools in this collaborative platform. Basically, when one of the users draws something in the available area, those designs are sent to a server, being then visible by the other user, in real-time. The work accomplished allows concluding that the mobile technology has the potential to increase the accessibility and the communication between teachers and students, increasing students learning. Recommendations, limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research were also made.