Journal of Distance Education and eLearning

Agradecimento aos revisores de 2024

António Quintas Mendes — 2025-01-09

Self-Perception and the impact of digital learning on women's empowerment

Katia Cristian Puente Muniz — 2025-01-24

This study investigates the self-perception of digital skills, the training Spanish third-sector entities provide to improve them across various fields, and women's social and professional integration. This work highlights individual interventions as promoters of digital inclusion and empowerment. Based on the self-determination theory, it proposes investigating women's perception and utilization of digital skills in a significantly motivated context, both intrinsically and extrinsically. The results show that the improvement of digital skills, positively assessed by the participants, significantly correlates with increased social and individual integration. It highlights the importance of continuing to develop educational and social policies that foster an inclusive and equitable approach to digital training.

Show da Programação: Educational Quiz for Learning Programming Logic and Python

Felipe Silva Pinheiro — 2025-01-02

A disciplina de lógica de programação aborda conceitos fundamentais para formação acadêmica de profissionais que atuarão na área da Computação e áreas afins. Contudo, no processo de aprendizagem, muitos alunos enfrentam dificuldades em desenvolver o raciocínio lógico e abstrair respostas para a construção de soluções computacionais de problemas propostos. Neste contexto, a utilização de jogos digitais para promover o ensino de programação mostra-se como uma estratégia eficiente na busca por minimizar essas dificuldades. Assim, este artigo apresenta o jogo Show da Programação, que visa facilitar a aprendizagem dos conceitos de lógica de programação utilizando a linguagem Python. Para a criação, seguiu-se o processo de desenvolvimento ENgAGED, e, na implementação, utilizou-se a plataforma Unity, engine robusta para o desenvolvimento de games. O jogo desenvolvido foi avaliado por alunos iniciantes em programação, do curso Técnico em Informática, de uma instituição de ensino pública, por meio do modelo avaliativo MEEGA+. Os resultados indicaram que o jogo teve uma boa aceitação pelos alunos e que possui potencial para facilitar o aprendizado de lógica de programação de maneira divertida e interativa.

Teachers' continuous professional learning in digital contexts - an exploratory study

Maria Glória Santos — 2024-12-11

This paper presents an exploratory study on teachers' professional learning in the face of the diversity of challenges they have been facing, especially in recent years. The main objective was to understand the functioning and development of learning ecologies in a group of schools in the north of the country, in a context of social and cultural plurality where various projects involving digital resources are being realized. A mixed approach was used, with a questionnaire being applied to teachers and focus groups being held with reference teachers who are influential in the community and who coordinate departments and/or projects. The results show that the teachers have developed collaborative working methods based on activities, relationships, interactions, and the construction of digital resources for their continuous updating. In this process that shapes new approaches to professional learning, it was possible to identify some factors that, potentially, encourage or hinder the development of learning ecologies. Ongoing research in other school clusters will provide a more solid understanding of these approaches and support future recommendations for teachers' professional development.

Exploring digital resources in the teaching and learning of Portuguese as a Third Language

Ana Maria De Sousa — 2024-12-11

The impact of digital resources in a Portuguese as a Third Language class requires a careful reflection on the teacher's actions, on the choice of methodologies and on the selection of the most appropriate application(s) for a given topic or didactic unit. In this article, the teacher’s role and the scope of the concept of Third Language will be addressed. This concept will be linked, on the one hand, to some contexts where Portuguese is taught as a third language and, on the other, to the sociolinguistic emergency resulting from the demands of migratory movements, where intercultural diversity and multicultural coexistence require not only proactive participation but also the construction of a plurilingual and multicultural training space. Thus, the chosen methodologies not only impact the motivational process and collaborative involvement, but also determine the path of self-training and the degree of satisfaction with the results of all those involved. An empirical study will be presented, carried out with secondary school students in a non-immersive environment. This study, based on the expansion of the lexicon, shows that digital resources can make an important contribution to the development of multicompetences at any level of proficiency.

Theoretical Foundations for Playful Learning Design in Digital Flexible Higher Education

Ana Afonso — 2024-12-12

Playful learning offers an innovative pedagogical framework for addressing the challenges of engagement and creativity in digital and flexible higher education. This paper examines how play, imagination, and creativity are foundational elements for effective learning design, drawing on Vygotskian theory to explore the progression from playful activities to creative expression. It proposes practical strategies for incorporating playful learning approaches to foster critical thinking, adaptability, and intrinsic motivation. The article highlights the potential of playful learning to enrich educational experiences within technology-mediated contexts. By proposing a pathway from play to creation, this research informs the design of dynamic, student-centred digital learning environments, encouraging innovative practices in higher education.