Hosted by the University of Porto at the Instituto Pernambuco – Porto on the 20th and 21st of March, the workshop “Community of Practice – Educational Development” was held within the framework of the European University Alliance for Global Health (EUGLOH).
Numerous experts, including academic and technical representatives from all institutions, actively contributed to the discussion and development of strategies to address common challenges in pedagogical innovation over the course of two intensive days of collaborative work coordinated among the EUGLOH partner universities. Pedro Graça, Director of the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences (FCNAUP), who coordinated the workshop, described it as “exploring a community of best practices” through leveraging the EUGLOH network.
As part of these efforts, the workshop showcased collaborative achievements such as the “Glossary of Pedagogical Terms and Practices”, which maps and characterises different institutional structures dedicated to promoting quality and pedagogical innovation, and a concept note on “Pedagogical Innovation”, which will result in the publication of a scientific article. Workshop participants also revisited the objectives of the “Educational Development Programme” task and other collaborative efforts among partner universities. These include organising a series of webinars, identifying best practices and creating a catalogue of training opportunities. In addition, academic staff are being enabled to design and co-create educational resources and innovative training aimed at intercultural and multidisciplinary audiences – in digital and inclusive classrooms.
The event was formally opened by Joana Resende, Vice-Rector of U.Porto for Entrepreneurship, Knowledge Valuation and Strategic Planning, while Sónia Rodrigues, Pro-Rector of U.Porto for Pedagogical Innovation, Continuous Improvement and Promotion of the Portuguese Language, presented the Educational Innovation Unit of U.Porto.
During the first day of the workshop, each partner university showcased its institutional strategies in the field of pedagogical innovation as well as pedagogical local support structures. Participants engaged in three parallel working group sessions to promote discussion on the diverse organisational models of each university of the Alliance. In this context, different recognition mechanisms, quality assessment methodologies and incentives for pedagogical innovation were observed within partner universities.