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Table 1 Structure and the interaction of the student with the process of teaching and learning

From: Nutrition and health as virtual class at Open University (Portugal): pedagogical strategies for higher education

Model of didactic transposition (Amador et al., 2016).

Pedagogical and Didactic Design of CU

How the student interacts

PCK (pedagogical knowledge and content);

In the structure of the CU the materials available are: texts, questionnaires, books, links, ppt files, and videos. All these materials have contents related to the proposed themes according to the objectives and competences to be acquired by the students. The selection of materials was based on the concepts, characteristics and contextualization of the study chapter. In the unit “Nutrition and Health” the curricular plan starts with an introductory week where students have access to 5 videos that explain the functioning of cardiovascular and circulatory system, digestive system, the liver and the heart. This is important since our students come from different backgrounds and not all of them are familiar with these human vital processes. Also in the introductory week students have access to the link for the e-books that make part of the compulsory bibliography for the study of the curricular unit. Then, in each week, a new module is introduced and in each module students have access to a lesson written by their lecturer where the core of the study subject is explained. These lessons are important documents since the lecturer puts in a written text what he feels is the most important for students to understand, memorize, relate with other subjects, etc. Apart from these lessons there are always recommended readings which are scientific papers about the most recent research connected to what is being taught. Links to recent TV programmes where certain topics have been discussed are also made available, links to professional sites are provided (ex. The Diabetics Association), documents in ppt format so that images may help explaining concepts and within the ppt links to sites of interest make also part of the study material of the CU.

The student has a period of time to explore and study the materials according to the schedule of the CU. For this guidelines are provided on how to use, what to explore and how to read and analyze the experience in using the material made available for the learning process.

TCK (technological knowledge and content);

When structuring the CU the interfaces, tools, applications and software used are of common and open use both for platforms and web 2.0. These selected applications should facilitate and minimize learning barriers in relation to the intended content.

Students have a literacy level in the use of the available apps that enables them to learn in an autonomous way. It is worth mentioning that at Lisbon Open University at the beginning of a degree students always carry out an Online Adaptation Module where they develop competences to use in the specific learning environment of the informatics platform that the university uses.

TPK (technological and pedagogical knowledge)

The use of technology in a pedagogical way, or better said, the making of these tools as didactic instruments, applications, interfaces and software’s is a type of work that is differentiated in the online courses. This process is based on what Barros (2017) analyzes as Form and Content of these technological services, that is, the technological format and what kind of service this technology offers to the user, and the transposition to the pedagogical use for the teaching and learning process.

Students using technology learn making use of different experiences and interactions that require different kinds of efforts in the process of learning.

DCK (didactic knowledge and content);

Strategies, teaching methods and learning resources require a constant assessment as well as accuracy in their coherence and cohesion. This might be one of the most important aspects in this type of learning process.

Students produce learning outcomes from the combination of learning strategies with the content available.

DPK (didactic and pedagogical knowledge);

Both should be responsive to facilitate student’s learning. When choosing a pedagogical design, the didactic knowledge must be in the efficiency of the processes through the methodology and the structures used. The coherence of this is shown when students are able to learn in different ways and are also able to gradually find solutions to problems, questions or challenges.

Students understand what they have been guided to, choose how they want to do their learning progression and act in response to what is requested with the written works produced.

DTK (didactic and technological knowledge).

The use of technologies to guide the didactic strategies is carried out from what is expected of the student’s goals and competences. So any strategy includes technologies that promote different learning scenarios online, individual, collective and collaborative or in a network.

Technology is provided as a pedagogical path to be used in the learning process. These tools use the content and form of applications, interfaces and other instruments to facilitate the outcome of difficulties in the learning process.

  1. Adapted from Amador et al., 2016