Abstract:

Teachers’ digital competences should encompass the ability to design digital educational resources that foster innovative learning experiences, particularly by promoting active learning. Within this framework, this presentation analyses the digital educational resources developed by pre-service teachers enrolled in a Master’s degree in Primary Education (1st and 2nd cycles, pupils aged 6 to 10), during the 2025/2026 academic year, at a Portuguese higher education institution.

The study focuses on work carried out within the curricular unit Teaching and Learning in Digital Environments. As part of this course, pre-service teachers were challenged to collaboratively design a digital educational resource structured as a learning pathway. This pathway was required to include three key stages: data observation and manipulation; systematisation of knowledge; and practice. Each stage had to integrate an interactive digital activity, ensuring alignment between learning objectives, pedagogical strategies, and technological choices. Digital tools were selected according to the specific educational context and intended learning outcomes, with Genially as a mandatory tool. The study adopts a qualitative approach, focusing on the analysis of the resources produced. The analysis is guided by criteria such as learning path, content quality, multimedia design.

Findings highlight both the potential and the challenges faced by pre-service teachers in designing meaningful digital learning experiences. While participants demonstrated effective multimodal integration across digital and physical learning environments, difficulties were observed in articulating the distinct phases of the learning pathway (data observation and manipulation; systematisation of knowledge; and practice) as well as in managing information density appropriately for the target audience.

This study contributes to the discussion on initial teacher education by emphasising the importance of structured opportunities for pre-service teachers to design, implement, and critically reflect on digital educational resources.

Keywords:

Higher education, pre-service teachers, digital educational resources.