Abstract:

The adoption of educational practices that favour digital competencies are closely connected to several education projects and their vision of a 21st century pupil, as a member of a networked society. Accordingly, the teacher should be a catalysing agent and have a guidance role in the teaching/learning processes. With the adoption of emergency remote learning, mandatory during the COVID-19 quarantine, we witnessed that part of the teaching community was involved in an eLearning experience without the adequate preparation. Even though it was undoubtedly a hard and complex process, it also showed great endeavours in overcoming the difficulties associated to such a rapid change. In this context, we developed a project thought as contributing to provide an answer to the needs of training that many teachers revealed, within the agenda of the Regional Secretary of Education, namely of qualifying the Azorean teachers, a priority even more acute during the pandemic.

Our research theme, driven by the question “How can Microsoft Teams be a pedagogical innovation?”, is theoretically sustained by references to the development of digital competences and literacies, and the process of digital transition of the classroom within the modernization of the school system. Methodologically, we support our work in the project methodology that, in addition to the diagnosis, integrates the planning, execution and evaluation phases. We will focus on the diagnosis phase, which is perceived as the genesis of the entire project; therefore, it must include a set of procedures, to meet and monitor the goals set.

At this stage, the preliminary contacts and the data collected through a questionnaire survey will frame all the remaining phases, that is, the planning and execution of a training action for teachers of Basic and Secondary Education on the island of São Miguel (Azores, Portugal), created with the specific purpose of integrating the Microsoft Teams digital platform into their teaching practices. Ultimately, we hope to be addressing the teachers’ professional development, in a collaborative and inclusive training environment, supporting them to tackle not only the technical and technological aspects, but also the pedagogical challenges imposed by eLearning scenarios, including (but not exclusive to) those of emergency remote teaching and learning.

Keywords:

Teacher Training, Basic and Secondary Education, Microsoft Teams, COVID-19, Azores.