Abstract:

In the sequence of the EduPARK project emerges the “UA Informa”, a pioneering project that articulates education, training and research, integrated in the Smart Knowledge Garden, a CIDTFF Programmatic Project of the University of Aveiro (UA) that promotes extension activities for the community.

The main purpose of “UA Informa” is to promote the sustainability of the UA campus, through the participatory contribution of students, in initial and advanced training, in the creation, testing and evaluation of open multimedia educational resources, using QR codes spread across the UA campus. The project opens the university to the broader community, but it has particular interest for UA students, namely those who are attending the institution for the first time.

A student of the High Degree in Basic Education was integrated into this research team, through the PIC-EDU 2020 programme, which is an initiation program in research in education promoted by the CIDTFF research centre. In a first stage of exploration of the idea and proof of concept, interest points were identified in the campus, information on them compiled and a few prototypes of educational resources were developed in an open Metaverse tool.

The second stage was the creation of a subweb within the UA Portal (https://www.ua.pt/pt/uainforma) integrating several topics on the campus’ sustainability, such as Energy, Water, Paper and Plastic, Waste, Mobility, Food and Green Events. It is intended to present relevant impacting information, based on credible sources, illustrated with appealing images and small videos.

QR codes can be a visible and practical way to provide this outreach and promote involvement of the UA community with sustainability issues. The installation of plaques with the QR codes throughout the campus will draw the attention of the academic community to sustainability issues, instilling curiosity about the information contained therein and which is quickly accessed by reading it on a mobile smartphone with a simple QR code reader. These contents do not have to be static and merely informative; they can provide moments of interaction between users and sustainability actions on campus.

The team is currently developing a quiz-game with enjoyable and interdisciplinary challenges to be explored by any citizen while touring the UA campus. The game prompts the player to visit several points of interest and to explore the UA Informa portal, namely the information related to each visited point of interest. Next steps include the evaluation of the created resources, in what concerns their educational value, installation of plaques with QR codes at strategic points of interest on the UA campus, expand the subweb with new themes, and disseminate results.

The project may facilitate the integration of students who attend the UA for the first time and may enhance the university image to capture new students, so its main target public is mainly Higher Education and Secondary students, but it also can be explored by other students, visitors and the whole community, so it might have impact in the society sustainable habits.

Keywords:

Education for sustainability, outdoor games, open educational resources, outreach activities.