Abstract:

In 2011 the Portuguese Ministry of Education approved new e-learning masters course, at the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, on Regional Planning and Geographical Information Systems. The course first year started on October 2012. The construction of the masters proposal was made side by side with a post-PhD theoretical and practical research on e-learning, which included questionnaires concerning: a) the need for high education courses on this subject; b) e-learning at the Portuguese universities from the students point of view; c) impact on students daily life as a result of choosing an e-Learning course and its consequences on the learning process (in comparison with their face to face learning experiences). One of the purposes of the research was to support teachers on the preparation of their disciplines for the first year of the new masters’ course. The other was to develop new data and allow new discussions concerning e-learning studies.

As a result, we verified that students had no problems with the technological and methodological aspects of their e-learning experiences (such as adaptation to the platforms and acquiring knowledge), but experienced various levels of more or less expected difficulties in their daily life (such as adapt personal schedules and create new learning habits and rhythms), with clear consequences on their learning experiences.

The paper aims to increase the discussion e-learning, both from the universities and the students’ perspective and will present some of the results of a case study (60 students), namely: reasons to choose an e-learning course, comparison between e-learning and face to face experiences and changes in daily life during the course. It will, also present a preliminary analysis concerning the master’s first semester (2012/2013).

Keywords:

e-learning, high education, regional planning, geographical information systems.