Formação de professores em B-Learning na uUniversidade dos Açores: reflexão sobre a experiência formativa na área de história, geografia e cultura dos Açores (Portugal)

Abstract

The curricular approach to History, Geography and Culture of the Azores, within the non-disciplinary curriculum area of Citizenship, results from a decision of the Regional Government of the Azores. The University of the Azores prepared - under request of Regional Secretariat for Education and Culture - the Curriculum Matrix and the Program for teaching History, Geography and Culture of the Azores, in the 6th grade of the 2nd cycle of Basic Education. In 2016, a Training Workshop was designed to support the work of the teachers involved, aiming to provide an updated scientific approach to the program contents, to support discussion and reflection on the possibilities of pedagogical approach, and to address the construction and sharing of teaching materials in the field. This Training Workshop was designed to occur in B-learning (with classroom sessions and distance learning), involving sixty 6th grade teachers, dispersed throughout the nine islands of the Azorean Archipelago. To support the online learning component a Virtual Learning Environment was conceived, following a methodology inspired by principles of Educational Design Research. It was designed to enable the supervised construction, evaluation and validation of teaching materials in History, Geography and Culture of the Azores, operating as a community of research and practice. This article analyzes the path taken in the organization and management of the Virtual Learning Environment that supported this Training Workshop, and aims to deepen the reflection on the potential and possible constraints underlying B-Learning in-service teacher education at the University of the Azores.