Perceptions of Teaching in Students and in Teachers' Point of View: Implications on Students' Learning Skills in Higher Education - New Contributions in Information Systems and Technologies - page 239

Perceptions of Teaching in Students and in Teachers'
Point of View: Implications on Students' Learning Skills
in Higher Education
Susana Oliveira Sá 1 , Maria Palmira Alves 1 , and António Pedro Costa 2
1 CIEd - Research Centre “Centre research in Education”, Instituto de Educação da
Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
[e-mail],
[e-mail]
2 CIDTFF - Research Centre "Didatics and Technology in Education of Trainers",
DE/UA - Education Department, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
[e-mail]
Abstract. The purpose of this article is to identify the educational perceptions
of students and teachers in portuguese Higher Education. 20 hours of lessons
were analyzed during a curricular unit of a course of a Higher Education
Institution. The information was recorded on a descriptive grid for classroom
observation and also obtained from interviews, of a semi-structured nature to
the teacher and focus group to five of the students. We used content analysis
with input from webQDA software. According to the results, teachers and
students have different perceptions of how teaching is managed. A strategic
orientation of student-centred teaching requires the promotion of a variety of
learning environments, flexibility, capacity of valuing students' participation,
including tasks and activities that develop cognitive skills of higher level. These
results show that, in similar contexts, the teacher-centred teaching, correlated
with the interaction among students, can be a learning improvement strategy.
Keywords: Higher Education, Teaching methods, Teacher-Centred Education,
Active Learning, Perceptions of Education.
1 Introduction
Some reports of the consolidation of the Bologna Process in HEI (Higher Education
Institutions) in Portugal recognize that teachers need significant training in teaching
methodologies focused on learning [1]. These methods require that teachers
acknowledge their task, from the time of their first planning, as a strategy with goals,
activities, resources and means to promote students' learning. This strategic action
will involve monitoring and supporting students' participation in an active way, in
order to develop their skills.
The strategic orientation of student-centred teaching implies, to the teacher, the
responsibility to promote a variety of learning environments, which are flexible,