Learning based on co-creation processes: a glimpse of the (Demola) Pedagogical Innovation Training course at IPV

Abstract

The development of technologies, services and products in our increasingly global, interconnected, and digital world implies the training of future professionals capable of solving challenges, embracing diversity, and co-constructing innovative and disruptive scenarios. Higher Education (HE) has been adapting to these times of change and, consequently, the academy has started to open doors to partnerships with local organisations, in synergies that go beyond internships to include research and a modernisation agenda, with clear benefits for all the stakeholders and with positive effects on the national economy. Thus, pedagogical practices need to be updated, and Demola model aims at contributing to innovation processes by fostering academia-industry collaboration. In this study, we will focus on the first edition (January-June 2021) of the project entitled “Learning based on co-creation processes,” funded by POCH, developed in a partnership with Demola Global, and in close connection to another project, Link Me Up, integrated in a consortium of 13 Polytechnic Institutes, including the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (IPV). Specifically, we will focus on 1) the Demola methodology and tools used by the participants in the Pedagogical Innovation Training course at IPV, Viseu, Portugal; 2) the questionnaires applied to the team of IPV trainees/facilitators; and 3) the reports they wrote at the end of the process to a) analyse the profile of the teaching staff seeking alternatives to improve their teaching practice; b) assess their perception of the Demola pedagogical innovation course, and c) the implications on their future practices. Our findings reveal that this project that offers pedagogical innovation is highly valued by the participants at IPV, as they feel they are more open: to collaboration within and outside the academia; to use innovative tools and platforms; to acknowledge the need to accept and manage uncertainty and to facilitate societal challenges in multidisciplinary teams of (inter/)national students.