Morais, Paula

Profile Picture

Email Address

Birth Date

Job Title

Last Name

Morais

First Name

Paula

Name

Paula Morais

Biography

Concluiu o Doutoramento em Tecnologias e Sistemas de Informação em 2002 pelo(a) Universidade do Minho. É Professora Associada na Universidade Portucalense Infante Dom Henrique, lecionando e fazendo investigação nas áreas de desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação e tecnologias de informação na educação. Afiliação: REMIT - Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies. DCT - Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia.

Identifiers

0000-0002-0039-3532
A216-71B3-E14C
55523185400
L-1800-2016

Research Projects

Organizational Units

OrgUnit Logo
Organizational Unit
REMIT – Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies
Centro de investigação que que tem como objetivo principal produzir e disseminar conhecimento teórico e aplicado que possibilite uma maior compreensão das dinâmicas e tendências económicas, empresariais, territoriais e tecnológicas do mundo contemporâneo e dos seus efeitos socioeconómicos. O REMIT adota uma perspetiva multidisciplinar que integra vários domínios científicos: Economia e Gestão; Ciências e Tecnologia; Turismo, Património e Cultura. Founded in 2017, REMIT – Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies is a research unit of Portucalense University. Based on a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective it aims at responding to social challenges through a holistic approach involving a wide range of scientific fields such as Economics, Management, Science, Technology, Tourism, Heritage and Culture. Grounded on the production of advanced scientific knowledge, REMIT has a special focus on its application to the resolution of real issues and challenges, having as strategic orientations: - the understanding of local, national and international environment; - the development of activities oriented to professional practice, namely in the business world.

Filters

Reset filters

Settings

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 25
  • PublicationRestricted Access
    Integration of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the curriculum: Findings based on the analysis of higher education programmes
    2023-07 - Barros, Elisabete; Morais, Paula; Fernandes, Sandra; Araújo, Alexandra M.; Albuquerque, Ana Sílvia
    Higher education institutions play a vital role in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, the integration of SDGs in higher education curriculum and pedagogic practices is essential to ensure that students are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to address complex social and environmental challenges and promote sustainable development in their personal and professional lives. This study aims to investigate the extent to which higher education programmes integrate SDGs into their curricula. The research was conducted in a private higher education institution located in the north of Portugal. In this context, faculty training was developed as an institutional strategy to facilitate the incorporation of SDGs in higher education policies and practices. The study was based on a mixed-methods approach, including content analysis and semi-structured interviews. The content analysis was performed on the course outlines of selected graduate programmes from three different fields of study: business, engineering, and social sciences. To complement the content analysis, semi-structured interviews were conducted with faculty members responsible for curriculum design in the selected programmes. The preliminary results show that there is a growing trend in the integration of SDGs in the curriculum, especially in courses from the social sciences field. This integration is mainly focused on awareness-raising rather than action-oriented learning. The interviews, to be carried out in the second phase of the study, will allow to identify the main barriers and challenges to effective integration. The study also highlights the need for greater faculty support to effectively integrate the SDGs into the curriculum. The research contributes to the literature on SDGs integration in higher education and provides insights for policymakers, curriculum designers, and faculty members to better address the challenges and opportunities in sustainability education and the importance of educating students on sustainability issues.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    Improving student engagement with Project-Based Learning: A case study in Software Engineering
    2021-02 - Veloso, Bruno; Morais, Paula; Ferreira, Maria João
    In the area of Information and Communication Technologies, in addition to the problem of engagement, students often have difficulties in learning subjects related to modeling and programming. The reasons for these difficulties are well known and described in the literature, pointing to difficulties in abstraction and logic thinking. Knowing that the value of flexible and personalized learning, teachers are changing the way they teach, using different active learning methodologies, such as flipped classroom, project-based learning, and peer instruction. This paper describes an experiment conducted to improve the learning experiences of the students enrolled in the Computer Science bachelor’s degree course, attending three curricular units: Information Systems Development, Data Structures, and Web Languages and Technologies. The approach followed by the teachers used project-based learning as an active learning methodology. This methodology allows us to achieve four main objectives: (i) improve student engagement; (ii) improve learning outcomes achievement (iii) increase the course success rate and (iv) allow students to experience the need for the software development lifecycle, feeling that software engineering is not a block-based process but depending on previous activity, often leads to the need to go back in the process. The results obtained with the use of the active methodology were well accepted by the students and allowed both teachers and students to reach the objectives set.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    Information management and knowledge management: are portuguese organizations feeling the difference?
    2010 - Morais, Paula; Lopes, Filomena Castro
    Although there are some works trying to clarify the difference between Information Management, IM, and Knowledge management, KM, the distinction between those concepts is far from being well understood in the business community. This lack of clarity increases with the fact that some KM literature authors use the two terms indiscriminately, others argue that KM includes IM, and still others define them independently, but relating them. For instance, some authors say that KM has two ages, the first corresponding to IM, aiming to store, explore and transfer explicit knowledge; the second aiming to explore, improve communication and innovation, focusing the need to manage tacit knowledge, moving from transmit to learn, becoming a social activity and not only a technological one. Nevertheless there is a growing interest in KM and organizations say they are doing it, and even in many large, and some small, organizations a new corporate executive is emerging – the chief knowledge officer, CKO. Are they different from the chief information officers, CIO? Are organizations really making KM? Is there, in practice, any difference between KM and IM? To provide some answers to these questions, this paper presents empirical evidence of how IM/KM is practiced in some Portuguese organizations. Based on an exploratory study conducted in four Portuguese organizations, the paper describes the practices that are being developed in those organizations, discussing them in order to answer the questions: How do organizations interpret the concepts of IM/KM, do they think they are different? Which IM/KM processes they develop? Which computer based systems are used to support those processes? Who leads IM/KM and which skills are necessary to those executives?
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    Integração dos Objetivos do Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS) na planificação curricular dos cursos da Universidade Portucalense: Resultados de um estudo preliminar [abstract]
    2023-07 - Fernandes, Sandra; Araújo, Alexandra M.; Albuquerque, Ana Sílvia; Morais, Paula; Barros, Elisabete
    As Instituições de Ensino Superior são vitais para a concretização dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS). Neste sentido, a integração dos ODS nos curricula do Ensino Superior e nas práticas pedagógicas é essencial para garantir que os estudantes desenvolvam os conhecimentos, as competências e os valores necessários para enfrentar os atuais desafios sociais e ambientais e para promover o desenvolvimento sustentável nas suas vidas pessoais e profissionais.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    Implementing a Business Information System to improve the quality assurance mechanisms in a Portuguese higher education institution
    2019 - Lopes, Filomena Castro; Morais, Paula
    Higher education institutions (HEIs) face, nowadays, enormous challenges to be competitive in a global world. The competitive environment means that HEIs, like other organizations, must be concerned with evaluating and monitoring their strategic objectives. Business Information (BI) systems combine different sources of information, from different information systems (IS), with analytical tools to present competitive information to planners and decision makers. In this way, BI systems emerge as tools that allow institutions to create future competitive advantages. This paper presents a case study of a Portuguese HEI, describing the implementation of a BI system to support the quality assurance system, and to improve its future strategy. This study focuses on one of the three HEI mission vectors: Teaching and Learning. As a result of this work, it was possible to parameterize the BI system, and to identify the digital information missing in the IS, and the necessary developments to collect it.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    The Centre for Excellence in Teaching (CET) at Portucalense University: goals, strategies and expected outcomes
    2018-06 - Mesquita, Diana; Morais, Paula; Fernandes, Sandra; Fernandes, Sara M.; Abelha, Marta; Albuquerque, Ana Sílvia
    This paper presents part of the change process carried out at the Portucalense University (UPT), Portugal, aimed at promoting student centred teaching and learning. To attain this goal, the Centre for Excellence in Teaching (CET) was created to support academic staff development, provide pedagogic training for teachers, create pedagogical resources and enhance the dissemination of best practices and teaching quality at UPT. The preliminary results of the implementation of the activities developed by the CET reveal a positive participation and involvement of academic staff, according to data collected through an online questionnaire to participants. Teachers showed interest in developing active learning strategies and openness to change their teaching practices. Some examples of the activities implemented by teachers, in the first semester of 2017/2018, are briefly presented in this paper.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    Social responsibility and career education: An international case study
    2018 - Costa-Lobo, Cristina; Menezes, José; Campina, Ana; Caramelo-Gomes, José; Morais, Paula; Jesus-Silva, Natacha; Formosinho, Maria das Dores
    Corporate Social Responsibility and career education emerge in a context of a society where the importance of the ability to anticipate change, adapt to new circumstances, and invent new business practices is explicit. Career education has been presented as an effective response to the requirements of adaptability, flexibility, and continuing education. This paper is a report on the findings of a study conducted at an international leading food group. Documentary analysis and discourse analysis techniques were used to examine how corporate social responsibility and career education are valued by this international group. The sample of this investigation is composed by the Director of the development area, by the Coordinator and two Social Assistants of the Social Emergency Fund. The success and effectiveness of this international group are marked by ambition, ability to resist difficulties, sharing of values, spirit of unity and team sense. In addition to internal training, it directs investments for external training by promoting actions such as participation in seminars and congresses worldwide and the creation of partnerships in various areas of management with prestigious teaching entities. Findings indicate the creation of a training school, with initiatives for internal and external training, in partnerships with prestigious teaching entities. Of particular note is the Management Trainees Program, developed for more than 25 years, characterized by building a career by obtaining knowledge and skills acquired in the combination of on-the-job experience and a training program.
  • PublicationRestricted Access
    The role of leadership in promoting social responsibility in Higher Education
    2022-11 - Pereira, Adelaide; Morais, Paula; Fernandes, Sandra; Albuquerque, Ana Sílvia
    This study aims to analyse the role played by the academic leadership in developing pedagogical practices promoting social responsibility in a private higher education institution in the north of Portugal. Despite the limited research in the area, the interest in this subject has been growing in recent years. In this study, we attempt to understand the pedagogical methodologies that promote social responsibility competencies in the students. Higher education institutions must direct their activities and knowledge to both the internal and external communities, contributing to solving concrete social problems. Academic leaderships are central in this process because they are essential in promoting pedagogical practices aligned with the higher education institutions' social responsibility, like the active teaching/learning methodologies (e.g. project-based learning and service-learning). In this work, we focused on the qualitative methodology through the case study method. The participants of this study are students, lecturers and academics with leadership roles in a private higher education institution. The authors collected the data used in this study through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, written narratives, and documental analysis. The study reveals that pedagogical practices implementation aligned with social responsibility leads to an improvement of the students' qualifications and helps in their development as socially responsible citizens, acknowledging, however, some lack of interest by the lecturers in adopting active pedagogical practices. Nevertheless, the academic leaders interviewed (e.g. lecturers who are members of the administrative body) have described the development of personal and professional qualification projects that instil the importance of active citizenship in the students and whose results are analysed to improve the process of continuous learning. We conclude that promoting social responsibility competencies to students in all higher education courses is essential and that this should be done using active methodologies. We intend that this work will contribute to the debate about the importance of leadership in higher education institutions, promoting pedagogical innovation, social responsibility, and sustainability practices.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    A framework for characterizing knowledge management systems.
    2005 - Pinto, Mário Paulo; Morais, Paula; Lopes, Filomena Castro
    This paper presents a framework for characterizing knowledge management systems (KMS). The framework has a descriptive nature and aims to be useful both to characterize and to drive KMS implementations, facilitating the identification and selection of appropriate tools according organization needs. A review of KMS categories was made to identify their underlying assumptions and purposes, and a systematization of intellectual capital (IC) measurement models was developed with the purpose of identifying the main components normally used to measure IC and to analyse if those measures are addressed by KMS.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    Developing higher education institutions as effective learning communities: Approaches, practices and policy levers at one Portuguese university
    2018 - Costa-Lobo, Cristina; Morais, Paula; Caramelo-Gomes, José; Jesus-Silva, Natacha
    In Europe, when speaking of quality assurance of Higher Education Institutions (HEI), the point of reference is the Standard and guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area document, devised by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. This document establishes a set of guidelines for the Internal Systems of Quality Assurance (ISQA) of the HEI and, also includes, guidelines for the creation of quality assurance agencies, such as the Portuguese Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES), Agency which establish standards, evaluate and ensure the quality of the HEI in the different member countries of the Higher Education European Space. In Portugal, the A3ES created a Manual for the ISQA audit process which specifies the objectives, the form of organization and operation of the institutional audit model adopted by the A3ES, so as to certificate the ISQA in the HEI. Besides the two stated references which are aimed, specifically, to the HEI, when discussing management systems certification, it’s also relevant to mention the ISO norms. The ISO 9001 is the most used norm of management systems worldwide, establishing itself as international reference for the Certification of Quality Assurance of Management Systems. The adoption of a Quality Assurance System is, according to this norm, a strategical decision of the organization. The strategy formulated to ensure quality in Higher Education uses internal systems of quality assurance, of the institutions responsibility, and also external systems, of the quality assurance agencies responsibility. The development of quality assurance systems demands a balance between the HEI’s actions and the external procedures of quality assurance purposed by the agencies, in the case of Portugal, the A3ES. HEIs are required to establish their own self-evaluation mechanisms. For this purpose, promoting a solid internal quality culture is elemental to strengthen effective strategies of institutional evaluation. Related to its continuous improvement process, Portucalense University, a private HEI, located in Portugal, decided to certificate its quality assurance system, both by the A3ES and by the ISO 9001. This article describes the developed practices in this double certification process. The perception of the areas with greater need of being leveraged, the respective improvements to be applied, and the better way of proceeding in regard to the continuous improvement of the processes, either of management, value chain and support or services, stand out as results of this content analysis. With this study, it is intended to contribute with good practices for the attainment of the certifications and the continuous improvement of the HEI in question.