Morais, Paula

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Morais

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Paula

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Paula Morais

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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.

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

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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.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 25
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    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.
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    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.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    MOODLE: Ten years @ Universidade Portucalense.
    2014 - Morais, Paula; Sobral, Sónia Rolland
    Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (MOODLE) was first used in Universidade Portucalense during the 2003-2004 academic year only with the presence of three courses, all responsibility of the administrators of the platform, members of the Computer science Department. Four years after, the administration of MOODLE became responsibility of Computing Services. In 2008 all the courses taught at the University Portucalense have presence in MOODLE, regardless of the willingness of responsible teachers. Between July 2006 and July 2013 the Rectory has promoted five MOODLE applied courses for teachers. At the beginning of each school year there is a reception to new teachers where they have also an introduction to this platform. Meanwhile there have been some upgrades in the platform, and in 2013/14, the university upgrade to the last version. Rounding up 10 years of MOODLE in Universidade Portucalense an evaluation of this use must be done as well as a picture of how teachers see the 2014 platform, and how they think this resource can improve students’ learning. Universidade Portucalense is a good mirror of Higher Education Institutions in Portugal as it is organized in four different departments and has several types of teachers: different scientific areas, ages, cultures and distinct technological skills. This study aims to find if teachers use MOODLE and how they do it to supplement classroom lessons, improving or contributing to student success, from the teachers’ perspective.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Specific requirements of human resources in the IT sector in Portugal.
    2015 - Baldaque, Alexandra; Azevedo, Casimiro; Costa-Lobo, Cristina; Lopes, Filomena Castro; Morais, Paula; Santos-Pereira, Carla
    The strong growth in recent years in the ICT sector has been limited by the shortage in the number of professionals available to fill the growing number of jobs that emerge in this area. This is a particularly serious problem in Europe where the shortage stubbornly persists, despite the efforts made by European leaders over the past decade. Aware of these needs, we carried out a study on the specific needs of human resources in the ICT sector in Portugal in the view of retraining unemployed, in partnership with ANETIE, National Association of Information Technology and Electronics Enterprises. The study began with a search aiming to identify the existing ICT professions, coming to a list of 15 professions applicable in Portugal. Based on several European studies we constructed a list of technical activities and responsibilities associated with each profession. As the next step a survey was conducted using a questionnaire aimed to gather information about the relevant professions in the ICT sector, the main activities to be undertaken, and the needed skills, not only technical, but also soft, cognitive, business and communication skills. The results show that the Software Developer is the profession with more number of workers existing in the enterprises from the sample, but it is also the most needed in the next three years. Five other professions should, also, be highlighted as the most needed: IT Consultant, Technical Specialist (HW/ SW), Helpdesk Professional, Project Manager and Sales Manager. The CIO profession was not mentioned by any organization.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Diagnosis of the use of Web 2.0: tools in the portuguese financial institutions.
    2013 - Sousa, César; Morais, Paula
    Web 2.0 tools helps enterprises to increase innovation. Many organizations seek this kind of tools so they can be competitive in the global world we live today. The Portuguese Financial sector has been very competitive and has used innovation to leverage over competitors. Considering the potential for innovation associated with Web 2.0 and the innovation interest of the sector, it's very relevant to diagnose the level of use of Knowledge Management practices and the adoption of Web 2.0 tools in this sector. This article presents the results of a study aiming to diagnose the level of use of Knowledge Management practices and the adoption of Web 2.0 tools by Portuguese Banks. The study was conducted through a survey sent to all institutions listed in the Portuguese Banking Association, specifically to 26 banks. With a 15.38% success rate of answers it was possible to infer that in Portugal Knowledge Management practices are present in the Banking sector, as well as the use of Web 2.0 tools, although not with a homogeneous presence.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    TAXSI: taxionomia de sistemas informáticos.
    2001 - Morais, Paula
    Esta tese descreve uma taxionomia de sistemas informáticos, TAXSI, e um método para a sua utilização, que servem dois propósitos: por um lado sistematizar conceitos sobre sistemas informáticos, e por outro, argumenta-se que constituem um contributo para melhorar o processo de desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação (DSI), e em particular a fase de engenharia de requisitos (ER). A TAXSI visa ser utilizada no início do processo de DSI, nomeadamente na fase inicial de levantamento de requisitos, para identificar o tipo de sistema informático a desenvolver, permitindo mais facilmente indicar um ponto de partida para o processo de desenvolvimento ou adopção de novos sistemas e contribuindo para que os engenheiros de requisitos desenvolvam o seu trabalho de uma forma mais orientada. Com vista a identificar e comparar taxionomias de sistemas informáticos, e também identificar designações de tipos de aplicações informáticas procedeu-se a uma revisão da literatura. Do estudo da literatura construiu-se uma lista onde se identificaram mais de uma centena de designações diferentes de sistemas informáticos. Algumas delas são usadas como homónimos, mas de facto referem-se a sistemas com diferentes funcionalidades, e outras poderiam ser usadas como sinónimos, pois apesar de terem diferentes nomes referem-se a sistemas com a mesma funcionalidade. Quanto às taxionomias foram identificadas na literatura relevante treze taxionomias de sistemas informáticos, tendo sido analisados para cada uma o autor, data e objectivo com que foi desenvolvida, as dimensões usadas, sistemas considerados e método de obtenção das dimensões, o método de construção, as classes identificadas e o método de validação. Da revisão pode concluir-se que cada autor selecciona critérios e métodos de construção de acordo com o objectivo da taxionomia, e, consequentemente, as taxionomias resultantes são demasiado diferentes para que se possa identificar algum padrão de classificação. Tendo este facto em consideração, propõe-se uma nova taxionomia de sistemas informáticos, baseada no papel das aplicações no contexto da sua utilização. Da análise desse papel identificaram-se como dimensões relevantes as seguintes: o conhecimento sobre os objectos existentes numa organização, os processos organizacionais, os objectos manipulados pelos processos, o domínio do negócio, as operações incluídas nos processos e a arquitectura típica de cada operação. Apresenta-se também uma proposta de um método de utilização da TAXSI no âmbito do DSI, e em particular na engenharia de requisitos, e descreve-se o processo de validação efectuado. A validação executada pretendeu avaliar se os sistemas analisados podiam ser adequadamente descritos com as dimensões definidas. A validação foi feita recorrendo a quatro casos: uma universidade, uma empresa de fiação, uma indústria farmacêutica e uma organização pública de controlo na área vitivinícola. Os resultados dos casos permitiram concluir da aplicabilidade da TAXSI em contextos reais, relativamente à adequação da descrição dos sistemas analisados.
  • 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.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Observatório de estudantes da Universidade Portucalense: Uma experiência de monitorização do sucesso académico [resumo]
    2024-07-08 - Araújo, Alexandra M.; Fernandes, Sandra; Morais, Paula; Real, Elizabeth
    Em alinhamento com o seu compromisso com a qualidade do ensino e aprendizagem e o desenvolvimento integral dos estudantes, a Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique (UPT, Porto) desenvolveu os primeiros estudos de Observatório de Estudantes no ano letivo de 2015/2016, tendo recolhido desde então dados junto dos seus estudantes. [...]
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    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?
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    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.