Tracing the Emmerging Use of Communication Technologies in Higher Education

Abstract

Communication Technologies being used in Higher Education Institutions worldwide are producing changes in the design of teaching and learning practices, giving rise to learning paradigms such as elearning, b-learning and m-learning. Research embraces different perspectives on how the use of Internet and Communication Technologies potentiate innovation and disruptiveness of more traditional forms of education, as well as promotion of changes in the way teachers and students work and in the roles they adopt. The present review suggests that web 2.0 technologies has promoted new forms of communication, interaction and sharing between users and content in formal education settings. Furthermore, the realization of how vast and disperse the body of literature is, revealed as significant the main goals of the project “Portuguese Public Higher Education Use of Communication Technologies”, that aims to characterize Portuguese higher education institutions according to their use and best practices, disseminating the information obtained through an online information visualization tool. The ultimate goal of the project is to contribute towards making valuable and up-to-date information available to Higher Education Institutions and users, facilitating and potentiating research in the area.