Monitoring students' workload: Context and platform setup

Abstract

The "Bologna model" calls for an European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), where the students' workload is a structural pillar of learning organization. The substantive importance of this framework has been materialized in Portugal through the Decreto Lei no 42/2005, de 22 de Fevereiro. This paper presents the context and a minimalist web platform was designed and prototyped in order to facilitate i) the recording and documentation of students' learning activities (including workload), ii) its monitoring (by teachers) and iii) sharing (among students). The prototype was used in the context of a standard (face-to-face) University Course, complementing normal classroom activities, and has proved to be an adequate facilitating tool for i) storing tangible evidences of the students' work, ii) documented and time-lined recording of students' workload, iii) scaffolding of metacognitive reflections and and iv) improved transparency (internal and external) of the teaching / learning process.