Luciana Oliveira, Associate Professor at ISCAP, was awarded the first prize in the Pratica+ incentive, an initiative of the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation (CIP) of the Polytechnic of Porto (P.PORTO), which recognizes innovative and excellent pedagogical practices.
The lecturer was awarded for her work on the Trends in Business Communication course in the Business Communication degree, where she promotes The Trends Hub forum and magazine, using a pedagogical approach based on the Contributing Student Pedagogy (CSP) methodology, which encourages cooperation between students, between students and external experts and between students and academic and professional networks in the construction, co-construction and promotion of knowledge.
“This is a course completely devoid of syllabus content taught in the traditional format,” she says, adding that “The design of challenging, meaningful and impactful experiences, which ensure that individual creativity and expression are maintained, is one of the cores of the contemporary role of the teacher-moderator and, for this reason, we balance support and challenges in order to approximate the development of students’ skills.”
It is a pedagogical model that is broadly sensitive to the awareness of the social responsibility that academia has in offering environments that activate the integral development of the individual, strengthening their professional and academic identity. It therefore provides opportunities for personal and professional expression, increasing motivation and reinforcing the students’ sense of purpose for an active and meaningful socio-professional presence.
In the teacher’s words, “The idea is precisely to move students from their comfort zone to the zone of challenges, proximal development and cognitive imbalance, since it is in overcoming challenges, with adequate support, that true intellectual, professional and personal growth occurs. It’s wonderful to see them blossom! And it’s extremely gratifying to see them enlarged by the mark they leave on the school and the network.”
Pratica+ distinguishes teachers whose methodologies enhance the development of essential skills in students, promote equal opportunities and contribute to academic success. The award will be formally presented during the Porto Pedagogical Innovation Conference (P.Pic’25), where the teacher will be invited to share her experience and pedagogical approaches.
The recognition of this award reflects and reaffirms ISCAP’s commitment to innovation in higher education and highlights the impact of the methodologies implemented by Professor Luciana Oliveira on student education, which we welcome.