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Aquaculture International

, Volume 23, Issue 3, pp 843–859 | Cite as

Innovation and educational changes: two e-Learning cases in aquaculture

  • Sónia Seixas
  • Sathappan Saravanan
  • Susana Gonçalves
Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the potential changes that education innovation can bring to education and training in aquaculture. When introducing Information and Communication Technology methods into new educational contexts, situations and/or practices, in the process teacher/practitioners will almost always make use of innovatory technology which in itself can lead to a measure of change within the relevant educational system. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that the use of technology is not an end in itself, its use is only justified as a tool to achieve the educational goals that have been set. It is in this spirit that two case studies are presented from current aquaculture curricula, which make use of innovative teaching methodology in the form of e-Learning: one case study is from the Open University (Universidade Aberta) in Portugal [distance teaching in a Master’s programme (Second Cycle)]; the second is from the NAFC Marine Centre, Scottish Qualifications Authority accredited courses in Scotland, UK. We report the pedagogical models on which these courses were built, the tools required to achieve the intended educational objectives and the teaching and learning resources used. We also report the creative stimulus inherent in the innovation processes that allowed the two teachers/instructors to achieve the same, or better, results than traditional teacher-led classroom methods, by using a technology-enhanced teaching process without the need for face-to-face interaction.

Keywords

Aquaculture Educational change Educational innovation e-Learning ICT tools 

Abbreviations

FAO

UN Food and Agriculture Organisation

ICT

Information and Communication Technology

IT Staff

Information Technology Staff

HE

High Education

LMP

Learning Management Platform

PDF

Portable Document Format

SCORM

Sharable Content Object Reference Model

SQA

Scottish Qualifications Authority

WebCT

Web Course Tools

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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge ‘Margaret Eleftheriou’.

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sónia Seixas
    • 1
    • 2
  • Sathappan Saravanan
    • 3
  • Susana Gonçalves
    • 1
  1. 1.Universidade AbertaLisbonPortugal
  2. 2.MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences CentreUniversidade de CoimbraCoimbraPortugal
  3. 3.NAFC Marine CentreShetlandScotland, UK

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