Impact of the Information System on the Pedagogical Process

Abstract

The pedagogical practice in universities is changing faster than is often perceived by the Faculty as a whole, due to the high level of autonomy individual professors enjoy. The paper discusses to what extent the existence of a university information system is contributing to that change in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. The information system (SiFEUP) has been running since 1996 and it has grown to more than 30 integrated modules. Although since the beginning its goals included to improve teaching and learning, research and development, the first phase of its development has mainly concentrated on recording and distributing administrative information about the school"s activity and on supporting the school management. However, several implications of its use are already noticeable in the way professors teach and students learn. The effort of building an integrated and coherent information system is paying back in terms of credibility and adhesion. It is thus becoming a common patrimony for teachers and students what facilitates the communication, the availability of contents, and even the assessment. The system constitutes an important tool to support the evolution of the pedagogical process and is expected to contribute to the continuous education effort.