Sandra Vasconcelos

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Polytechnic Institute of Porto

This paper explores the integration of digital technology, particularly the video-based tool Flipgrid, to enhance language learning, focusing on communication competences. Rooted in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, the study outlines an innovative activity designed for A1 level German learners, grounded in 3 phases: i) plan...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has shifted from an emerging trend to a mainstream topic in education, impacting various educational settings, including teacher training. This chapter emphasizes the need to equip teachers with competencies to integrate AI into their practices, particularly in foreign language teaching and learning. By compiling a comp...

As tourism stakeholders continue to tackle the effects of COVID-19 and its impacts, there has been a growing awareness regarding the importance of sustainability and the role education can play within this scope. Focusing on an interdisciplinary project involving Tourist Activities Management students, this paper describes a strategy designed to fo...

Due to its service-oriented nature, Tourism and Hospitality Education relies heavily on experimental learning (EL) approaches, that focus on real-word challenges and can replicate future professional settings. In addition to simulation, project-based learning, fieldtrips and role-play, educators are looking for alternative and innovative strategies...

The following paper describes a recently implemented initiative developed within the scope of the Link Me Up – 1000 ideas project, which aims to promote co-creation, cooperation, innovation and multidisciplinarity in Portuguese Polytechnic Institutions. Focussing on a specific challenge – the need to create inclusive and immersive experiences for 2...

The COVID-19 health crisis has significantly impacted the tourism and events industries, having prompted different responses from stakeholders and decision-makers. Focusing on the initial response from event managers and drawing from their perceptions, this paper outlines the dimensions considered to have been more directly affected by the crisis,...

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a worldwide crisis, which has had an impact on all economic sectors, having transformed social and consumption patterns. This crisis has been particularly difficult for the tourism industry, with uncertainty and the emergence of new consumer profiles and demands prompting swift reactions from policymakers and stake...

Having a strong affinity and interdependence with a wide range of sectors and industries, tourism is, by nature, an interdisciplinary field. However, despite this realization, there are still different barriers to the development of interdisciplinary research and active collaborative projects within Tourism Higher Education. In addition to these ba...

The tourism industry is constantly evolving, mostly due to the development of destinations and ever-changing tourist preferences. As a result, there has been a growing concern with promoting the use of existing resources and increasing profitability, particularly by encouraging diversity and creating local dynamics, moving beyond mass tourism. As t...

The tourism industry is constantly evolving, mostly due to the development of destinations and ever-changing tourist preferences. As a result, there has been a growing concern with promoting the use of existing resources and increasing profitability, particularly by encouraging diversity and creating local dynamics, moving beyond mass tourism. As t...

Having a strong affinity and interdependence with a wide range of sectors and industries, tourism is, by nature, an interdisciplinary field. However, despite this realization, there are still different barriers to the development of interdisciplinary research and active collaborative projects within Tourism Higher Education. In addition to these ba...

The chapter describes an interdisciplinary project that was designed and implemented within the scope of a Tourist Activities Management degree whose main topic was sustainability. Based on the use of a bilingual student blog, this project challenged students to produce multimedia content (posts, podcasts, and videos) focusing on sustainable practi...

Tourism research has highlighted the strategic need to identify and assess relevant skills for the sector to ensure organizations’ competitiveness. Describing an interdisciplinary project carried out at the School of Hospitality and Tourism (Polytechnic Institute of Porto), this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on the importance of so...

Aiming to provide an overview of the hospitality sector in Portugal amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in this chapter, the authors call on hotel managers and their perceptions to identify key dimensions and relevant crisis management practices within this unique setting. Supported by eight semi-structured interviews, it focuses on operations, human resou...

Addressing the growing need to reexamine current approaches and teaching methods within the scope of ESP, this paper starts by describing the preliminary states of V-interESP-an international joint research project involving students and faculty from Lithuania, Portugal and Serbia. This project has two primary goals: to understand the role digital...

Tendo como principal objetivo rever abordagens e dinâmicas de ensino e aprendizagem no domínio do Inglês Para Fins Específicos, neste artigo descrevem-se as fases de planificação e implementação da primeira iteração do projeto V-interESP. Este projeto de investigação conjunta contou com a participação de alunos e docentes da Lituânia, Portugal e Sé...

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many constraints to several industries, including tourism and hospitality. Despite its resilience, the socioeconomic implications arising from this sanitary crisis have exposed the industry's vulnerabilities and prompted swift reactions from policymakers, stakeholders and managers. This exploratory study aims to de...

As the continuous development of digital technologies continues to have a profound impact on educational contexts (including teacher education settings), it has become paramount to not only understand whether and how teacher education and training is keeping pace with the ubiquitous nature of digital technology, but also to contribute to the contin...

Focusing on an Interdisciplinary Project (IP) involving Higher Education Institutions from Portugal (School of Hospitality and Tourism – Polytechnic Institute of Porto) and Romania (Faculty of Business – Babeş-Bolyai University), this short paper describes a joint project developed by tourism students attending tourism courses at both institutions....

Focusing on an Intensive Study Program (ISP) within the scope ‘E-CUL-TOURS’, an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership involving Higher Education Institutions, external consultants and the European Projects Association, this paper describes the teaching and learning strategies and activities developed in order to improve cultural heritage management traini...

The following chapter describes the design and implementation of a teaching and learning strategy that aimed to explore the affordances of storytelling when it comes to the management of students' personal branding skills. Designed to help students craft their online professional persona and produce video-based pitches, this strategy was developed...

Even though, over the last decades, most higher education institutions (HEI) have come to increasingly integrate technology in their practices, namely as a way of enhancing students' learning experiences and the cohesive development of skills and preparing them for a digital and global workplace, never before did technology play such a pivotal role...

Over the last decade, the widespread use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry has had a substantial impact on consumer and managerial practices. As a driving force for innovation, ICT has not only changed the way stakeholders and consumers interact, but also redesigned tourist experiences as whole...

This poster aims to describe a strategy used with tourism students as to develop their personal branding skills, particularly when applying for a job. Based on the use of digital storytelling techniques and the creation of 1-minute video pitches, this strategy is currently being implemented in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course, involvin...

Atualmente, perante fenómenos como a globalização e a transformação digital, é essencial que os profissionais na área de Secretariado estejam providos de competências transversais que lhes permitam adaptar-se às exigências de um mercado cada vez mais complexo. Nesse sentido, a formação superior em Secretariado assume especial relevância, sendo as i...

More teacher-centred in general, Higher Education Institutions are moving towards the incorporation of innovative and interactive practices and programmes, and in the last decades e-and b-learning have increasingly become credible alternatives to traditional modes of teaching and learning, and rethinking their curricula and strategies to incorporat...

Purpose – As tourism has become a prominent industry, there has been a growing demand for skilled professionals, who are able to adapt to technology-laden markets. In this setting, digital development and communication take on an important role, making it necessary to reshape the way tourism education is approached, focusing on the skills required...

Focusing on the use mobile devices to promote language learning, this chapter documents the use of the student response system Socrative in two German courses taking place at two different Portuguese higher education institutions. It is divided into three different sections. After establishing the project's theoretical framework, the authors analys...

Focusing on the use of digital technology to promote the teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in Higher Education, this presentation documents the preliminary stages of an international joint project involving students and faculty from Lithuania, Portugal and Serbia. Part of a long-term study, and stemming from the need to re-examine cur...

The marketing sector has been experiencing substantial changes due to the constant need to adjust to apace-evolving markets and demands. Digital development takes on an important role in this scenario, which may not be echoing in marketing education. Thus, there is an increasing discussion surrounding the skills required of marketing graduates in t...

Focusing on the use mobile devices to promote language learning, this chapter documents the use of the student response system Socrative in two German courses taking place at two different Portuguese higher education institutions. It is divided into three different sections. After establishing the project's theoretical framework, the authors analys...

This chapter analyses a Portuguese HEI's first experience with blended learning. Focusing on the Master in Innovative Tourism Development currently being held at the Superior School of Technology and Management of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, it presents the institutional background and rationale behind the course's implementation...

Taking a cue from the ongoing debate about the current role of Higher Education Institutions (HEI), what is being taught at these institutions and whether that meets the market’s needs, the main goal of this study is to collect and analyze evidence as to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) within tourism marketing education an...

Focusing on the use mobile devices to promote language learning, this chapter documents the use of the student response system Socrative in two German courses taking place at two different Portuguese higher education institutions. It is divided into three different sections. After establishing the project's theoretical framework, the authors analys...

This chapter analyses a Portuguese HEI's first experience with blended learning. Focusing on the Master in Innovative Tourism Development currently being held at the Superior School of Technology and Management of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, it presents the institutional background and rationale behind the course's implementation...

Having changed the nature of services and work within the hospitality industry, technological developments and the use of ICT are also having an effect on tourism education and training. This paper presents a literature review focusing on recent research as to how European Higher Education Institutions are incorporating flexible learning models, na...

ver the last decade, with an escalating demand for human resources that meet the hospitality industry’s requirements, the educational offer in Tourism has considerably increased, making it necessary to study the different courses and diversify the current offer by making it more appealing and up-to-date. Part of a long-term study, this paper focuse...

Based on the analysis of some of the blogs acknowledged by the 2009 edublogawards, this paper aims to understand some of their underlying dynamics, identifying their main features and pointing out some of the factors behind their longevity. Conducting a correlational and longitudinal analysis, which made it possible to compare the first quarters of...

In the increasingly competitive world of Higher Education and with an escalating demand for flexible educational approaches, many Higher Education Institutions have turned to ICT and blended learning as ways of meeting both the students' and the market's need for more interactive, adjustable and enhanced learning experiences. This paper focuses on...

This article presents a protype for a mobile learning solution using augmented reality. Aimed at promoting the digital inclusion of elementary school deaf students the project is entitled: "A minha rua"/ My street. Augmented reality; Mobile Learning; Digital Inclusion; Geographic Information Technologies, Special Needs. I. INTRODUÇÃO Actualmente, n...

This presentation is based on a report written for a course on "Evaluation of Educational Software" within the Masters and Postgraduation Course "Multimedia in Education" currently taking place at the University of Aveiro. The main goal of the presentation is to make a critical analysis about the growing importance of usability as a quality indicat...