In the wake of the latest news regarding IPB’s award for best Polytechnic Institute
in Portugal, we would like to congratulate the IPB community who has always
striven for the quality of the institution within the national and international academic
milieu. We are, undoubtedly, bowled over by the 1st place in the national
context (out of the 27 national institutions under evaluation) and the 7th position
in the international scope. In fact, it is worth mentioning that the IPB has won this
award, three years in a row, being in a leading position in the ranking promoted and
sponsored by the European Union. This year’s edition has selected and evaluated
over 1300 world higher education institutions.
Teaching Crossroads intends thus to give a watershed contribution to the IPB’s
successful and most valued pathway. Numbers indicate that Teaching Crossroads
has had over 2550 downloads since it first came out.
But let’s cut to the chase. Once again, we are delighted to present the 5th number
of Teaching Crossroads. This wholly calculated and well-sustained editorial adventure
started in 2012 when the first number of Teaching Crossroads first saw the
light. This year’s publication includes the areas of Human Geography/anthropology,
Information Technology and Forensics and Language and culture, focusing
on minority languages. Alongside this, as in the two last previous numbers, we’ve
included the specific area for International mobility, Intensive Programmes and
Erasmus+ Mobility of Individuals, being the latter financed by the European Union
within the Erasmus+ Programme, whereas the former is sponsored uniquely by the foreign partner institution, in this case, Lillebaelt Academy in Denmark.
These types of programmes convey very positive and overarching ideas, resonant
in cross-cultural and educational benefits, valuable for all the involved partners.
We would very kindheartedly like to thank the authors for having contributed
with much enlightening and serious articles on a wide array of areas.
Pablo M. Orduna Pórtus’s article focuses on border culture and heritage management.
The author’s study is placed on two borderlands of the Iberian Peninsula:
Roncal Valley (Navarre) and Riverbanks of Douro. Going beyond the linear or
physical conception of the border, the author centres his study on the metaphysical
and symbolic ideas of the frontier that sustain his anthropological analysis.
Michal Popdora manages to find evidence for his proposal of a new conception
of teaching Image Processing, based on the student-centered approach. A hands-on
experience on a Project-based Learning methodology sustains the teaching project.
Grounded on “a forensic-flavored style”, using the author’s own words, he shows
how students can become engaged in a highly effective learning process.
Cláudia Martins is already a confirmed habitué of this publication, as in every
Erasmus Week she delivers a lecture on Portuguese language and culture to visiting
teaching and non-teaching staff. This time, the author decided to delve into a
Portugal’s official language, Mirandese, spoken in a small designated area in the
northeastern part of Portugal, Miranda do Douro and its surrounding area. The
author gives account of some thought-provoking facts about the language, from the
origin and the survival of the language, however still a minority language, up to the
moment when it was acknowledged Portugal’s second official language, together
with the challenges that nowadays faces. Luís Frölen Ribeiro, João Eduardo Ribeiro, Carlos Casimiro Costa, António
Duarte, Carlos Andrade from the Polytechnic Institute and Arne Svinth, John
Madsen, Morten Thomsen, Kent Smidstrup, Carsten John Jacobsen from the
Lillebaelt Academy, in Denmark, participate in a joint project which they describe,
outlining the main goals and gains of the project. To overcome teaching difficulties
regarding the engineering degrees, a 12-ECTS joint course from Lillebaelt Academy
and Polytechnic Institute of Bragança was created based on the Danish model. The
course Product Development and Industrial Processing was hence created.
Rui Pedro Lopes presents an insightful and acute account of the Internationalization
programmes in Higher Education in Europe. At one go, the author describes
his own experience as a visiting lecturer, within the Erasmus+ programme, to Università Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona, Italy, in a Master’s degree in
computer science, bringing to light a personal reflection on the goals and benefits
of the mobility for both students and teachers. Finally, the author puts forth some
suggestions that would improve the whole mobility process.
We sincerely hope to have stimulated you to keep on reading, upholding the
belief that these texts can represent valuable sources for both teachers and students
in their research work.
