Skip to content
BY 4.0 license Open Access Published by De Gruyter Open Access July 1, 2022

Microsoft 365 as a Tool for Teaching During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Perceptions of Portuguese Teachers of Basic and Secondary Education

  • Joaquim Escola , Natália Lopes , Paula Catarino EMAIL logo and Ana Paula Aires
From the journal Open Education Studies

Abstract

In the last year, and largely due to the pandemic situation of COVID-19, teachers experimented with technology in an innovative way not only to keep students engaged, but also to make learning more active and more significant. The Microsoft 365 was one of the solutions that provided schools, teachers and students with all the necessary resources to continue teaching and learning in a remote mode. In this work, we present a study that aims to know the opinions of several teachers about the use they made of Microsoft 365 during distance education and to know the degree of satisfaction obtained with its use. The adopted method has a descriptive and exploratory nature, focusing on a quantitative paradigm. The study participants were 101 teachers of basic1 and secondary education2 from schools in Northern Portugal. A questionnaire survey was used as a data collection instrument, which was mainly disseminated by email from Outlook. Data analysis was performed using Excel (Office 2016). The results suggest that Microsoft 365 was the appropriate response to the constraints imposed by the pandemic, and that most respondents revealed a high level of satisfaction with its use, despite not having much training in the use of teaching platforms.

References

Aires, A. P., Escola, J., & Lopes, N. (2021). Microsoft 365: a teaching and learning resource during the pandemic. In L. Gómez Chova, A. López Martínez, I. Candel Torres (Eds), INTED2021 Proceedings, 15th International Technology, Education and Development Conference (pp. 3647-3652). 8th-9th of March. IATED. https://doi.org/10.21125/inted.2021.0755Search in Google Scholar

Almeida, L., & Freire, T. (2017). Metodologia da Investigação em Psicologia e Educação [Research Methodology in Psychology and Education]. 5th edition, 159pp, Psiquilíbrios, ISBN: 978-972-97388-5-2.Search in Google Scholar

Borba, M. C., Silva, R. S., & Gadanidis, G. (2016). Fases das tecnologias digitais em Educação Matemática: sala de aula e internet em movimento [Phases of digital technologies in Mathematics Education: classroom and internet on the move]. 2nd edition, 152pp, Autêntica Editora, ISBN: 978-855-13067-2-7.Search in Google Scholar

Bozkurt, A., & Sharma, R. C. (2020). Emergency remote teaching in a time of global crisis due to corona Virus pandemic. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15 (1), i-vi. https://doi.org./10.5281/zenodo.3778083Search in Google Scholar

Cabero-Almenara, J. (2020). Aprendiendo del tiempo de la COVID-19. [Learning from the time of COVID-19.] Revista Eletrónica Educare, 24, Suplemento Especial, 1-3. http://dx.doi.org/10.15359/ree.24-s.210.15359/ree.24-S.2Search in Google Scholar

Cabero-Almenara, J., & Valencia-Ortiz, R. (2021). Y el COVID-19 transformó al sistema educativo: Reflexiones y experiencias por aprender. [And COVID-19 transformed the educational system: Reflections and experiences to learn.] Internacional Journal of Educational Research and Innovation, 15, 217-227. https://doi.org/10.46661/ijeri.5246Search in Google Scholar

Charnet, C. (2009). La plateforme d’apprentissage: un artefact de mediation? [The learning platform: an artefact of mediation?] Université de Montpellier. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=7F4ABD745B5A617767F40BDCD5155198?doi=10.1.1.174.1885&rep=rep1&type=pdfSearch in Google Scholar

De Ketele, J. M., & Roegiers, X. (1999). Metodologia de recolha de dados. [Data collection methodology]. 258pp, Instituto Piaget, ISBN: 978-972-77107-4-4.Search in Google Scholar

Escola, J. (2020a). Comunicação Educativa: perspetivas e desafios com a COVID 19. [Educational Communication: perspectives and challenges with COVID 19] Educação & Realidade, 45 (4), e109345, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-6236109345Search in Google Scholar

Escola, J. (2020b). Ensinar e Aprender: Desafios no Período de COVID em Portugal. [Teaching and Learning: Challenges in the COVID Period in Portugal] Revista de Educação Ciências e Matemática, 10 (3), 87-103. Retrieved from: http://publicacoes.unigranrio.edu.br/index.php/recm/article/view/6592/3318Search in Google Scholar

Escola, J. (2015). Habitar na Tecnopolis: Espaço público, Democracia e Direitos Humanos numa Civilização Tecnológica. [Living in Tecnopolis: Public space, Democracy and Human Rights in a Technological Civilization] Utopia y Praxis Latinoamericana: Revista Internacional de Filosofia iberoamericana y teoria social, 20 (70), 59-70. Retrieved from: https://produccioncientificaluz.org/index.php/utopia/article/view/20344/20257Search in Google Scholar

FENPROF-Federação Nacional dos Professores. O ensino a distância (E@D) (2020). As perceções e a(s) palavra(s)dos professores. [Distance learning (E@D) (2020). Teachers’ perceptions and word(s)] Retrieved from: https://www.fenprof.pt/Download/FENPROF/SM_Doc/Mid_115/Doc_12667/Anexos/ED_-_a_percecao_dos_professores.pdfSearch in Google Scholar

Fiori, R., & Goi, M. E. (2020). O Ensino de Química na plataforma digital em tempos de Coronavírus. [Chemistry teaching on the digital platform in times of Coronavirus.] Revista Thema, 18 218-242. http://dx.doi.org/10.15536/thema.v18.especial.2020.218-242.180710.15536/thema.V18.Especial.2020.218-242.1807Search in Google Scholar

Gil, A. C. (2008). Métodos e técnicas de pesquisa social [Social research methods and techniques]. 6th edition, 220pp., Editora Atlas, ISBN: 85·224-3169-8.Search in Google Scholar

Kenski, V. M. (2012). Educação e Tecnologia: o novo ritmo das informações. [Education and Technology: the new rhythm of information]. Práxis Educativa, Ponta Grossa, 7(1), 285-290. http://dx.doi.org/10.5212/PraxEduc.v.7i1.0001410.5212/PraxEduc.v.7i1.00014Search in Google Scholar

La Velle, L., Newman, S., Montgomery, C., & Hyatt, D. (2020). Initial teacher education in England and the Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and opportunities. Journal of Education for Teaching, 46(4), 596-608 https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2020.1803051Search in Google Scholar

Lopes, N., Escola, J, & Raposo-Rivas (2014). Estado da arte do uso do QIM em Portugal: aproximação a um campo de estudo emergente. [State of the art in the use of QIM in Portugal: approach to an emerging field of study]. In J. Escola, M. Raposo-Ribas, A. P. Aires, & M. E. Martínez-Figueira (Coords.) Rumo à inclusão educacional das TIC na sala de aula (pp. 357-382). Andavira Editora.Search in Google Scholar

Lopes, N., & Gomes, A. (2020). O ’Boom’ das plataformas digitais nas práticas de ensino: Uma experiência do E@D no ensino superior. [The “Boom” of digital platforms in teaching practices: An E@D experience in higher education]. Revista Practicum, 5(1), 106-120.10.24310/RevPracticumrep.v5i1.9833Search in Google Scholar

Marôco, J. (2020). Experiências de ensino a distância em tempos de pandemia. [Distance learning experiences in times of pandemic ] Retrieved from: https://somossolucao.pt/2020/08/31/o-quenos-dizem-os-dados/?fbclid=IwAR0tZWKtVPjMkmWrDQmPVTpBvDzF6Oemk7OBT3W4-HoQDNchW8bwPiLxn8w.Search in Google Scholar

Moreira, J. A., & Schlemmer, E. (2020). Por um novo conceito e paradigma de educação digital onlife. [For a new concept and paradigm of online digital education]. Revista UFG, V.20, 63438. Retrieved from: https://www.revistas.ufg.br/revistaufg/article/view/63438/3607910.5216/revufg.v20.63438Search in Google Scholar

Motta, M. S., & Kalinke, M. A. (2019). Uma proposta metodológica para a produção de objetos de aprendizagem na perspectiva da dimensão educacional. [A methodological proposal for the production of learning objects from the perspective of the educational dimension] In M. A. Kalinke, & M. S. Motta. (Orgs.). Objetos de aprendizagem: pesquisas e possibilidades na Educação Matemática (pp. 203-218). Life Editora.Search in Google Scholar

OECD (2019). Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/f8d7880d-en.Search in Google Scholar

Oliveira, N. R. (2013). A web 2.0 na formação docente. In: Livro de atas Trabalho Docente e Formação: Políticas, práticas e investigação: pontes para a mudança [Web 2.0 in teacher training. In: Minute book Faculty Work and Training: Policies, practices and research: bridges to change] (p. 1291-1303). Porto, Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto (CIIE/FPCEUP), 1 a 3 de novembro de 2013. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/Search in Google Scholar

Prat, M. (2012). Réussir votre projet e-learning: pédagogie, méthodes et outils de conception, déploiement, évaluation. [Make your e-learning project a success: pedagogy, design, deployment, evaluation methods and tools], 314pp, Herblain: ENI éd.Search in Google Scholar

Rodrigues, A. (2020). Ensino Remoto na Educação Superior: desafios e conquistas em tempos de pandemia. [Remote Teaching in Higher Education: challenges and achievements in times of pandemic] SBC Horizontes. Retrieved from: http://horizontes.sbc.org.br/index.php/2020/06/ensino-remoto-naeducacao-superior/Search in Google Scholar

Raposo-Rivas, M., & Escola, J. (2016a). Virtual Communities of and for learning. Journal For Educators, Teachers and Trainers-JETT, 7(2), 7-10. Retrieved from: https://jett.labosfor.com/index.php/jett/article/view/198/100Search in Google Scholar

Raposo-Rivas, M., & Escola, J. (2016b). Virtual Communities of and for learning. Journal For Educators, Teachers and Trainers-JETT, 7(2), 11-24. Retrieved from: https://jett.labosfor.com/index.php/jett/article/view/198/100Search in Google Scholar

Ribeirinha, T., & Silva, B. (2020). Cinco lições para a educação escolar depois da COVID. [Five lessons for school education after COVID] Interfaces Científicas, Aracaj, 10(1), 194-210. https://doi.org/10.17564/2316-3828.2020v10n1p194-210Search in Google Scholar

Stake, R. (2016). A arte da investigação com estudos de caso [The art of investigation with case study]. 4th edition, 187pp, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, ISBN: 978-972-31118-7-3.Search in Google Scholar

Triviños, A. N. S. (1987). Introdução à pesquisa em ciências sociais: a pesquisa qualitativa em educação [Introduction to social science research: qualitative research in education]. 175pp, Editora Atlas, ISBN: ISBN 85-224-0273-6.Search in Google Scholar

Unesco (2020a). COVID-19 educational disruptions and response. Retrieved from: https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-emergencies/coronavirus-school-closures.Search in Google Scholar

Unesco (2020b). Adverse consequences of school closures. Retrieved from: https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/consequences.Search in Google Scholar

Unesco (2020c). Nacional learning platforms and tools. Retrieved from: https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/nationalresponses#WESTERN%20EUROPE%20&%20NORTH%20AMERICA.Search in Google Scholar

Unesco (2020d). Starting digital divides in distance learning emerge. Retrieved from: https://en.unesco.org/news/startling-digital-divides-distance-learning-emerge.Search in Google Scholar

Unicef (2020). UNICEF and Microsoft lauch global learning platform to help address COVID-19 education crisis. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-and-Microsoft-launch-globallearning-platform-help-address-covid-19-education.Search in Google Scholar

Wang, Sh., Hsu, H., Campbell, T., Coster D., & Longhurst, M. (2014). An investigation of middle school science teachers and students’ use of technology inside and outside of classrooms: considering whether digital natives are more technology savvy than their teachers. Education Tech Research Dev, 62, 637-662. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-014-9355-4Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2021-11-11
Accepted: 2022-04-18
Published Online: 2022-07-01

© 2022 Joaquim Escola et al., published by De Gruyter

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Downloaded on 29.3.2024 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/edu-2022-0015/html
Scroll to top button