Points of U: A meeting point for the Nova SBE community

We are in a university environment, on a campus built with learning at the epicentre. If the main motivation here is learning, how and where do we actually learn?

This is our starting question and the question that drove the "Points of U" project. We want to be at the forefront of innovation in Learning Experience Design, because we know that we learn throughout our lives and that it is well-guided learning processes that lead to significant personal, organisational and social transformations.

We would like this title to recall three dimensions that seem to us fundamental and complementary in this project: the diversity of perspectives(points of view), thus promoting the collaborative spirit; the active and transforming participation (points of you), challenging each one to have a critical look at the spaces and methods of learning; the university context(points of U), starting from the university as a transforming institution, which fosters the previous dimensions making social development possible.

We want to share and learn with all the community that belongs to and visits this campus. To do so, we are collecting practices, questioning their pedagogical intention, mapping spaces, describing their learning potential, listening and challenging students, teachers, collaborators and all those who enjoy Nova's Carcavelos campus, to rethink the future of learning spaces and methodologies.

Inspired by the 4 pillars of education that advocate creative education, described by Jacques Delors in the Report of the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century, "Learning: the treasure within", we based this project on the importance of learning to live together, learning to know, learning to do and learning to be.

According to the authors, the mission of education "consists in allowing everyone, without exception, to bring to fruition their talents and creative potentialities, which implies, on the part of everyone, the ability to assume their own responsibility and to realise their personal project" (p.10). That is why we invite the whole Nova SBE community to participate in this project which has several activities throughout the year. After an Open Talk with Professors Teresa Heitor and Ricardo Zózimo, about these topics, we have launched a Photography competition open to all people who, for various reasons, use and experience this learning space know as the Nova SBE Campus. You can check the project page for more information. Be on the lookout for the next opportunities to express each Point of U.