Monitoring students´ workload: Context and platform setup

The "Bologna model" calls for an European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), where the students\´ workload is a structural pillar of learning organization. The substantive importance of this framework has been materialized in Portugal through the Decreto Lei no 42/2005, de 22 de Fevereiro. This paper presents the context and a minimalist web platform was designed and prototyped in order to facilitate i) the recording and documentation of students\´ learning activities (including workload), ii) its monitoring (by teachers) and iii) sharing (among students). The prototype was used in the context of a standard (face-to-face) University Course, complementing normal classroom activities, and has proved to be an adequate facilitating tool for i) storing tangible evidences of the students\´ work, ii) documented and time-lined recording of students\´ workload, iii) scaffolding of metacognitive reflections and and iv) improved transparency (internal and external) of the teaching / learning process.