Duration: 2025 – 2027
Principal Researcher
Véronique Delplancq
Romain Gillain
Team Members
Ana Costa Lopes
José Pereira
Susana Fidalgo
Yuxiong Zhang
Charlotte Smet
Elisabete da Silva Barbosa
Justine Anne Sophie Céline Martin
Ricardo Casãn- Pitarch
Yibing Yu
Multimodal learning consists in the simultaneous use of various sources - text, image, audio and video - to carry out elaborate tasks. Novel about the said learning methodoly is the fact that it bears on the tools available, which are not necessarily dedicated to learning, may rely on AI, together with the strategies that can be implemented, allowing for the richness of the activities developed with students towards the accomplishment of more active learning, working on new skills and immersed in reality. Simply using digital tools does not ensure successful learning. Each student has their own learning abilities; collaborative and individualised work must consider the involved cognitive load .The Cognitive Load Theory argues that there is a limit to the amount of information an individual can process simultaneously. Cognitive load (CL) is extrinsic, intrinsic and essential. To achieve successful learning, these three types of CL must be balanced. The resources created and used in active learning strategies (e.g. in gamification), as well as work plans, must be organised according to optimal CL management.
The social and emotional dimensions of FL, which are difficult to observe, should also be looked into/researched. Each student, from an emotional and communicative perspective, is a social actor with specific characteristics and expectations. In an increasingly globalised working environment, new skills are needed. This is the case with cultural intelligence, which has been identified as one of the five key competences for the labour market by 2026.
The objectives of the MULALE project are, based on the LEE, JASM and APSASeG projects, to observe the effect of multimodality on the cognitive, social and emotional dimensions of FL and on the well-being of teachers and students; to enhance the multidisciplinary nature of the team of experts, analysing the effects of multidisciplinarity on learning; critically analyse different current digital tools, particularly Chatbot-type generative AI platforms, used for learning purposes, try them out with students -or by students themselves (different courses, with FL curricular units, inside and outside Portugal, at the team members' HEIs) and understand the impact on students; list and explain each competence developed throughout the FL teaching-learning pathway in higher education for the benefit of society and the labour market, namely in terms of cultural intelligence; propose original work plans and activities (e.g. storytelling based on prompts) for the classroom, taking into account the measurement of CL, with a focus on learning equity and the principles of inclusion; systematise the advantages, disadvantages, difficulties and threats of active pedagogy strategies in FL learning using digital tools with AI.
The social and emotional dimensions of FL, which are difficult to observe, should also be looked into/researched. Each student, from an emotional and communicative perspective, is a social actor with specific characteristics and expectations. In an increasingly globalised working environment, new skills are needed. This is the case with cultural intelligence, which has been identified as one of the five key competences for the labour market by 2026.
The objectives of the MULALE project are, based on the LEE, JASM and APSASeG projects, to observe the effect of multimodality on the cognitive, social and emotional dimensions of FL and on the well-being of teachers and students; to enhance the multidisciplinary nature of the team of experts, analysing the effects of multidisciplinarity on learning; critically analyse different current digital tools, particularly Chatbot-type generative AI platforms, used for learning purposes, try them out with students -or by students themselves (different courses, with FL curricular units, inside and outside Portugal, at the team members' HEIs) and understand the impact on students; list and explain each competence developed throughout the FL teaching-learning pathway in higher education for the benefit of society and the labour market, namely in terms of cultural intelligence; propose original work plans and activities (e.g. storytelling based on prompts) for the classroom, taking into account the measurement of CL, with a focus on learning equity and the principles of inclusion; systematise the advantages, disadvantages, difficulties and threats of active pedagogy strategies in FL learning using digital tools with AI.