The Regional Secretary for Education and Culture presented today REDA, an open digital educational resources platform developed by a team of 6 teachers throughout the school year 2015/16.

It is a measure included in the Integrated Plan for the Promotion of School Success - ProSucesso, Azores for Education. In the first phase, it provides 350 educational resources as well as useful links to sites and pages containing educational contents or proposals of relevance.

Avelino Meneses spoke at the presentation of this new educational tool, pointing out that ProSucesso already “shows some encouraging results in just one year after its implementation, which, nevertheless, require the continuity and development of this intervention."

The official stressed that the professional development of teachers is one the main axes of this programme, adding that "there is nothing, absolutely nothing, like a good teacher."

The REDA platform was created in this context, "providing quality educational resources aimed at the improvement and revision of educational practices," said the Secretary for Education.

"From now on, this tool is fully available to teachers and part of it is also available to students," the Regional Secretary said, adding that the platform is "in constant renovation" with contributions provided by teachers.

In this first phase, the REDA platform provides several educational resources directed to Portuguese, Math, Physics and Chemistry teacher and mainly focused on junior high school level.  They are presented in multiple formats (video, text and games) that can be edited; some of which may be used in various educational levels and even in different subjects.

The choice of these subjects is justified, given their importance in the educational path of students and in the decision-making process regarding their successful completion of each level of education, such as the case of Portuguese and Math, and the importance of developing scientific and digital literacy.

Moreover, the platform also provides resources in the areas of citizenship and Information and Communication technologies (ICT) and there is the possibility of extending the range of subjects in the second phase.

In the first phase of the project, students already have several resources at their disposal to help them guiding their study and a more autonomous learning.

This offer is expected to be extended during the second phase of the project.