Chrysi Rapanta and Fabrizio Macagno, integrated members of IFILNOVA, and Inês Mateus de Almeida, of ICNOVA, were distinguished with an honorable mention in the first edition of the NOVA Pedagogical Innovation Prize, for the project Argumentation and education: Teaching “Advertising”.

The NOVA Pedagogical Innovation Prize, inspired by the mission of NOVA University Lisbon to promote quality teaching in all study cycles, with academics who can provide a transformational and intellectually challenging teaching experience to their students, aims to distinguish and encourage good pedagogical practices and strengthen the institutional commitment to recognise and reward the talent to train and teach. The Prize, addressed to professors at NOVA University Lisbon, consists of the attribution of a pedagogical innovation scholarship in the monetary value of 4.500 euros and up to a maximum of five honourable distinctions in the value of 1.500 euros each.

Argumentation and education: Teaching “Advertising”

The Advertising course – taught in the second semester of the academic year 2020/2021, within the BA in Communication Sciences (Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas) – integrated different academic fields, namely cognitive linguistics, behavioral economics, visual communication, semiotics, rhetoric, and argumentation. The purpose was to provide students with an overall perspective on the strategies of advertising at different levels: communicative (linguistic and visual), cognitive, and logical-strategic.

The project intends to develop an innovative teaching methodology aimed at combining not only different academic fields but also the necessary academic training with its potential applications – namely students’ development of analytical skills and the professional practice. The Advertising course was taught by engaging in a threefold dialogue: 1) students-teacher, 2) student-student (small group) and 3) students-professionals-teacher. 1) was developed by combining wholeclass dialogues (presentation of the theoretical contents and whole-class discussions on their uses to analyze practical cases) with flipped classroom contexts (mobile learning). 2) was pursued by dividing the classes (via zoom) in small groups with the goal of analyzing a case or solving a problem. 3) was designed by inviting a professional (advertising strategist) who tutored the students’ groups in developing a real advertising for specific products, which was evaluated by the managers of the companies involved.