KA2 Project Supporting Academics
Mitigating COVID Together: Enhancing Capacities of Academics and Students in Virtual Learning and Teaching Spaces
The aim of the project is to use the knowledge and expertise of the partners to develop the capacities of academics and students in high quality, engaging pedagogical approaches to virtual learning spaces in domestic and internationally diverse curricular settings.
The project includes the design, piloting and evaluation of pedagogical practices in digital learning and teaching as well as a novel professional development model in the format of a hybrid Professional Learning Community. The project also includes the design of a sophisticated interactive virtual platform as a mitigation response to the current COVID situation which limits all in-person training and mobilities. This platform will extend knowledge exchange into the virtual space with a variety of formats.
Coordination:
- Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic
Partners:
- Stichting Hoger Beroepsonderwjis
- Haaglanden (THUAS), the Netherlands
- Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK), Finland
- Univerzita Hradec Králové (UHK), Czech Republic
Going Virtual: Online Community for Educators
Our project team is generating a new online community for educators through a virtual platform created with the support of Erasmus+ Project 2020-1-CZ01-KA226-HE-094288, ‘Mitigating COVID Together: Enhancing Capacities of Academics and Students in Virtual Learning and Teaching Spaces’. On this platform educators can find resources, information, activities and events to enhance their online teaching. The platform contains podcasts and webinars and also provides access to the interactive Professional Learning Community where you can share and reflect about international education, inclusion, pedagogy, didactics, online learning and anything else the community finds relevant in informal and interactive ways. You can learn from other members' experiences, get to share best practices, and get feedback and ideas from your peers.
Conference: Educating the Whole Being: Inclusive, International and Intercultural Perspectives
March 24, 2022, 09:00 - 18:00
Hybrid: In-person and Online
Hosted by Faculty of Education of University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
This daylong conference with international and Czech speakers and presenters will address current issues faced by academics, university administrators and leaders, and all those who are committed to creating a more equitable and inclusive academic environment.
Topics of the conference will include:
- Comenius Ideas and Current Society, Character Formation as a Part of Holistic Education
- Inclusive University Environment: Opportunities and Challenges
- Online/Offline Teaching and Learning
- International and Intercultural Aspects of Education and Professional Training
- Collaborative Teaching and Learning: Opportunities - Challenges
- Education and Professional Training during COVID-19: University Students ́ Perspectives and Experience
Registration is available at: https://forms.office.com/r/54ReZaeunQ
Symposium: Online Learning and Virtual Exchange - The Future is Now
In November 2021 the project team held a half-day international online symposium hosted by the Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) which shared best practices and explored issues around online teaching and virtual exchanges.
Questions explored include: What further lessons have been learned during COVID times? How can we improve our online delivery to make it both engaging and rigorous for students? What new skill sets do course providers need to employ? How do we keep up with the seemingly never ending pace of technological change?
Recording of the Symposium
Virtual Summer Lab for Students
Learning Lab Summer 2021
Learning Lab Summer organized by the Tampere University of Applied Sciences was a great opportunity for virtual exchange, networking and developing soft skills that are relevant in today’s professional work space. The 2021 summer camp’s theme was “sustainability, well-being and community” which spanned for 6 weeks, over 10 teams with different intensive projects and constant guidance by assigned group of coaches.
A Masters Degree student of Global Development Policy at the Palacký University Olomouc was a member of team 1 who implemented learning lab project of “Social Climate in Distance Learning” .
My Tampere Summer Lab Journey by Eniololade Giwa
Development practice involves complex processes where a mix of experiences, values and ethics all interweave. I am super excited to have joined the team of experts and other students from different academic and personal backgrounds who were as enthusiastic and optimistic as I was.
The Learning lab undoubtedly offered a great platform to network, learn and practice the art of team work, take up real projects, have fun and find a spark in a team for some future collaboration on how people can have a more sustainable lifestyle.
With the “DO-TO-LEARN” approach in interdisciplinary teams and learning through development projects that are made for real customer’s actual needs, I saw myself grow and gained confidence. I consider this as a process which magnified my intellectual capabilities resulting from the numerous brainstorming and spontaneous activities. My studies will be positively affected by the dynamic learning culture, expansion of my learning time, communication skills, critical thinking, self confidence, and dedication that I definitely earned and will utilize going forward.
In the Course of the Learning Lab Summer, we had weekly workshop session, client meeting and daily check-in session where all teams and coaches discussed general topics, welfare and interact on a more personal level. Some of the features that made our team work a success was drafting weekly to do plans, vetting at the end of the week how well we accomplish the tasks we set, an assessment of what we like and what we wished was done better.
My favourite workshop was the “information search for Research and Team Learning by “Timo Nevalainen”. Social activities such as City walk, Summer games, Trivia and Singing gameshow helped us ease off and create less formal interactions.
My time in the Summer Learning Lab has created a remarkable footprint in my professional journey; I hope that my active participation and contribution inspired others and made a positive impact on the outcome of the team projects. Among other, we created an animation VIDEO with suggestions of WHAT THE instructors CAN DO and WHAT NOT TO DO IN ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.