Workshops on Teaching Innovation

Arqus Teaching Innovation

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The Arqus Alliance invites teachers to participate in a series of online workshops aimed at supporting this community in promoting innovative teaching approaches for more effective and engaged student learning in multiple contexts, in and outside the classroom. The first round of workshops took place online from 18^th September to 30^th November 2023. The second edition is being held in February 2024.

The workshops are organised in the framework of the Arqus Teaching Innovation Initiative and will be delivered by experienced teachers in specific strategies, methodologies and technologies for active learning and psychological approaches to improvement of motivation and engagement.

Each Arqus university organises 1 or 2 workshop/s so that the participants can benefit from the diversity of contributions and the exchange of experiences and knowledge between members.

Each online workshop lasts 2 to 3 hours, with a high component of discussion and application of concepts so that participants can implement the specific methodology or technology and be aware of the benefits and potential pitfalls.

Participants who successfully change their teaching based on what they learn in a given workshop will be invited to deliver a subsequent edition to help form a community of active learning practitioners among the Arqus Alliance.

Third edition

Workshop “Podcasts generated by the students: an experience with Evert Binnard”

Traniners: Evert Binnard (KU LEUVEN) and Marco Toffanin (University of Padua)
18 September 2024, 10:00-11:00 CEST
Evert Binnard works as a staff member in educational policy at KU Leuven. As a member of Limel, the Leuven Institut for Media and Learning, and the KU Leuven Learning Lab, he advises and supports educators or students who want to use multimedia. As a lecturer in a university college (UCLL), he is also experienced in service learning and active learning methods.
Aim: Student-generated content – an experience of design and production of podcast with students.

Workshop “Introduction to the Teaching Portfolio”

Traniner: Lisa Scheer, University of Graz
27 September 2024, 09:00-12:00 CEST
The teaching portfolio is a document in which instructors present themselves, their teaching methods and practices, general reflections on teaching and learning as well as future goals. It can thus be a valuable tool for reflective teaching practices which are necessary for the professionalisation of instructors. In addition, teaching portfolios can be useful in academic application processes.
This workshop provides an introduction to forms and functions of the teaching portfolio and its key components. Writing and reflection exercises complement the input. Upon completion of the workshop, participants will be able to:
describe what a teaching portfolio can look like and which content and formal aspects have to be considered
evaluate how the creation of a teaching portfolio can support in developing their teaching skills
work independently on their teaching portfolio

Workshop “Skill Transformation in AI-Enhanced Education”

Traniners: Sandra Hummel from the University of Graz and Mana-Teresa Donner from Dresden University of Technology
12 November 2024, 10:00-12:00 CET
This Arqus online workshop, organised by the University of Graz, will explore how intelligent technologies can enrich teaching practices and support the development of new competencies, while also addressing concerns that these innovations may reduce the relevance of certain academic skills. Participants will engage in discussions, review case studies, and receive practical guidance on how to integrate AI in ways that enhance both teaching and learning. The aim is to shed light on the influence of AI and provide approaches for its application in educational settings.
Expected learning outcomes: By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to
Develop strategies for incorporating AI into educational practice to enrich the teaching and learning experience;
Assess their role in supporting skills development.
Max. number of participants: 20
The link to the meeting will be provided by the facilitators and will only be sent to registered participants.

Workshop “Students as engaged readers of study materials in interactive social reading”

Trainer: Rui Oliveira is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology of UMinho where he teaches Molecular Biology and Pharmacology. His interests in research are molecular and cell biology of yeasts and bioactivities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antigenotoxic and neuroprotective of plant- and algae-derived compounds and extracts. He is a member of the teaching and learning centre IDEA-UMinho Centre where he delivers workshops on digital technologies and co-organises initiatives on active learning and recognition of teaching innovation. In 2022 he was given the Recognition for Pedagogic Innovation Award by the School of Sciences of UMinho.
15 November, 10:00 – 12:00 CET
One of the great challenges facing teaching activity in higher education is to promote the reading of the recommended handbook, scientific articles, or any other materials that constitute the source of knowledge for the curricular units. It is common for students to resort exclusively to their own or colleagues’ notes, often with inaccuracies, and to the slides of the professor’s presentations. The students’ knowledge thus becomes superficial due to the lack of reading activity, which requires a rhythm of its own that allows the interiorization of concepts and reflection on the subjects. The Perusall platform allows students to read texts actively and collaboratively before the classes, releasing time for meaningful activities in contact hours in classes. In this workshop, participants will experience using the platform as if they were students: register in the (fictitious) curricular unit and read a short study text with the possibility of commenting, asking questions and answering questions from other participants. The analytical data of the activity, recorded by the platform, will be displayed and the potentialities for student engagement, specific applications and precautions to be taken with this technology will be discussed. By the end of the session, participants will be able to create an account and implement assignments in Perusall, explore basic functions of the platform like obtaining data of the student’s activity and critically discuss the potential for learning of this social reading tool.

Workshop “Academic Debate: A Pathway to Argumentation and Research Culture“.

Trainers: Associate Professor Dr. Liudmila Arcimavičienė, Vilnius University, Faculty of Philology, Department of Foreign Language Teaching and Research
26 November, 14:00 – 16:00 CET
This workshop, organised by Vilnius University, will showcase how academic debate can be used as an effective teaching activity to enhance students’ presentation skills, critical thinking, research abilities, argumentation, leadership, and teamwork.
Participants will learn how to develop students’ academic competencies for constructing research-based arguments. In addition, the seminar will illustrate how students can strengthen subject-specific skills, such as analysing discipline-related research articles and applying real-life examples.

Workshop “An introduction to Problem-Based Learning (PBL)”

Traniners: Rui M. Lima from the School of Engineering at the University of Minho, and Diana Mesquita from the Faculty of Education and Psychology at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
27 November 2024, 10:00-12:00 CEST
This Arqus online workshop, organised by the University of Minho, is part of the activities of the PBL4COLLABTT project (PBL Framework for digital collaborative teacher training). In this session, participants will have the opportunity to explore Project-Based Learning (PBL) from conceptual clarification to practical implementation.
Expected learning outcomes: During the workshop, participants will be challenged to analyse and discuss how PBL can be applied in the context of their teaching practice.
Registration deadline: 25 November 2024
The link to the meeting will be provided by the facilitators and will only be sent to registered participants. Please note that it is not possible to record the session.

2nd edition

Workshop “Teaching (for) Future Skills in Higher Education”

- Trainer: Beatrice Kogler (University of Graz).

Workshop “How to teach to read better“

- Trainer: Dovilė Jakniūnaitė (Vilnius University).

- 8^th February 2024, 15:00 – 17:00 CET

- One of the main challenges in teaching new (and more experienced) university students is to overcome their anxiety and reluctance to read academic texts perceived as “difficult”, “complicated”, “long”, or “boring” and to avoid the dreaded silence during seminars. In addition, reading for students is becoming increasingly demanding due to their diminishing attention span and external distractions. Students must become aware of these issues and the various strategies and techniques available to address them. This workshop is designed to provide a space for educators to explore and identify possible solutions to improve students’ reading and comprehension skills. During the session, the main obstacles students face with academic reading and strategies to help them overcome these challenges will be discussed. These strategies include teaching students more effective reading methods and improving teaching techniques. The focus will be on the importance of understanding different levels of reading, addressing the pitfalls of excessive highlighting, applying smart annotation strategies and formulating assignments to help students overcome their academic reading challenges.

- Maximum of 30 participants.

Workshop “Analytical dialogue – the role of questioning”:

- Trainer: Donatas Murauskas (Vilnius University).

- 23^rd February 2024, 13:00 – 14:30 CET.

- The workshop will focus on a distinctive method where teachers lead students through a sequential and building series of questions and answers. Although this teaching approach was developed in US law schools, it has a universal appeal to enhance spontaneous analytical skills, vital in practical scenarios in a variety of educational fields. The workshop will illuminate how this teacher-led, student-centred dialogue not only deepens and broadens knowledge but also sharpens decision-making abilities. The workshop will be led by Assoc. Prof. Donatas Murauskas (Vilnius University, Law Faculty), who applies analytical dialogue in practice, including the joint course taught to Lithuanian and US students together with Prof. Charles Szypszak (University of North Carolina, School of Government), who is one of analytical dialogue method enthusiasts in the US.

- Maximum of 30 participants.

1st edition

Workshop “Peer Feedback”:

Trainer: Grion Valentina (University of Padua).

18^th September, 10:00 – 12:00 CEST.

The aim of the workshop is to stimulate awareness in the participants of the didactic potential of peer feedback and peer assessment processes. A further and parallel goal is to make teachers aware of the role of students as key agents and not just passive users or mere performers within the assessment processes.

Maximum of 40 attendees.

Workshop “Generative AI as a way to innovate your Teaching and Learning approaches”:

Trainers: Sílvia Araújo and Rui Lima (University of Minho).

19^th September 2023, 10:00 – 12:00 CEST.

This online workshop aims to support teachers to use Generative AI. A perspective from (non-expert) teachers to teachers. During the two-hour session, participants will have the opportunity to interact with each other, discussing the way teachers may use generative AI to increase their productivity and innovate their teaching and learning approaches. The trainers will propose a simplified model to apply AI in their practice, based on the following four dimensions: Summarizing, Extracting, Transforming, and Expanding.

Workshop “Explore first: Drawn on experience to gain a deeper understanding”

Trainer: José Lencastre (University of Minho).

22^nd September 2023, 15:00 – 17:00 CEST.

“Explore First” is a pedagogical model that strives to make the student the leading actor in their learning in scenarios where digital action is merged with face-to-face activity. The purpose is for students, working in small groups, first explore a topic using their prior knowledge to consider possible solutions. By struggling, the students gain a deeper understanding of the structure of the problem and its elements. Then, students explain the best answer.

Workshop “Didactic measures to increase academic integrity”

Trainer: Elisabeth Weber (University of Graz).

30^th November (hour need to be confirmed).

Online workshop series on Teaching Innovation for Arqus teachers

Arqus Teaching Innovation

Third edition

2nd edition

1st edition

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