Transforming Higher Education: Circle U. in Action
Do you have a subject and would like to collaborate with other teachers to make it more interdisciplinary? Would you like to turn your subject into an intensive and shorter one? Would you like to reach out to a broader, international audience and gather perspectives from students from within and outside of UiO?
During the session Transforming Higher Education: Circle U. in Action you will delve into two dynamic pedagogical approaches, namely Blended Intensive Programs or BiPs, and Hybrid Teaching. These approaches are by nature highly interdisciplinary and foster inclusive environments. Short mobility or hybrid teaching also make studies more accessible for students due their flexibility. Furthermore, collaborations between universities strengthen our networks: these programs attract people – students, academics and staff, – creating a sense of trust and belonging across nations.
BiP: A student perspective
During this part of the session, you will be able to understand more about the benefits of BiP’s by following a short presentation from the Professor and Academic Director of the Democracy Hub at Circle U., Dan Banik, and the Political Science Student, Marthe Landmark.
Marthe, who attended the Summer School “The Crossroads of Democracy and Development: Challenges and Innovations” at Univerzitet u Beogradu in Serbia, will share with us her experience.
It was a hands-on experience: it helped to connect theory to practice. For example, it was very interesting to learn about democratic development and backsliding and at the same time, you could learn more about the current student protest in Serbia, says Marthe.
Hybrid Teaching: blending in person and online teaching
When we talk about hybrid teaching, we mean parallel synchronous digital and in person attendance. At Circle U., we approach this concept with the focus of equal engagement and participation between online and on-site students.
During this part of the session, you will also have the opportunity to understand more about hybrid teaching and what does hybrid learning entail.
Together with other five universities and teaching centres from Circle U., LINK has collaborated in a Seed Founding project called “Collaborative Hybrid Circle U. : for inclusion, flexibility and internationalization”.
Students Sarah Ruth Schmid from the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Paola Soto Batista from the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, have been involved in the development of guidelines of hybrid teaching and learning. They also attended a training workshop where teachers shared their hybrid teaching practices. Moreover they visited University of Humboldt in Berlin and King’s College London with the purpose of understanding hybrid technology, experiencing first-hand hybrid sett ups and teacher’s experiences within hybrid teaching. During this part of the session, Sarah and Paola will share examples and experiences of hybrid teaching and learning practices.
Many educators may think that hybrid teaching seems very scary, but once you get to actually look into this concept and talk with other educators, you learn all these little things, tips and strategies. What seemes so scary in the beginning, becomes just another pedagogical way of teaching, reflects Sarah.
You as an Educator – Teaching with Confidence
Siri J?nnum and Helene Christiansen?teach the module Dirigentrollen i undervisningen, which is inspired by Hanna Riege and international Embodiment Coaching education. They aim to put emphasis on embodiment and understanding that we communicate as much with our body as we are with our verbal language.
In this session, Siri and Helene put the focus on you as a teacher without you losing your personal identity. Teaching with confidence will contribute to a better atmosphere in the classroom and, essentially, build connection with your students while teaching your content.
When you're thinking about everything that you should do, then you're not free in your teaching. It’s important to try to break free from the rules and try to find what you feel in the moment; that’s how you will build the connection between you, your content and the classroom, says Helene.
During this session you will have the opportunity to experience first-hand exercises that you can use to become more aware of your body; activities and tools that will help you regulate in uncomfortable situations and become confident with yourself, both physically and mentally. After this session, you can contact both Siri and Helene; they offer the possibility for individual or small group coaching about embodiment.
Learn to Learn: Building Skills, Aligning Expectations, and Supporting STEM Student Success
Research at the Geoscience department shows that a high number of bachelor students may drop out their studies within their first year due to struggles dealing with the study workload. The project Learn to Learn was born to palliate this, but also to guide and support students’ individual needs. Professor Anders Mattias Lundmark from the Department of Geosciences has co-led the project together with student Sarah Ruth Schmid and other two student teaching assistants. According to Sarah?
We have to acknowledge that there is a big shift in the expectations that we have for students coming from high school and enrolling at university.
With this in mind, the department has developed a series of workshops for students, encouraging them to attend additional and voluntary afternoon training sessions where students learn secondary academic skills. This can support students to build better connections with other students and their teachers outside the main lessons by participating in a more relaxed setting.?
Learn to Learn can also increase student confidence and motivation because students understand their own learning more deeply and they also start to care about their own success in learning through these workshops, Sarah says.
In this session, you will hear in more detail about Geoscience’s findings and you will learn about Learn to Learn-workshop experiences. As a participant, you will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with other teachers, brainstorm and network with other educators to possibly develop your own projects or consider what measures are most useful to support students in your department. If students attend this session, they can learn about the resources that are available for them. Students’ perspectives about what is missing and what could be improved are highly valued in this session and, therefore, their attendance is encouraged.