"COME to us..." - COME UW workshop

The workshop "COME to us - new technologies in didactics" was held on 21th of April 2016  in the Centre of New Technologies UW (CeNT UW) in Ochota Campus. It was organized and run by the Centre for Open and Multimedia Education, the University of Warsaw.

The aim of the meeting was to familiarize the participants with basic issues and trends in e-learning offered by COME UW on the university educational platform. The meeting was attended by representatives of different faculties of the University of Warsaw and other Warsaw universities as well as secondary and high school teachers, which made it possible to share a wide range of experiences in online teaching and learning. Four themes were touched upon during the workshop.

Dorota Sidor, COME UW Director's Plenipotentiary for development , outlined the profile of a "contemporary" participant of both face-to-face (stationary) and on-line classes.  Students, nowadays known as Generation Z or Generation App, though experts in the use of new technologies, still have difficulty in engaging in the learning process. Thus, the teachers of every educational level have to meet the challenge (using all available methods and tools) of motivating them to actively acquire knowledge and develop their skills.

Monika Galbarczyk, COME UW methodologist, guided the workshop participants through different mountain trails and paths that lead to the top. She explained the role of the indispensable equipment and the guide for the participants of the trip. This metaphor was used in order to understand how important it is to choose the appropriate methods and materials to engage participants and to achieve the desired educational goal in an online course.

Anna Żukowska and Justyna Dłutowska, COME UW Moodle platform e-teacher trainers, who also deal with technical aspects of the platform on daily basis, presented the potential of this e-learning tool, thanks to which the e-teachers can prepare interesting and motivating e-courses, choosing the most appropriate activities to fully achieve the intended learning outcome.

Teaching via the Internet can be implemented in different ways as it is a great source of knowledge, materials and inspiration for the academic teachers. Magdalena Eljaszuk from COME UW Research and Development Unit, who examines, measures and analyzes new technologies, presented the latest and richest public resources and digital platforms that can be used free of charge as sources of teaching materials. She also addressed the issues of copyright and property.

The meeting ended up with an involving discussion on the participants’ experience in using new technologies in teaching.

Thank you for coming to the workshop and interesting information exchange!

We are looking forward to further contact and cooperation with you.

The meeting was part of the celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the University of Warsaw.

COME UW Team