"The program is aimed at introducing innovative and technologically equipped modern teaching and learning methods." "PRINTEL" project continues its activities
The "PRINTeL" project of "Erasmus+" funded by the European Commission launched in January, 2018, "Changes in the auditorium: innovative teaching and learning support to improve the student learning experience in Eastern Partnership countries", which is coordinated by Yerevan State University.
We talked with Armen Budaghyan, coordinator of the "PRINTeL" project, and director of the YSU Quality Assurance Center, about the goals of the project and the work carried out within its scope.
- Mr. Budaghyan, when and why was the "PRINTel" project created?
- The PRINTel project entitled "Changes in the Auditorium: "Supporting Innovative Teaching and Learning to Improve the Student Learning Experience in the Eastern Partnership Countries" is a three-year joint project created within the framework of the Erasmus+ program. It launched in January, 2018. The goal of the project is to make significant changes in the educational system, especially in the auditorium. It aims to change the way professors teach and students learn.
- What are the goals of the project?
- The goals of the project are to improve the teaching and learning processes in the partner universities of the project, aligning them with the standards of the European Cooperation Strategic Framework in the field of education and training (ET 2020), promoting innovative teaching and learning, as well as supporting the integration of technology and research and the dissemination of good practices. The project also aims to establish cooperation in the fields of education and training between the EU and partner countries, promoting the virtual mobility of professors and students and expanding the development of resources and means of continuing education. We have 4 main tasks: strengthening teacher training centers, developing teachers' ability to teach using innovative methods, creating a virtual teaching and learning academy (virtual platform), and promoting innovative teaching practices and dissemination of experience.
- Which universities are involved in this project?
- A number of European and Eastern Partnership universities are involved in the "PRINTeL" project: Leuven Catholic, Barcelona and Porto, Linköping, and Graz European Universities of Applied Sciences (FHJ), as well as Yerevan State, National Polytechnic University of Armenia and Vanadzor H. Tumanyan State Universities (Armenia), Ilya State, Georgian Technical and Telavi Yakob Gogebashvili State Universities (Georgia), Belarus State, Brest State Technical and Yanka Kupala State Universities in Grodno (Belarus).
- What steps are being taken to achieve the goals you mentioned?
- According to the work program of the project, a number of training was carried out in European partner universities, which are aimed at the development of the faculty training centers of the above-mentioned partner universities in Armenia, Georgia, and Belarus and, in general, the development of the abilities and skills of the professors to master professional and modern technological means, as well as the reorganization of the activities of the mentioned centers.
- Up to now, what has been done at YSU?
- As of now, 16 YSU professors have been trained in European partner universities and are now transferring their experience and knowledge to partner professors. Our lecturers have been trained at the Universities of Applied Sciences in Barcelona, Porto, Linköping, Sweden, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and Johanner University of Applied Sciences in Graz, Austria, participating in "Cooperative active learning in the auditorium", "Active learning and digital technologies in the teaching process: mobile learning and gamification", "Videos as a teaching tool", "Active learning in the flipped auditorium", "Combined teaching and learning" courses. By the way, the trained lecturers will continue to provide methodological support to YSU lecturers in the near future.
- What results do you expect at the end of the project?
- By the end of the project, we will have more than 200 trained lecturers, 3 auditoria for active learning, and a recording studio for video courses.
