Representatives from five ECIU partner institutions convened in Stavanger from 25.-27. April 2018 to find new opportunities for cooperation within teacher education and humanities. As a result, a new ECIU thematic working group is on the horizon.
The University of Stavanger designed the workshop to do two things. First, to map opportunities and challenges for teacher education cooperation as seen through the ECIU filter. Secondly, to clear a path and build a structure for fruitful cooperation and sharing good practice.
The Vice-Dean for Education at UiS, associate professor Brita Strand Rangnes, in charge of the workshop is very happy with the outcome:
We had two wonderful working days of discussions and social events with our guests from the partner institutions. We saw a definite need to define innovative practices and entrepreneurship from our own perspective. This workshop shows what the outcomes of good discussions can become.
Representatives from ECIU partners were vice-deans for education and internationalization and researchers from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Dublin City University, Tec de Monterrey, Kaunas University of Technology and UiS, as well as research advisers from faculty and institutional level of the UiS.
The workshop included a school visit to one of the UiS partner schools, and made use of the recently inaugurated Didactic Digital Workshop, designed to inspire and motivate teacher educators and students alike to experiment with future learning designs through digital tools.
The University of Stavanger is now following up this initiative with a proposal to organize a thematic working group for teacher education under the ECIU strategy of Innovation in Teaching and Learning. This group will formulate initiatives for joint projects and intensify exchanges for both staff and students.
The network of participants to the workshop will reconvene at DCU’s campus in Dublin later in 2018 to invite all teacher education institutions and take the necessary steps to organize a working group.
We are eager to make better use of the funding opportunities available both within and outside the ECIU. It is imperative that we manage to translate innovation and entrepreneurialism into activities and initiatives that we and our partners can relate to. This includes both teacher educators, the schools and our common stakeholders, Rangnes says.
