Coventry 28.-30.1.2014

The third and final workshop in DIP -project took place two weeks ago. The feeling I had after the workshop was enthousiastic and inspired. We had some interesting covnersations and we got to know each other's universities more.

Photo: Our lovely host Christine Broughan in action.

The themes for the first workshop day were student well-being, model for pedagogical development, values and pedagogics, evaluation and feedback as well as the proncipals for activity-led learning.It was interesting to hear and discuss about the term "community of learners" that is been used in Coventry University: this community includes both the students and the staff members. It was also interesting to learn about the pedagogical development that has been and is still done in Coventry University. 

Ian Dunn, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience)

 Tracy Cullis, Director of Student Services

Liisa Marttila, TAMK and Gurnam Singh, Principal Lecturer

Our Finnish delegation had the opportunity to discover the principals behind activity-led learning. We also met with students from Coventry University, who told some experiences about studying in Coventry University and by using activity-led learning. These students were also very active in different kinds of student support roles, as they worked as student advocates and proctors. Activity-led learning has among other things increased the inclusivity and engagement in studies.

We were challenged to do a "spaghetti and marshmellow" competition when we were introduced to activity-led learning. In the picture below you can see the winning team and their result. Congratulations Päivi Karttunen and Katja-Maria Miettunen!

The second workshop day was spent with the personnel from the Centr for Academic Writing (CAW). The support and activities that CAW provide both for Coventry University students and staff sounded really interesting and important.

Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams, Head of CAW, presenting the actions and principals of CAW unit. In the afternoon we had the oppertunity to participate in one of Coventry University's staff development course held by Jude Carrol with the theme: Teaching culturally diverse groups: emphasis on group work. This workshop day truly gave us something to think about in terms of our university's own practices in these fields. We also had time to see the physical learning environments around the university (photos below).

On the last day we discussed about multidiscliplinery study programmes and courses ("Hollie" was introduced to us), curriculum development, teachers' pedagogical development, peer tutoring (for both teachers and students) and evaluation. Some videomaterial from the last  day of the workshop will be published in the blog later.

Photo: Farewell dinner