Within the framework of the Erasmus + KA2 SMARTI project, a training was held during 17-21 January 2022 in Porto city, Portugal titled “ECTS/ Tuning framework”. The training participants included the Armenian and Russian consortium member universities, including ANAU. The training was organized by one of the project coordinators, Catholic University of Portugal and was conducted by Dresden Technical University, Riga Technical University and Liverpool John Moores University. The Head of the ANAU Quality Management Division at the Center of Quality Assessment and Assurance, SMARTI Project ResearcherAraAmiryan and Agri-tech Incubator Program Coordinator, SMARTI Project Coordinator Susanna Hayrapetyanparticipated in the training on behalf of ANAU.
On the first day of the training, Tim Hogg from Catholic University of Portugal presented the university with its infrastructures and faculties as well as educational and international projects,and Eduardo Cardoso shortly introduced the outcomes of the first work package of the project: preparation.
After a short break, the main part of the training session began, which was devoted to presentation writing. Sven Riddell from Dresden Technical University delivered a training on the presentation visibility, content, techniques, as well as he mentioned the mistakes to avoid in making presentations. Sven Riddell also brought up the topic of presentation designincluding its structure, visuals, animations and interactive tools. The participants spent the second part of the training session on completing the assignment of making a presentationon a given subject and presenting it.
The first training session on Tuesday was again conducted by Sven Riddellon the techniques of writinga cover letter and a motivation letter. The differences between the contents and aims of these two letters and common mistakes were mentioned by the speaker and the participants were provided with the links for abetter understanding of the topic.
The professors of the Riga Technical University Marina Platonova and TatjanaSmirnova opened the afternoon part of the session. The material prepared by Marina Platonova referred to the aims, tasks and the learning outcomes of the new subject taught at the Riga Technical University called “Digital Humanities”. She also introduced in detail the principles of the student-centered learning. The session was interactive, Mrs. Platonova answered to all the questions addressed to her and sharedwith the best practices utilized in their university.
Professor TatjanaPlatonova from the same university spoke about ECTS/Tuning framework mentioning the main features, tasks and learning outcomes of the system. She also emphasized the importanceofapplying Bloom’s Taxonomy in the process of writing learning outcomes.
Mrs.Platonova discussed the following topics with the participants on the next day of the training:
- Using ECTS Users’ Guide
- Using ESG
- CEFR in the academic process and quality assurance
The training participants were assigned to make a list of competences, knowledge and skills to be attained within in the study course they deliver.
Afterwards, the trainings were already delivered by the professors of the Liverpool John Moores University. Professor Amanda Mason covered the topic of the curriculum design and the learning outcomes mentioning the importance of using active verbs. She spoke about the task-based language learning. On the same day, Mrs. Mason briefly introduced the LJMU’s framework for quality and standards and the roles of internal/ external moderators.
The last day of the training week was devoted to team works.The participantswere assigned to write learning outcomes for the givenmodule and present one formative and one summative assessment for the same module.
On the 21st of January, the Armenian and Russian trainingparticipants submitted the deliverables of the week and received corresponding remarks from Sven Riddell.
In general, the training week of SMARTI project was very productive. Dr. Amiryan and Ms. Hayrapetyan are going to share the acquired experience with their colleagues.
