Didactic Fridays - summary of the training cycle for academic teachers | Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Gdańsk University of Technology

– I would like to congratulate all training participants who took the first step towards making the didactics better and more interesting. You are the foundation of this university. In order to obtain a sufficient number of good doctoral students, the university needs good masters, and for the masters to be good, we need the foundations provided by teachers, i.e. the best possible quality classes and people who want to conduct them – emphasized prof. Krzysztof Wilde, rector of Gdańsk University of Technology, opening the official part of the meeting. – A number of so called packages are also needed to make the classes even better, of which we are implementing the first one, i.e. didactic strengthening of laboratories – added the rector.

In the final meeting of the "Didactic Fridays" series, nearly 30 participants (6 teams) took part in a field game combined with a historical quiz "Gdańsk Tech in numbers" and in team methodological competitions. The winning team of the final was selected, consisting of: PhD, DSc, Eng. Katarzyna Weinerowska-Bords, prof. at Gdańsk Tech (FC&EE), PhD Barbara Wikieł, prof. at Gdańsk Tech (MT&DLC), PhD, Eng. Izabela Sinkiewicz, prof. at Gdańsk Tech (FCh), PhD, Eng., Arch. Małgorzata Kostrzewska (FA), MSc. Krzysztof Emilianowicz (FME&ST). The achievements of all teams were presented during the poster session. There was also a world premiere of an educational film for students, "SIENA. A treasure of the Middle Ages”, realized by the CME team in cooperation with PhD, Eng. Arch. Małgorzata Kostrzewska from the Faculty of Architecture. The production was created as part of the POWER 3.5 project as one of the examples of digital resources created for the needs of a new generation textbook. In addition, the first special prize was awarded: "Friend of CME ", which was awarded to PhD Barbara Wikieł, prof. at Gdańsk Tech, director of the Center for Mathematics Teaching and Distance Learning at Gdańsk Tech.

– We are meeting here among the leaders of changes in education. If we really want to introduce a change in education, we first need willingness – said PhD Joanna Mytnik, prof. at Gdańsk Tech, director of the Gdańsk Tech Center of Modern Education, addressing academic teachers and announcing the opening of a new didactic innovation competition. – Every year it will be possible to apply for funds to introduce innovations to your subjects. It will be possible to introduce changes to the academic subjects financed under the competition since October. Thanks to this, didactics will better cater for the needs of students - added Ms. Mytnik.

About training

A total of 275 academic teachers from Gdańsk University of Technology participated in the series of training courses "Didactic Fridays", which was carried out in the academic year 2020/2021 (for eight months). During 58 hours of methodological training, 32 hours of workshops and 12 hours of training in the use of the e-learning platform, a total of 34 topics were carried out, including: teamwork, neurobiology of education (learning), interactive lecture, gamification, storytelling, puzzle rooms, pronunciation workshop, working with a multicultural group or the lecturer's well-being. Most of the training participants came from the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, then from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Ship Technology and the Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics.