University of Silesia in Katowice

Authors of the best innovative practices in teaching were recognised within the ‘Transform4Europe Innovative Teaching Award’ organised by the T4EU Alliance. Members of teaching staff members, students or independent experts selected four winners and among them Monika Frania, PhD from the USil Faculty of Social Sciences for her project for Educational Escape Room. It is an interesting method to combine education with fun addressed to adults who are eager to develop their digital and social skills. The four winners received their awards during the first annual ‘Transform4Europe International Conference-Hackathon for Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods’ in Higher Education taking place in Kaunas on 24 October 2022.

More details at www.vdu.lt.

• Educational Escape Room
  Monika Frania, PhD from the University of Silesia in Katowice
  

The Educational Escape Room course is an example of good didactic practice for teaching adults who are eager to develop their digital and social skills. Participants, divided into project teams, deepen their digital skills and social competencies, taking part in an adventure during which they not only solve puzzles but have to create their escape room. For this, one needs knowledge, creativity, and determination. In education, overcoming difficulties is essential, and the escape room is an example of an unusual challenge.

• Transforming Students’ Mindset for a Better Future Critical Thinking and the Digital Gender Divide
  María D. De-Juan-Vigaray, PhD and María Elena González Gascón from the University of Alicante, Spain

The purpose of this good practice is to discover whether Active Learning methodology, using different technologies, contributes to improving the Critical Thinking of the student body, applying it to the Digital Gender Divide. The importance of the practice becomes relevant in the context of European higher transformation to students of the Business Administration programme in their final semester of studies, who are about to become professionals entering the labour market.

• Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy
  Tobias Hüppe and Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy from Saarland University, Germany

‘Masterclass: Intensive Care Medicine’ is offered synchronously as an interactive live event. The 15 seminars (120 min each) are given by fifteen internationally experienced intensivists and include the topics of Shock and Resuscitation – Cardiac Disease – Respiratory Disease – Renal Disease – Infectious Disease – Surgical – Medical Ethics in ICU. The course includes clinical case scenarios, ventilator curves and biochemistry, blended learning with a video-based visit to the intensive care unit, principles and content of evidence-based critical care medicine and an online final exam. Live demonstrations of intensive care interventions (intubation, bronchoscopy, thoracic drainage installation, cannulation of an ECMO, etc. on cadaver preparations) are intended to convey the practical elements of intensive care medicine.

• Visible Interactive Speaker for International Best Learning Experience
  Prof. Marcel Lauterbach from Saarland University, Germany

Programming skills for data analysis are taught in an international online class to interdisciplinary students from six universities. The class uses a virtual webcam to make the lecturer visible in the PowerPoint slides, which creates a personal link with the students. Using a ‘virtual webcam’ that overlays PowerPoint and the webcam, the presenter becomes visible IN the slides, not in a separate small window. Exercises with personal tutoring in breakout sessions give immediate feedback to the students, and in-class discussions with them contribute to community building and inclusion.