Circle U. Flagship Initiatives in Education

Mapping innovative initiatives in education in our alliance.

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UNIVERSITIES

CATEGORIES

Internationalization of education

Inter and trans-disciplinarity

Involvement of students

Integration of external stakeholders

Course "Advance Innovation"

This course confronts students to real company problems in order to encourage them to think about disruptive innovative solutions.

Case competition "Stay Relevant"

A voluntary competition that brings the students to use their knowledge, skills and competences to find solutions to a problem faced by a local company.

Course "Advanced Innovation"

Involvement of students

Stakeholders

Description

The course in “Advance innovation” seeks to bring Masters's students to imagine disruptive solutions to real problems faced by real companies. In order to do so, the course has two main components: a theoretical and a practical one.

In the theoretical part of the class, students are taught radical and system-oriented models of innovation in order to introduce them to the basics of disruptive start-up activity (in organizations, as a technology transfer activity, as an entrepreneur). Students also learn the different ways of creating concepts and modeling realization plans (including IPR, PoC, and PoV). In the practical part of the class, students need to work in groups to solve concrete company problems and propose radical and disruptive innovation solutions. The course has run for 4 years and has involved more than 50 companies that provide more than 70 cases each year (some of the companies are Bosch, Otto Bruns Fond, Grundfos Fonden).

The course integrates students from different disciplines and encourages the participation of foreign students: the groups need to involve students from at least three different disciplines and need to have at least one non-Danish member (25% of students are from other countries than Denmark). The course encourages the inputs from students, so despite the un-limited access to mentoring from the lecturers and the external experts, the evaluation of the course is based on three activities: a project report addressing the proposed case, an individual reflection report regarding the elements learned, and an individual oral exam that evaluates the acquisition of the different theories.

#Advanced technical innovation

#Theory and practice

#Real cases

Resources

• Professor Henning Sejer Jakobsen website
  

Contacts

• Henning Sejer Jakobsen, Assistant professor in Technical Science (main lecturer): sejer@au.dk
• Serena Leka, Ph.D. candidate (co-lecturer): sela@au.dk

stay relevant

Case competition

Stakeholders

Description

“Stay Relevant” is a voluntary competition in which communication students use their academic expertise to find solutions to a strategic communicative problem faced by a local company. The competition takes place during two intensive days at the beginning of the semester and encourages the reinforcement of knowledge, the development of skills, and the learning of new methods (such as strategic design thinking) through first-hand experiences.

The case competition was originated in 2017 and its original objective was to bring students closer to companies. On the one hand, by participating in the competition students get a better knowledge of business life and try to apply theory on real problems faced by real companies. On the other hand, local companies can propose their problems as cases so they get to know how the students work and build potential working relations.

The knowledge and skills encouraged by the competition are both related to strategic communication and oral capabilities. At the end of the case competition, the students pitch their solution to a panel of judges and some prizes are awarded. This encourages students involvement and has shown a positive impact as the number of students raises every year.

#Case Competition

#Strategic communication

#Collaboration with local companies

Resources

Stay Relevant (In Danish)

Stay Relevant / Case competition 2020 Bedste Pitch

Stay Relevant Website

• Version 2021
• Version 2019
• Version 2018 (In Danish)
  
• Version 2017 (In Danish)
• “Stay Relevant “ Case competition presentation within the Strategic Partnership Innovative Education 4 transferable Skills InnovEd4TS (InnovEd4TS)

Contacts

• Katrine Solvang Larsen, Chief Consultant: katrinesolvang@au.dk

English Language Module (ELM) of the Teacher Education Faculty

The English Language Module (ELM) aims to mainstream the learning and teaching of English in all the core subjects of university education.

TRAIN programme

The Training and Research for Academic Newcomers (TRAIN) aims to develop soft skills and professional capacities for young academics.

Centre for Career Development and Student Counselling

The Centre for Career Development aims to enhance student’s employability through specific courses, internships and soft-skills workshops.

The EQUI ED project is designed to strengthen equal access to higher education by widening admission and university completion of students from underrepresented groups.

EQUI ED project

University of Belgrade

English Language Module (ELM) of the Teacher Education Faculty

Involvement of students

Internationalization

University of Belgrade

Stakeholders

Description

The English Language Module (ELM) aims to mainstream the learning and teaching of English in all the core subjects of the Teacher Education Faculty at the University of Belgrade. Through this module, the students preparing to become preschool and early primary school teachers can also become English language teachers for young learners (the module gives 60 extra ECTS). Based on a special entrance exam, between 10 and 30 students integrate the module each year, where their English lessons are enriched with the contents of other core academic courses.

The module consists of 3 obligatory and 12 elective courses, taught across 5 years of academic study. The obligatory courses focus on the English language for general and specific pedagogical purposes. The elective courses mix the English lessons with contents from other core subjects. These courses start with some sessions with an English teacher introducing students to the topics and key vocabulary in English pertaining to the other subjects. Then, the course diversifies into a specific subject course where other teachers (usually two) guide the students through from their respective contents in English, whereas their regular core courses are normally delivered in Serbian.

The module is based on research results aiming to improve language skills in English in young learners. By forming the future teachers in an interdisciplinary way, English learning is mainstreamed in both, university education and preschool/primary school education. Moreover, co-teaching encourages knowledge transfer and exchange between teachers and between teachers and students. Integrating interdisciplinary knowledge and skill development across the different curricula allows the module to make the learning of English a positive, challenging, comprehensive, and worthwhile experience with lifelong benefits.

# Interdisplinary and Integrated Curricula

#English Mainstreaming

#Research-based Curricula

#Learning for Life

Resources

• Teaching innovations (In Serbian and Introduction in English)
• Integrating Music and Language Content and Skills in the Academic Course English Language for Children through Song and Movement
• English through songs and movement 1 year
• Sts' Present. and Workshop

Contacts

• Nataša Janković, research fellow and teaching associate (Headteacher): natasa.jankovic@uf.bg.ac.rs
• Nevena Buđevac, (Co-teacher on a third-year course): nevena.budjevac@uf.bg.ac.rs

TRAIN project

University of Belgrade

Description

The Training and Research for Academic Newcomers (TRAIN) programme aims to develop soft skills for young academics in a transdisciplinary way. By doing so, the goal was to increase the capacities and professional development of Ph.D. students, post-doctoral researchers, teaching assistants, and junior professors.

The TRAIN programme consists of 7 modules allowing new academics to build the knowledge, skills, motivation, and confidence to enhance their own practice in ways that will improve student learning, their own research, and their contribution to society and industry. The programme also aims to improve collaboration among new academics, expanding their networks and enhancing their capacity for educational leadership.

The 7 modules of the programme are:

• Research Methodology, Scientific Writing, and Result Presentation, in both Humanities and Social Sciences, and Technical, Natural, and Life Sciences.
• Higher Education Didactics.
• Preparing Funding Applications & Project Management.
• Communication & Presentation Skills.
• Entrepreneurial Skills.
• Networking & Teamwork.
• Designing Higher Education Curricula.

The TRAIN project was initiated by the University of Belgrade and the King Baudouin Foundation from Belgium, who financed the whole program. It has external academic partners, such as Uppsala University, University Sapienza, Ghent University, and the University of Kent. It has concerned around 550 young academics during the first six years.

# Soft Skills and Professional Capacities

#Young Academics Training

Resources

• TRAIN website
• King Baudouin Foundation website

Contacts

• Nikola Savic, TRAIN project coordinator: nikola.savic@rect.bg.ac.rs

University Centre for Career Development and Student Counselling

University of Belgrade

Stakeholders

Description

The Centre for Career Development was created in 2006 at the University of Belgrade in order to enhance students’ employability by providing them additional knowledge and skills, encouraging them to gain relevant work experience during their studies and after graduation, and helping them prepare better for the rapidly changing labour market. To do so, the Centre has launched and carried out various projects and cooperation schemes with companies and institutions, with the aim of connecting the students with their future employers.

Some of these activities are:

The “Career Management Skills” facultative course

The course aims to enhance students’ employability by equipping them with the skills necessary for managing their careers, preparing them for entering the labour market, and assisting them in taking responsibility and an active role in their future career development. It was designed and developed by the staff of the Career Centre and integrates guest speakers from various faculties and external companies. The course is addressed to final year students in both undergraduate and postgraduate programme, mixes e-learning and in-person tools, and has been successfully completed by around 820 students in the period from 2016-2021.

The “BG PRAKSA” Internship program

The BGPRAKSA programme consists of a 3 months internship in public institutions of the City of Belgrade, like community enterprises, cultural institutions, and municipality offices. Each intern in the programme has a dedicated mentor and the City of Belgrade funds the student allowances or stipend during their internship. Since its creation in 2010, approximately 2300 students have participated in the programme (150-200 per year).

The “Kadar da budem kadar” soft-skills training program

The “Kadar da budem kadar” (“To be able to be”) programme is a series of workshops and training to support the advancement of the skills of young graduates with excellent academic marks and motivation to improve their prospects on the labor market. The programme is organized in cooperation with trainers and HR resources experts from partners companies who participate pro bono and deliver the training for free. The training is organized twice a year and since its creation in 2010 has included around 630 students.

#Career Development and Planning

#Internship

#Mentorship

#Soft-skills

Resources

Iskustva učesnika programa BGPRAKSA / 1.epizoda (In Serbian)

• Centre for Career Development presentation (in English)
• “BG PRAKSA” Internship programme description (in Serbian)
• “Development of Career guidance” project website

Contacts

• Centre for Career Development and Student Counselling contact address: centar@razvojkarijere.bg.ac.rs

EQUI ED project

Involvement of students

University of Belgrade

Description

The EQUIED project is aimed at strengthening equal access to higher education by widening admission and university completion of students from underrepresented groups. The project lasted from 2011-2014 and was an EU TEMPUS structural project, funded 95% by the European Commission and including four Serbian universities and a few more partners from the government and NGO sectors (the Ministry of Education, National Statistical Office, Association of Students with Disability, etc.). During these years, the project involved 100 high school graduates from disadvantaged groups and 100 students with disabilities.

The EQUI ED project had multiple impacts on the diversifications and inclusion in higher education:

• It developed new indicators measuring the equality of access to higher education. The development of indicators improved data collection methods, analysis, and dissemination within university populations and public authorities
• The project contributed to the development of policy recommendations for the amendment of higher education regulation. This concerned proposals for the modification of the national law on higher education and anti-discrimination.
• The adoption at the four partner Universities of Student Support Services focuses exclusively on underrepresented groups.
• The network building, especially with the Unit for inclusive education at the Ministry of Education and Science.

The original initiative was completed in 2015 but the Student support services at the Universities of Belgrade and Niš University continue to operate regularly.

#Widening Access to Higher Education

#Disadvantaged Groups

#student Support Services

Resources

• EQUIED website
  

Contacts

• University Centre for Career Development: centar@razvojkarijere.bg.ac.rs
  

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Q-Programme

A university-wide initiative fostering research-based learning by integrating students on research projects.

The Humboldt Law Clinic Grund- und Menschenrechte (HLCMR)

The Law Clinic pursue an innovative teaching concept that combines academic activity with practical experience at an early stage of legal education.

Q-Programme

Internationalization

Stakeholders

Involvement of students

Contacts

• Laura Schilow, Coordinator of the Q-Programme: qbologna@hu-berlin.de
• Wolfgang Deicke, Head of the bologna.lab: wolfgang.deicke@hu-berlin.de

Description

The Q-Programme is an initiative that opens up ongoing research projects at the university to student participation. The Q-programme promotes research-based learning as a format ideally suited to re-establish the link between research and teaching and encourages guided and independent acquisition of skills, competencies, and knowledge. It emphasizes the active engagement of students in the research project, not as free labor for routine auxiliary tasks but inciting them to be active contributors to the research project. This engagement is thus credited with ECTS for Bachelor or Master's students.

The Q-Programme was created in 2012 by the bologna.lab from Humboldt University and focuses on 4 “Q” elements: Question, Query, Quest, and Qualification. On average, the Q-Programme hosts 10 projects each semester, engaging between 50 and 150 students per semester. The projects are brought to the Humboldt Univerity by many extramural research institutes in Berlin (Max-Planck, Leibniz, Fraunhofer, Einstein, etc.) and their interdisciplinary is encouraged. Because many of the applicants are international students or researchers, the share of Q-Programme research projects conducted in English and or other foreign languages has been high. During the Covid-19 crisis, the majority of the projects were successfully converted into online-only research projects.

The programme also contributes to the overall quality of teaching at Humboldt-Universität as the students (Q-Tutors) and research supervisors (Q-Team Leaders) receive intensive didactical training before the start of the project and support in problem-solving during the course of the semester. The bologna. lab’s guide to Research-Based Learning (available only in German) has become a widely used free teaching and learning resource since 2017. The HU-Q programme served as the blueprint for the Berlin University Alliance’s Student Research Opportunities Programme (StuROP) in their joint bid in the final round of the German Excellence Initiative in 2019.

#ResearchBasedLearning

#Research

# Multidisciplinarity

Resources

Q-How-To (In German only)

• Boulogna Lab
• Some results of student research carried out at HU Berlin (in German)
  • Research publications:
  • Deicke W., Gess J. & Rueß C. (2014), Increasing Students' Research Interest through Research-Based, CUR Quarterly, 3, 1.
  • Gess J., Rueß C. & Deicke W. (2016), Forschendes Lernen und forschungsbezogene Lehre - empirisch gestützte Systematisierung des Forschungsbezugs hochschulischer Lehre, ZFHE Jg. 11/Nr.2, 23-44 (in German)
  • Q-Programme presentation within the Strategic Partnership Innovative Education 4 transferable Skills InnovEd4TS (InnovEd4TS)
    

The Humboldt Law Clinic Grund- und Menschenrechte (HLCMR)

Stakeholders

Involvement of students

Contacts

• Humboldt Law Clinic on Fundamental and Human Rights contact: lawclinic@rewi.hu-berlin.de
• Dr. Ulrike Lembke, professor of Public law and gender studies: sekretariat.lembke@rewi.hu-berlin.de
• Students and former participants of the Humboldt Law Clinic on Fundamental and Human Rights have founded a non-profit support association to enable the continuation of the HLCMR. The contact address is: lawclinic@rewi.hu-berlin.de

Description

The Law Clinic at Humboldt University was launched in 2010 as one of the first law clinics in Germany. The Clinic integrates a maximum of 20 students per one-year cycle and pursues an innovative teaching concept that combines academic activity with practical experience at an early stage of legal education. Since its creation, the HU Law Clinic has focused on the protection of Fundamental and Human Rights and during the period 2012-2021, a second focused concerning consumer rights.

By working on concrete cases, law clinics enable students to immerse themselves in the world of law practice. The students involved in the Clinic learn to write for counseling practice (legal opinions, counseling guidelines, policy papers and statements of claim, amicus curiae) but are also trained in diversity issues, rhetoric discourse, and methodology for law practice. This prepares them for their future occupations in providing well-founded answers to fundamental legal questions with high practical relevance.

The focus on practical experience demands that the Clinic works in close cooperation with civil society organizations, law firms, and government agencies. These partners present and propose the cases to the students. In this way, students gain an insight into the challenges and realities of legal work, deepen their legal and/or social science skills, and enhance their knowledge in specific areas of law. For example, in the Law Clinic on Fundamental and Human Rights (HLCMR), students gain insights into the working methods of counseling thanks to the tight collaboration with external partners such as associations, public anti-discrimination offices, and law firms. This experience introduces the students to the defense of fundamental and human rights, and the advocacy of anti-discrimination and inclusion policies in real contexts.

The structure of the one-year cycle is divided into two semesters. During the first semester, the students learn about human and fundamental rights argumentation based on selected legal principles and cases, train competencies for counseling work and litigation, and develop an understanding oriented to legal practice for working with concrete cases and concepts of strategic litigation. In addition, they follow workshops on skill development like blog redaction or anti-racism training. During the second semester, the students complete a 4 weeks internship, where they prepare in couples a paper that comprehensively deals with a relevant legal question on fundamental and human rights from the specific field of work of the respective project partner.

#Challenge-based Learning

#Socially Engaged University

#Interaction with Stakeholders

Resources

• Humboldt Law Clinic on Fundamental and Human Rights website
• Presentation of the Law Clinic in the Humboldt University website (in German)
• List of the partner's structures engaged in the HU Law Clinic (in German)
• The best papers produced by the students are published as Working Papers (in German)
• Clinic Blog
  

Clinical Humanities & Wellbeing programme

Programme integrating creative and critical thinking from Arts and Humanities into the clinical curriculum of Oral Healthcare students.

Course "Markets, Society and Organisation"

Innovative course where students take the role of a marketing consultant and build a response to challenges posed by a client.

Course "Keep London Wild!"

Consulting project allowing marketing students at King’s Business School to develop a communication campaign for an NGO.

Clinical Humanities & Wellbeing programme

Involvement of students

Internationalization

Stakeholders

Description

The Clinical Humanities & Wellbeing programme for undergraduate oral healthcare students pioneers a cross-disciplinary approach, integrating creative and critical thinking from Arts and Humanities into the clinical curriculum. This is a pedagogy for sustainable oral healthcare, supporting student personal growth and professional identity formation. Students are challenged to consider healthcare in its widest contexts and explore issues around global oral health, the UN Sustainability Development Goals, leadership and cultural competency.

The initiative emerged from research conducted in 2015-2019 that showed the benefits of integrating knowledge translation from Arts and Humanities epistemologies to clinical practice at undergraduate level (see the Resources). The first-year module received King’s funding as an innovation module, and it benefited from the allocation of curriculum time for all students (approx. 200 in year 1, and 200 in year 2).

There are different actions integrated into the program. First, students are charged with carrying out object-based research in some of London’s museums; slow-looking, close listening, learning new methodologies and exploring some of its natural green spaces. In the process of viewing themselves and their studies from different perspectives, they collaborate, make new friends, and really feel they belong to the Faculty. For some of the first-year students, the museum outings and curricular ‘green space’ activities provided some of the very few occasions they could meet each other in person during the academic year 2020/21.

Second, students are encouraged to involve themselves as much as possible in local communities. Using a humanities frame in their projects, the students are able to consider their volunteering through a critical lens, identifying a genuine community need. During the year, each student is assessed via video presentation of his or her object research, and via critically reflective blogs of their curricular volunteering activity..

The programme encourages values of cultural humility, leadership, change, professional identity formation, and sustainability in an age of complexity and uncertainty. Students have manifested the importance of reflexivity, critical consciousness, and trans-disciplinary thinking to become change agents in working towards solving complex global problems. Thanks to the programme, busy clinical students have had the time and space to reflect, grow, connect with each other and with local communities, and realize their potential as global change agents for health and social sustainability. From an educational perspective, this is fundamental to their professional identity formation and personal development.

#Reflexivity

#Critical Consciousness

#Sustainable Healthcare

Resources

• Zahra, F., Dunton, K. (2017), Learning to look from different perspectives – what can dental undergraduates learn from art and humanities-based teaching approach?. Br Dent J, 222, 147–150.
• Zahra F. (2018), 'Clinical Humanities; informal, transformative learning opportunities, where knowledge gained from Humanities epistemologies is translated back into clinical practice, supporting the development of professional autonomy in undergraduate dental students', MedEdPublish, 7, [3], 25.
• A particular action of the program: Volunteering during a pandemic

Contacts

• King’s Clinical Humanities & Wellbeing Lead: Dr. Flora Smyth Zahra, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Interdisciplinarity & Innovation Dental Education, King’s Clinical Humanities & Wellbeing Lead (flora.smyth_zahra@kcl.ac.uk)
• Prof. Kim Piper, Dean for Education at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences (kim.piper@kcl.ac.uk)
• Dr. Jayne Pearson (jayne.pearson@kcl.ac.uk)
• Dr. Jonathan San-Diego (jonathan.p.san_diego@kcl.ac.uk)

Course "Markets, Society and Organisation"

Involvement of students

Stakeholders

Description

By focusing on how marketing can be a positive force in society and the world, this course brings the students to take the role of a marketing consultant and produce a report in response to one of the client challenges. These challenges are given to them via a webinar or lecture session by a guest speaker and draws in a number of real cases to help consider not only marketing issues but also stimulate thinking about marketing and its links to individuals and society. The adoption of an active, collaborative, and inclusive style of teaching allows the course to develop core employability skills, and to connect students to companies that could provide employability opportunities aligned by the ethos of King’s Business School.

The course is open to 125 regular and exchange students from different disciplines (business, languages, maths, and computer science). The clients must meet some core criteria in terms of their commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion, and have a responsible and social justice agenda (some examples of clients are The Female Lead, Metro Bank, British LGBT Awards, British Ethnicity Awards, Mapping Technologies, PitchMe, Football Beyond Borders…). The learning objectives seek to enable the students to critically engage with theories but also demonstrate logical thinking through practice-based engagement. The course provides a more authentic assessment for learning, ensures the students develop confidence in challenging assumptions and encourage them to apply different lenses to global issues and problems within the context of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The course has run in for two years 2019/20 and 2020/21. Student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and all clients have expressed an interest in getting involved in the course again. The companies have adopted some student ideas, and have offered further work and internships to some of the students.

#Consultancy

#Problem-based learning

#Innovative pedagogy

#Responsible marketing

Resources

• Markets, Organisation and Society
• Core Module Information: Markets, Organisations and Society

Contacts

• Sally Everett, professor of Business Education (sally.everett@kcl.ac.uk)

Course "Keep London Wild!"

Involvement of students

Stakeholders

Description

The ‘Keep London Wild!’ is a consulting project intended to address challenges encountered by both King’s Business School and the charity London Wildlife Trust (LWT). In academic terms, the challenge was to integrate practice-oriented, co-curricular activities into larger compulsory modules. For LWT, the main problem was to inspire more young people to engage with them through volunteering. By working together, the “Keep London Wild!” project allowed marketing students at King’s Business School to develop a communication campaign for LWT.

The project was originated in students’ demands highlighting the need to “learn more skills” and “include more real-life applications/cases”. The course’s main goals are then to improve the engagement of students, offer innovative assessments methods, and increase the employability of alumni. Specifically, students had to develop plans for a high-impact campaign on how to reach younger audiences via social media with the help of digital marketing communications tools and strategies. Students played a dual role as consultants and target audience alike and conceived a digital campaign presenting their journey through the project and displaying the different project stakeholder’s interests (see Resources).

The project activity was spread across the teaching term. At the beginning of the semester, the instructor and LWT coordinators introduced the project to students and distributed the tasks and team budgets. At mid-term, the students met with LWT to seek feedback and feedforward. Finally, during the last class, the closing presentations took place. In sum, the project encouraged students’ self-confidence, co-creation and teamwork, and the development of practice-oriented skills.

#Cross-disciplinarity

#Student Engagement

#Real Life Consulting

Contacts

• Dr. Anna Dubiel, Lecturer in Marketing (anna.dubiel@kcl.ac.uk)

Resources

Digital Marketing MSc students work with the London Wildlife Trust

YouTube channel of the campaign “Keeping it Wild”

UCLouvain

Artists-in-Residence programme

Original progrmme that offers students, professors and researchers the opportunity to interact with artists and work with them on a collective artistic project.

Ingénieux-Sud

Course organised in partnership with NGOs. Every year, it enables around 150 students from Belgium and universities of the South to work together on 25 concrete and sustainable projects.

moocXperience

‘Louvain moocXperience’ is a project that seizes the MOOC opportunity for rethinking higher education at UCLouvain and worldwide. MOOCs stand for Massive Open Online Courses: free courses, open to be attended by anyone interested in the world.

With this initiative, the school offers a different pedagogical approach to encourage students' creativity and to familiarize them with the innovation methods developed in recent years.

Innovation Classes

Artists-in-Residence programme

Involvement of students

Description

Since 2005, UCLouvain has created an Artist-in-residence programme in order to integrate a cultural and creative dimension into the Bachelor's degree. The seminar has two main components: a residence for an artist in cinema, literature, music, plastic arts, theatre, and other fields, and a 30 hours course open to all students from all Faculties. This collaboration offers students, professors, and researchers the opportunity to interact with artists, discover their vision of humanity and the world, and above all to work with them on a collective artistic project.

The seminar involves between 20 and 30 students every year and it has involved more than 350 students since its creation. At the end of the course, these students present to the public the fruit of their creative work, but the most important aspect of the seminar is to allow the students to discover a creative process and encourage them to think outside of the box by integrating art into research, learning, and teaching.

The positive results of the first 15 years of existence lead the UCLouvain to think about developing other forms of artist residencies that would allow artists to be associated with different teaching programs, for example for Masters or Ph.D. students.

#Creativity

#Artistic Interaction

#Transdisciplinary

Resources

Artiste en résidence. Dix ans des résidences d'artistes à l'UCLouvain (In French)

• Artistic Residencies at Louvain
• Artistes en Résidence à Louvain (In French)
• “Artist-in-residence” presentation within the Strategic Partnership Innovative Education 4 transferable Skills InnovEd4TS (InnovEd4TS)
  

Contacts

• Ralph Dekoninck, professor of art history (ralph.dekoninck@uclouvain.be)
• Frédéric Blondeau, head of external relations and communications (frederic.blondeau@uclouvain.be)

Internationalization

Ingénieux-Sud

Description

IngénieuxSud is a course organised by UCLouvain and the NGO Louvain Coopération. Each year, this course enables about 150 students from Belgium and universities of the South to work together on 25 concrete and sustainable projects. IngénieuxSud won the Global Education Innovation Award in 2017.

During an academic year, students research a technical issue (on water, agro ecology, energy, etc.) in a Southern country, identified by associations, cooperatives or NGOs which are in direct contact with the local population. They look for appropriate and sustainable solutions to the challenges formulated by local actors. They then carry out a one-month internship in the field during summer to implement the solutions together. IngénieuxSud contributes to building the capacity of students and teachers in the North and South to make decisions in favour of environmental integrity, economic viability and a more just society for present and future generations.

#Critical Thinking

Resources

Ingénieux sud vu par les étudiants (In French)

• Ingénieux Sud (In French)
  
• InnovEd4TS Field Mission #2 “IngénieuxSud” meets at UCLouvain presentation within the Strategic Partnership Innovative Education 4 transferable Skills InnovEd4TS (InnovEd4TS)
  

Contacts

• Jean-Pierre Raskin : jean-pierre.raskin@uclouvain.be
• Stéphanie Merle : smerle@louvaincooperation.org

Internationalization

moocXperience

Description

‘Louvain moocXperience’ is a project that seizes the MOOC opportunity for rethinking higher education at UCLouvain and worldwide. MOOCs stand for Massive Open Online Courses: free courses, open to be attended by anyone interested in. This is a pedagogical innovation project integrated within the Louvain Learning Lab of UCLouvain, as part of the H600 Open Education and Open Science strategic plan.

The main goals of the Louvain moocXperience are to:

#Open Education

#Microcredentials

#Virtual Exchanges

Resources

Louvain moocXperience : construisons l'avenir ! (In French & English)

• MoocExperience Louvain
  

Contacts

• Françoise Docq : francoise.docq@uclouvain.be

Involvement of students

Internationalization

Stakeholders

Innovation Classes

Description

With this initiative, the school offers a different pedagogical approach to encourage students' creativity and familiarize them with the innovative methods developed in recent years.

The objective is to have a multidisciplinary course mobilizing multicultural teams on innovation challenges proposed by professors and industrial partners.

By the end of the class, students are able to :

#Innovation

#Leadership

#Creativity

Resources

Innovation Classes, final pitches before the jury! (In English)

Innovation Classes, how is the challenge selected? (In French & English)

• Innovation Classes (In English)
  

Contacts

• Benoit Raucent : benoit.raucent@uclouvain.be
• Emmanuel Brun : emmanuelle.brun@uclouvain.be

Honours-programme

A three-year elective interdisciplinary bachelor programme to develop a comprehensive knowledge in various disciplines.

Centre for Experimental Legal Learning - CELL

A centre of excellence and innovation encouraging students’ participation in developing new forms of teaching and learning.

CityStudio Oslo programme

Course where students across academic institutions and the City of Oslo collaborate to build and execute projects addressing the city’s environmental and social challenges.

‘Honours-programme

Description

The Honours-programme at the University of Oslo is a collaboration between the faculties of Natural Science, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Oslo offering a multi-disciplinary approach for students that want a broader bachelor degree, and that are willing to put in some extra work within the time-span of three years. The ambition is to reduce discipline boundaries and encourage interdisciplinary knowledge enabling students to address grand challenges and other wicked problems in our society.

During their bachelor's, the Honours-programme students need to take an additional 10 ECTS per year in order to obtain 210 ECTS (compared to 180 for regular students). The programme is interdisciplinary and offers in-depth specialization in the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Students can choose courses in other faculties or pursue particular issues in their home faculty. The programme has been extremely popular among new students and has achieved high application and selection rates in a short time. The programme combines the disciplinary scope of the University of Oslo while creating a tight cohort of students working closely together on various issues.

#Interdisciplinarity

#Extra Credits

#Students Motivation

Contacts

• Head of the programme: Anders Malthe-Sørensen, professor of Physics: anders.mathre-soressen@fys.uio.no

Resources

• Honours-programme presentation (in Norwegian)

‘Centre for Experimental Legal Learning - CELL

Involvement of students

Description

The Centres for Experimental Legal Learning (CELL) has an ambition of integrating students and teachers in a resource centre aiming at developing new forms of teaching and learning, experimenting with technology in student learning processes, and stimulating collaboration with the labour world. The novel aspect of the centre is that students are tightly involved as partners in governance and organizational activities.

CELL is working as a resource centre for the renewal of the curricula, working methods, and organization of the law degrees at the University of Oslo. The centre is particularly engaged in thinking about how the skills and competencies of future lawyers and law students can be broadened and sharpened to address the future expectations of working environments. One of the key reflections concerns digitalization of the learning process and various experiments have been launched to foster innovation (e.g. the digital courtroom etc.).

CELL is externally funded and won the prestigious status of “Centre for Excellence in Education” by the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku).

#Involvement of Students

#Resource Centre

#Innovative Pedagogies

Contacts

• Malcolm Langford, professor of Public Law and CELL director: malcolm.langford@jus.uio.no

Resources

• CELL website (in Norwegian)
• “Centres for Excellence in Education” website

CityStudio Oslo programme

Involvement of students

Stakeholders

Description

CityStudio Oslo is a full-time course where bachelor students across academic institutions (UiO, NMBU, AHO, and OsloMet) and the City of Oslo collaborate to build and execute projects that will help the city overcome environmental challenges and create better living conditions for its inhabitants. The projects must engage with people or a place outside of the studio and may be an experimental, critical or creative response to a local problem. Students work in interdisciplinary teams of 3 or 4; have a key contact at the City of Oslo, and an in-studio supervision to support project development.

CityStudio Oslo aims to prepare students for meaningful work by teaching skills, making connections, and providing opportunities that bridge the gap between theory and practice. The semester is designed to bring the students to think as practitioners thanks to a unique combination of theory and methods, dialogue, design thinking, and service-learning. The course progresses through context and skill-building, project formation, project implementation, and reporting. At the end of the semester, each group presents and submits a written project report to the City of Oslo and each student submits an individual report for validation.

During the first two years of experience, CityStudio Oslo has achieved 15 projects. The feedback from students is very positive and the studio is expanding with new businesses and stakeholders wanting to join the project.

#Project Management

#Collaboration Between Institutions

#Real Cases

Contacts

• Project leader: Jennifer Vallee, jennifer.vallee@admin.uio.no
• Academic leader Professor: Per Gunnar Røe, p.g.roe@sosgeo.uio.no

Resources

• Course description
• 2020 Project presentations videos
• 2020 Project documents
• CityStudio Oslo website at University of Oslo

Université Paris Cité

Course "Scientific Escape Game"

A course where students have to design and build a serious escape game around a scientific enigma.

IDEAL+ programme

Intercultural and innovative teaching programme aiming at enhancing medical students' knowledge in Infectious Diseases.

Digital OSCE training platform

Digital platform dedicated to Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) training and evaluation for medical students.

Mooc for education professionals accompanying pupils and students with a chronic serious illness.

MOOC "Fostering inclusive education from kindergarden to higher education"

Course “Body Mind – Mind Body”

The course mixes students from the different faculties of the university, and articulates academic knowledge with bodywork and theatre courses.

Course "Scientific Escape Game"

Involvement of students

Description

In order to promote a more active learning process, this initiative consists in the development of a serious escape game around a scientific puzzle. Based on student’s creativity and involvement, the escape game aims to foster the learning of scientific methods: students conceive a scientific puzzle for the escape game and test it using a hypothesis/result approach. The seminar is designed to inspire critical thinking by students through, for example, the testing of the game by volunteers before its official launch. The volunteers then debrief the students, allowing them to check for themselves whether all their pedagogical intentions have been understood and implemented.

In addition to these scientific methods developed as part of the escape game, the students will also have to apply their communication and management skills. The 15 students in the class must organize themselves to distribute the workload and at the end of the semester, they propose the game to the general public during a scientific event (the second edition of the initiative was propose to more than a 100 people in June 2021). This encourages interaction with students from other disciplines and university staff. The project then generates enthusiasm for science and helps spread the ideas of a more engaged, active and independent way of learning.

The fun and creative aspect of this learning initiative helps to keep students motivated and excited throughout the semester. An important goal of the initiative is for students to mobilize and learn scientific information at the same time as they learn new technical skills. Students have access to the machines in the FabLab to produce the materials needed to create a real atmosphere around their puzzle (3D printer and scanner, vinyl and laser cutting machines, thermoforming machine, digital embroidery machine).

#Serious Escape Game

#Fun Learning

#Management Skills

#Project Management

#Scientific Methods

#Technical Skills

Resources

• Media Presentation (In French)
  
• University website (In French)
  

Contacts

The initiative was designed, initiated, and developed by two biology professors trained in innovative teaching methods:

• Maryline Moulin, assistant professor in Molecular Biology: maryline.moulin@u-paris.fr
• Anne Couëdel-Courteille, assistant professor in Immunology: anne.couedel-courteille@u-paris.fr

IDEAL+ programme

Internationalization

Description

IDEAL+ (Infectious Diseases Education through Active Learning) is an international Erasmus-funded teaching programme running since September 2019 as a strategic partnership. It is a unique intercultural teaching programme aiming to disseminate innovative teaching methods at the undergraduate level and enhance medical students' knowledge in Infectious Diseases.

Developed in collaboration with 8 institutions, IDEAL+ developed three teaching activities:

• A 3-day seminar opened to medical educators that aims at promoting excellence in teaching through the dissemination of more accurate and innovative teaching skills.
• An intensive course of practical teaching on Infectious Diseases for undergraduate medical students delivered over one week by a team of European Infectious Diseases medical educators.
• A digital learning platform providing open-source resources produced within the programme and focusing on innovative teaching methods for medical educators and on Infectious Diseases for undergraduate medical students.

The different activities involved around 180 European undergraduate medical students, and 15 European medical educators per year. The overall aim of the programme is to remove barriers between different medical curricula in European countries.

#Innovative Undergraduate Training

#Medical Education

#Infectious Diseases

Resources

• IDEAL+ website
  

Contacts

• Dr. Caroline Charlier-Woerther : caroline.charlier@aphp.fr
• Pr. Claire Le Jeunne : claire.le-jeunne@aphp.fr
• Pauline Valnaud, IDEAL+ coordinator: pauline.valnaud@u-paris.fr

Digital OSCE training platform

Stakeholders

Description

During the Covid-19 health crisis, physical Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) training became difficult to conduct for medical students. Because the OSCE is very important in the medical curricula (40% of students' overall grades during the 6^th year of medical school), the University of Paris, in partnership with Zoom and Theia, developed an online training platform that allows the students to conduct and practice these examinations, even during the health crisis.

The digital OSCE consists of a simulation of an online medical appointment where the student conducts a medical examination of a fake patient with the presence of a supervisor. The skills developed during this exercise (oral communication, delivery of a diagnosis, clinical behavior) are very important in the medical training and the digital platform offers positive capacities: the standardization of cases, their replication, the recording of the exercises…

The first implementation of the initiative showed that the online form of clinical examinations solves some of the organizational difficulties related to the old ways to evaluate the OSCE (flow of a big number of students, availability of consultation rooms). With the use of Zoom, more than 800 medical students can have distance training at the time. The training of the examination can then start earlier in the medical curricula (during the 3^rd year of medical school) allowing the students to prepare more serenely for the national exams of the 6^th year.

#Medical School

#Digital Training and Evaluation

#Health

#OSCE

Resources

• Presentation on Zoom website (in French)
• La faculté de médecine de l’Université Paris Cité utilise Zoom pour développer des examens cliniques à distance pour ses étudiants (in French)
  
• La faculté de médecine de l’Université Paris Cité utilise Zoom pour une enseignement hybride (in French)
• ECOS Distanciel (in French)
• [ECOS] Des entrainements aux examens innovants et internationaux (in French)
  

Contacts

• Alexy TRAN DINH, teacher in charge of the ECOS group: alexy.trandinh@gmail.com
• Tristan MIRAULT, teacher in charge of the ECOS group: tristan.mirault@aphp.fr
• Donia BOUZID, teacher and clinical director assistant at the Faculty of Medicine: donia.bouzid@gmail.com
• Léonore MULLER, educational engineer: leonore.muller@u-paris.fr
• Albert FAYE, teacher vice-president of the pedagogical council of the Faculty of Medicine: albert.faye@aphp.fr

MOOC “Fostering Inclusive Education from Kindergarten to Higher Education”

Stakeholders

Description

The MOOC “Fostering inclusive education from kindergarten to higher education” seeks to support the development of professional skills in educational structures accompanying students followed for a long-term pathology. The course is destined for any professional who wishes to get training on this subject, either in education or in medico-social services. This MOOC is the result of a collective research project (EMELCARA) and the collaboration between the University of Paris, the University of Bordeaux, and the association "Carry-on", which offers a platform providing information and resources related to the pursuit of studies for adolescents and young adults being followed for cancer or rare diseases. It is also supported financially by different public actors (ministries of Health; Education and Youth; Higher Education, Research and Innovation).

The course allows learners to identify the different issues that arise from schooling students or pupils in a situation of disability related to a serious illness and lasting for a long period. It is based on practical sources like testimonials from students who have been followed for serious illnesses, video clips made by professionals from the health and educational sectors, researchers, and other specialists in special education. The course also presents the existing institutional framework allowing the adjustment of schooling. It highlights the psychological and sociological issues that take place in the context of chronic serious illness in order to have insights into the experiences of young people and their families.

The course is based on the “action research” philosophy. The aim of the project is thus to experiment with action while seeking to produce knowledge on the issue concerned. During its first session in 2020, more than 7000 participants followed the course. This allows a great diffusion of information and the constitution of a network of teachers, school staff, and health workers, working from kindergarten to higher education.

#Inclusion

#Serious Illness

#School Accommodation

#Action-Research

Resources

• MOOC contents description (in French)
• Presentation of the action research objectives (in French)
• The Course is based on a research study carried out by Zoé Rollin on the inclusion of students with cancer in high school (in French)
• Presentation of inclusion issues for students with long term pathologies (In French)
  

Contacts

• Zoé Rollin, associated professor in sociology at Université de Paris: zoe.rollin@parisdescartes.fr
• Lucas Sivilotti, postdoctoral researcher within Project EMELCARA: lucas.sivilotti@u-bordeaux.fr

Involvement of students

Internationalization

Stakeholders

Course “Body Mind – Mind Body”

Description

Created in 2011, the “Body Mind – Mind-Body” (in French "Corps et Esprit - Esprit de corps") course is an interdisciplinary module intended to bring interdisciplinarity to undergraduate students from all disciplines. It aims to introduce students to a multidisciplinary approach by combining science, health, and social science courses around a central theme (light, circus, appearance, time, ...). The course mixes students from the different faculties of the university and articulates academic knowledge with bodywork and theatre courses.

Each year, professors from various disciplines and experts from outside the academic world give lectures to an interdisciplinary audience. These multidisciplinary interventions represent a unique opportunity for often very young students (mostly in the first year) to acquire knowledge outside their discipline and to develop an interest in other subjects. The diversity of teachers and the variety of themes also aims to improve the student-teacher relationship thanks to the encouraging of debate and discussion and the adoption of an active posture ("dare to ask questions"). The emphasis on body language through an introduction to street theatre and martial arts helps to facilitate exchanges between students by making them conscious of themselves and others.

The teaching methods, the interdisciplinarity, and the original approach of the course give the student the opportunity to acquire and develop skills that are useful in all their courses: critical thinking, self-confidence, teamwork, oral expression, self-control. At the end of the semester, the students present a play based on the theme of the course, which fosters their creativity and transferable skills in communication and teamwork.

#Bodywork

#Transdisciplinarity

#Student-teacher Relationship

#Original Curricula

Resources

• Presentation of the “Body Mind – Mind-Body” course (in French)
• "Body Mind – Mind Body" presentation within the Strategic Partnership Innovative Education 4 transferable Skills InnovEd4TS (InnovEd4TS)

Contacts

• Anne Vanet, professor in molecular biology: anne.vanet@univ-paris-diderot.fr

MUSEIA: Museum Culture Workshop

The project is part of the Special Projects for Education that the University of Pisa promotes for research and experimentation of innovative teaching.

Summer School : monitoring environment and climate changes

IThis laboratory is an opportunity to enhance student skills on problem related to environmental and climatic changes and create public management of environmental data obtained within a frame of rigorous scientific approach.

Tessiture

The project "TESSITURE: Textures. Sources and methods for a transversal and cultural reading of the challenges of the present and the past" took the form of a film club accompanied by seminars for in-depth analysis and shared reflection.

Involvement of students

Stakeholders

MUSEIA: Museum Culture Workshop

Description

MUSEIA is research, training and services on conservation, enhancement, exhibition, education, communication of the "Museo Italia".
The projects are developed in a transversal way from the study to the dissemination of results and products; are conducted by postgraduates, researchers, experts, professionals also through scholarships and research, assignments, research grants.

The project "University Public Museums: communication products for the National Museums of Pisa," carried out in two editions (2019 in collaboration with the National Museum of St. Matthew, 2020-21 with the National Museum of the Royal Palace) is part of the Special Projects for Education that the University of Pisa promotes for research and experimentation of innovative teaching.

The Project was conceived and led by Prof. Antonella Gioli, associate professor of "Museology, Art Criticism and Restoration" and scientific head of MUSEIA-Laboratory of Museum Culture, with the Team of the aforementioned Laboratory.

The Project is mainly funded by the University of Pisa through a call for Special Projects for Education, with co-financing from the Department of Civilization and Forms of Knowledge and the Ministry of Culture-Regional Museum Directorate of Tuscany.

#Innovative teaching of art history

#Cultural heritage

#Museum communication

#Original Curricula

Resources

• Museo Nazionale di San Matteo (in Italian)
• Palazzo Reale (in Italian)
• Laboratorio di Cultura Museale (in Italian)
• I risultati del Progetto speciale per la didattica “Università Musei Pubblici: prodotti di comunicazione per il Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale di Pisa” (in Italian)

Contacts

• Prof. Antonella Gioli: antonella.gioli@unipi.it
• MUSEIA-Laboratory of Museum Culture: laboratorio.museia@cfs.unipi.it

Involvement of students

Internationalization

Summer School: monitoring environment and climate changes

Description

The Environment Master course of the University of Pisa is completing a didactical Laboratory (in collaboration with the local municipality) for "monitoring environment and climatic changes" over an important wetland zone of Tuscany (Lago di Massaciuccoli), which involves students, master students, local environmental associations, undergraduate schools and local institutions. This laboratory is an opportunity to enhance student skills on problem related to environmental and climatic changes and create public management of environmental data obtained within a frame of rigorous scientific approach. The proposed project was an international school of limnology organised in collaboration of the University of Koln (Germany).

The initiative was a summer school involving Italian and German students to introduce students in the activity of sampling and monitoring lacustrine systems for studying environmental evolution, human impact and collect sedimentary successions for studying pollution and reconstruct paleoclimate. Students were organised in working groups making different and complementary activities. Groups were calibrated mixing student from different courses and Universities. The school lasted a week and involved two different groups from University of Koln and two groups from University of Pisa.

#Climatic Changes

#Limnology

#Environmental Sciences

Resources

• Scienze della Terra (in Italian)

Contacts

• Prof. Zanchetta Giovanni, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra: giovanni.zanchetta@unipi.it

Involvement of students

Internationalization

Stakeholders

Tessiture

Description

The project "TESSITURE: Textures. Sources and methods for a transversal and cultural reading of the challenges of the present and the past" took the form of a film club accompanied by seminars for in-depth analysis and shared reflection.

As the name suggests, the "Tessiture" project wanted to weave the threads of the different sources by creating polychromatic textures between literature, cinema, graphic novel, music, ethnographic and archival research. This transdisciplinary perspective has invited students to consider reality as a complex system that must be understood through a multidimensional, critical and hybrid analysis. With the participation of leading scholars from the University of Pisa, Milano and Liverpool as well as external experts such as writers, journalists and independent researchers the project turned into an open arena for discussing the plurality of tools, methods and sources of humanistic research. The openly transdisciplinary and experimental approach has encouraged students to question the complexity of the present and the past. The project combined various disciplines and perspectives: from the history of cinema to anthropology, to the history of Arab countries and Iran, also involving the contemporary history of Africa and Italy. Former students of the University of Pisa, have been involved in the project with the aim of giving importance to best practices in Arts & Humanities Entrepreneurship.

#Cineclub

#Transdisciplinarity

#Humanities Research

#Original Curricula

Resources

• Tessiture: un progetto sperimentale di didattica transdisciplinare (in Italian)
• Tessiture. Fonti e metodi per una lettura trasversale e culturale delle sfide del presente e del passato (in Italian)

Contacts

• Caterina Di Pasquale: caterina.dipasquale@unipi.it
• Renata Pepicelli: renata.pepicelli@unipi.it
• Chiara Tognolotti: chiara.tognolotti@unipi.it

CATEGORIES

Each Circle U. partner gathered flagship initiatives that they considered innovative in these categories.

Internationalization of education

Inter and trans-disciplinarity

Initiatives where the students have the possibility to exchange with students and teachers from different countries.

Initiatives where the students have the opportunity to meet students and teachers from different disciplines.

Inititiatives where the students are driving forces in the development and execution of the projects.

Involvement of students

Initiatives where external stakeholders helped the universities to develop innovative activities.

Integration of external stakeholders

Internationalization of Education

IDEAL+ programme

English Language Module (ELM) of the Teacher Education Faculty

Q-Programme

Initiatives where the students have the possibility to exchange with students and teachers from different countries.

Clinical Humanities & Wellbeing programme

Course “Body Mind – Mind Body”

Ingénieux-Sud

moocExperience

Summer School: monitoring environment and climate changes

Tessiture

Innovation Classes

Inter and trans-disciplinarity

Course "Scientific Escape Game"

Artist-in-Residence programme

Q-Program

Initiatives where the students have the opportunity to meet students and teachers from different disciplines.

Course "Advanced Innovation"

English Language Module (ELM) of the Teacher Education Faculty

Clinical Humanities & Wellbeing programme

Honours-programme

TRAIN project

Course "Markets, Society and Organisation"

Course "Keep London Wild!"

Course “Body Mind – Mind Body”

CityStudio Oslo programme

Ingénieux-Sud

Summer School: monitoring environment and climate changes

Tessiture

Innovation Classes

Involvement of students

Course "Scientific Escape Game"

Q-Program

Inititiatives where the students are driving forces in the development and execution of the projects.

EQUI ED project

Artist-in-Residence programme

Centre for Experimental Legal Learning - CELL

The Humboldt Law Clinic Grund- und Menschenrechte (HLCMR)

Course “Body Mind – Mind Body”

CityStudio Oslo programme

Course "Advanced Innovation "

English Language Module (ELM) of the Teacher Education Faculty

Clinical Humanities & Wellbeing programme

Course "Markets, Society and Organisation"

Course "Keep London Wild!"

MUSEIA: Museum Culture Workshop

Summer School: monitoring environment and climate changes

Tessiture”

Innovation Classes

Initiatives where external stakeholders helped the universities to develop innovative activities.

Integration of external stakeholders

Digital OSCE training platform

Case competition "Stay Relevant"

Centre for Career Development and Student Counselling

MOOC "Fostering inclusive education from kindergarden to higher education"

Course "Advanced Innovation"

English Language Module (ELM) of the Teacher Education Faculty

Clinical Humanities & Wellbeing programme

Course 'Markets, Society and Organisation"

Course "Keep London Wild!"

Q-Program

The Humboldt Law Clinic Grund- und Menschenrechte (HLCMR)

CityStudio Oslo programme

Course “Body Mind – Mind Body”

MUSEIA: Museum Culture Workshop

Tessiture

Innovation Classes