Name of the Training: “Video as a Learning Tool for Remote Emergency Teachers”

Trainers: Associate Prof. Shalva Tchkadua, Assistant Prof. Ana Gigauri

In the frameworks of Erasmus+ PRINTeL project, an online Teacher Training (TT) course “Video as a Learning Tool for Remote Emergency Teachers” was delivered by Shalva Tchkadua and Ana Gigauri. The training took place on 1, 2, 5 April, 2021. The training sessions lasted for three hours per day.

During the trainings 12 lecturers from Iakob Gogebashvili Telavi State University (TeSaU) were introduced to:

• advantages and disadvantages of using video in T&L processes;
• tips and tricks to do a more engaging video;
• LOOM video recorder;
• how to use video as T&L tool in emergency or pandemic situations and avoid learners’ anxiety.

The training was delivered through:

• Lectures and instructions
• Individual exercises
• Questions and answers
• Presentations

At the end of the training the trainees presented their own videos and expressed their opinion about how the acquired skills can be applied in their courses/lectures.

Name of the Training: “Video as a Learning Tool for Remote Emergency Teachers”

Trainers: Associate Prof. Shalva Tchkadua, Assistant Prof. Ana Gigauri

In the frameworks of Erasmus+ PRINTeL project, an online Teacher Training (TT) course “Video as a Learning Tool for Remote Emergency Teachers” was delivered by Shalva Tchkadua and Ana Gigauri. The training took place on 28, 29, 30 April, 2021. The training sessions lasted for three hours per day.

During the trainings 24 lecturers from Iakob Gogebashvili Telavi State University (TeSaU) were introduced to:

• advantages and disadvantages of using video in T&L processes;
• tips and tricks to do a more engaging video;
• LOOM video recorder;
• how to use video as T&L tool in emergency or pandemic situations and avoid learners’ anxiety.

The training was delivered through:

• Lectures and instructions
• Individual exercises
• Questions and answers
• Presentations

At the end of the training the trainees presented their own videos and expressed their opinion about how the acquired skills can be applied in their courses/lectures.

Name of the Training: “Online Active teaching & learning: Experiences with technology”

Trainers: Manana Garibashvili, Professor. Shorena Lazviashvili, Assistant Professor

The training course  „Online Active Teaching & Learning: Experiences with Technology“ was held in two  sessions on April 07, 08, 12 (I Session) and on April 14, 15, 16 (II Session). Due to the global pandemic of Covid-19, the Online platform for the training was Google Meet.

The course aimed to discuss how to design online class activities and how to make the best use of the available technology to activate students’ online learning process. The format of the training covered discussion sessions, group work and presentations.

Key topics for the training were:

• Sharing experiences of online teaching;
• Introducing Some important theories regarding the online teaching (e.g. blended method, hybrid learning/ Dual Delivery, synchronous & asynchronous teaching)
• Introducing Online class activities via Padlet.com & edupazzle.com
• Introducing Gamification via genial.ly
• Introducing menti.com

During the sessions, the trainees took part in discussions and they had to produce activities on the basis of proposed web tools and apps in breakout rooms.

Trainings lasted for three days:

The first session was attended by 19 people (Academic staff and invited teachers); The second session was also attended by 19 people (Academic staff and invited teachers); Totally, both sessions were attended by 38 people.

In conclusion,  the training  “Online Active Teaching & Learning: Experiences with Technology” was successfully conducted at TESAU. The participants positively evaluated and outlined the benefits of the training. At the end all the trainees expressed their willingness of using the acquired knowledge in their teaching practice, as the content of the training was adequate, appropriate and utmost urgent for the contemporary situation. 

Name of the Training: “Designing Meaningful Online Learning”

Trainer -Sophio Arsenishvili , PhD, invited teacher of Telavi State University

The above mentioned training course was created after participation in training “Designing Meaningful Online Learning”. The materials obtained during the training were divided by me and my college Ia Nadiradze (participant of the same event) into two parts, so that we have created two separate trainings which covered all topics of above mentioned training.

Due to fact, that our university like all other high education institutions in Georgia teaches online during spring semester 2021, our training also was held online.

Just after announcing the upcoming event professors of TeSaU showed high interest towards the topic.

   The training consist of presentation, showing video materials, discussion and reflection of participants. During discussions it was strongly underlined by participants that it was not only sharing new materials and ideas but also first attempt of TeSaU professors to evaluate our work after we started to teach online. Discussing different platforms used by participants, their strong and weak sides, methods of attracting students into online class, creating positive atmosphere during online teaching, emotional involvement,  biggest challenges which we have faced in teaching and evaluating student work-these were main topics of our discussions.

Professors gave mostly very positive feedback and showed readiness to participate in such events in future.

Name of the training: “Designing Meaningful Online Learning”

Trainer -Ia Nadiradze, PhD, invited teacher of Telavi State University

The training course was created after participation in training “Designing Meaningful Online Learning”.

Participant of the same event, my colleague Sophio Arsenishvili and me agreed to divide the obtained materials  into two parts, so we were able to hold  two separate trainings (online) which covered all topics of above mentioned training.

We agreed on the date and time of the training and announced it. Professors of TeSaU showed high interest towards the topic.

Preparation of the training involved first of all preparing presentation that covered all target topics (teaching presence, social presence, cognitive presence), and issues. Some video materials were also presented during the trainings. Due to the fact that Google Meet platform was used for the training, it was not possible to divide the participants into groups (rooms). So, we had to work as a whole. It is worse mentioning that participants were greatly involved in discussions, sharing experienced and ideas. Important topics (while learning online) like student involvement, motivation, cheating, positive atmosphere and etc., were discussed during the training.

Professors gave mostly very positive feedback and showed readiness to participate in such events in future.

Name of the Training: “Online learning activity design- Supporting students’ learning online”

Trainer: Tamar Mikeladze, Associate Professor, Telavi State University

The training session took place on April 19, 20, 21, 2021. The title of the course was ‘Online learning activity design- Supporting students’ learning online’. Prior to the online training, the trainer attended the online training session organized by academic staff of FH Joanneum, Austria in February, 2021.

Thus, the course topics were adopted from trainers’ training course. However, less time was assigned for OTT, as the course lasted 10 hours. The trainer included discussion sessions, individual work, and presentations. The online platform used for the training sessions was Google Meet, which did not allow dividing a group into smaller teams and monitoring discussion sessions. The trainer had to organize the whole group’s discussion and allow participants to voice their opinions and experience. 25 participants attended the training sessions: 5 invited teachers, 4 assistant professors, 9 associate professors, and 5 professors, 2 administrative specialists.

The course included the following topics: -Day 1 - Introduction to Online Teaching Revisited · how to facilitate an online course · Attention of students · Active participation of students in online teaching; Day 2 – Online learning activity design - Supporting students learning online · the self-determination theory · main learning principles and reflect their role as a teacher learning strategies; Day 3 – Teaching Practices for remote Project Based Learning · The concept of PBL in the digital classroom · The seven Gold Standard project based teaching practices. The topics were theoretical. The trainer used PowerPoint presentations to deliver training materials.

Name of the Training: “Digitally Supported Learning and the Digital Competence Framework for Teachers”

Trainer: Nino Dzamukashvili, Assistant Professor, (TESAU, Faculty of Humanities)

“Digitally Supported Learning and the Digital Competence Framework for Teachers” 3-day-training course has been recently attended (April 23, 24 and 25 and 5. 6 and 7 May, 2021 ) by 40 lecturers from  different departments of 4 faculties (Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Business and Law) at Iakob Gogebashvili Telavi State University. The trainer was Ms. Nino Dzamukashvili who attended the on-line training session with the same title broadcast from Leuven, Belgium at KU Leuven in February 2021.

Due to the high number of the trainees, the training course was held twice in order to secure the attendance of all those who were eager, 

The trainees became familiar with learners’ and teachers’ digital competences required for successful use of electronically supported teaching and learning. They were introduced to appropriate assessment techniques for digital teaching and learning. The purpose of this TT course is to prepare trainees for digitally supported learning and introduce to them the digital competence framework for teachers. The trainees eagerly embraced the new status of themselves as those of digital scholars and worked out their digital competence by the Digital Competence Wheel application. Also, they learned about the Digital Scholar Framework.

Due to the pandemic Covid-19, the training was conducted on-line. The training itself was like a sample of on-line learning and teaching, since through the current training the participants were able to learn quite a few about a number of issues, about the future assessment trends, among them. One of the discussions was devoted to the topic whether “on-line teaching and learning was here to stay”. The vast majority of the trainees agreed upon the following prospect that on-line learning and teaching was here to stay as a part of the blended learning.

At the end of the TT course, all the participants were able to present their modified and redesigned curricula in their relevant domain, with special focus on the newly acquired knowledge of  learners’ and teachers’ competences and on on-line assessment technology and methodology.