In the frameworks of Erasmus+ PRINTeL project in February-March, 2019 a Teacher Training (TT) Course aimed at retraining VSU teaching staff members is programmed to be held at Vanadzor State University named after H. Tumanyan (VSU).

The trainers of the TT Course who passed ToT (Training of Teachers) Courses at 5 EU Project partner universities (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Universitat de Barcelona, Universidade do Porto, Linköpings Universitet, FH Joanneum Gesellschaft mbH) have designed courses on teaching and learning in innovative methods and have programmed to share with their VSU colleague teachers all the experience they gained in the course of the trainings at the abovementioned universities. 

The TT courses are going to be delivered by the 6 ToT courses participants from VSU and  up to 60 VSU teaching staff members will undergo the TT course.  

During the course VSU lecturers are going to be trained in a number of fields related to innovative technology-enhanced teaching and learning.

TT COURSE #6 “Video as a Learning Tool for Teachers &Students: Video Lecturing & Promoting Interaction in The Classroom”

Trainer: Associate Prof. Anna Khachatryan (VSU Faculty of Pedagogy, Chair of Psychology and Sociology)

From March 18 to 22, within the framework of  ERASMUS + PRINTeL Project a teacher training course on “Video as a Learning Tool for Teachers &Students: Video Lecturing &Promoting Interaction in the Classroom” was held for VSU lecturers. The training was conducted by Anna Khachatryan, lecturer at the Chair of Psychology and Sociology.

The purpose of the training was to convey the skills and knowledge needed to create, use and disseminate video materials in the teaching process.

During the five-day training, the participants got acquainted with the resources of the creation and distribution of videos such as the leading "Panopto" platform, "Explain Everything", "IMovie" or "MiniMovie" apps, "Movavi" program. They discussed the principles of video effectiveness, the benefits of class visualization, the basic steps of creating a video, joint visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic learning possibilities.

At the end of the training, the participants presented their videos, each of which had a functional significance: a homework assignment, reminder of key moments of the lecture, or a summary.

TT Course #5 “Active Learning, with Special Focus on Technology Enhanced Collaborative Learning”                                                              

Trainer: Associate Prof. Kristine Ghazaryan (VSU Faculty of History and Geography, Chair of Philosophy and Political Science)

From March 11 to 15, in 2019, a five-day training course on “Active Learning, with special focus on Technology Enhanced Collaborative Learning” which was conducted by Kristine Ghazaryan, Assistant of the Chair of Philosophy and Politology at VSU, Candidate of Legal Sciences and Associate Professor, was organized at Vanadzor State University.

The training course was carried out on Google Drive platform, which provided the document circulation and the accessibility of the materials presented among the participants. The trainees accepted the usage of e-Portfolios with great enthusiasm. These e-Portfolios enabled the trainer to create a personal page, to prepare descriptors of students’ performance, as well as to create different systems that will support the trainers to conduct their courses and to assess the participants’ performance, such as Animaker, Canva, Prezi, Mindmup, Polleverywhere, Plickers, Mentimeter, etc. Several well-known methods were utilized in parallel with the improvement of the practical skills on online platform, such as Six Hats, One-Minute Questioning, TPACK, ADDIE, BLOOM Taxonomy, SMART, ABCD, etc.

The participants emphasized the need to conduct such trainings, as well as the effectiveness of organizing courses, especially with the help of the latest technologies.

TT Course #4 “Active Learning and Ict-Enhanced Teaching: M-Learning and Gamification”

Trainer: Associate Prof. Mariya Brutyan (VSU Faculty of History and Geography, Chair of History)

From March 1 to 7, 2019, the participant of "Erasmus+PRINTeL" project Associate Prof. Mariya Brutyan held a training course at Vanadzor State University on the following topic: ,,Active Learning and ICT-enhanced teaching: M-learning and gamification”. During the five-day training, 19 university professors were introduced to innovative teaching methods, the use of mobile devices during the learning process, and the gamification of teaching.

During this training, the lecturers discussed the importance of active learning, mobile learning and gamification in education, highlighted the positive and negative aspects.

During the training, the lecturers were introduced to a number of innovative tools such as Canva, Polleverywhere, Adobe Spark video, Kahoot, Socrative. Besides getting acquainted with the possibilities of these tools, professors surveyed Poll, Kahoot Sli-do, Mentimeter, prepared their business cards with Canva and performed group work, making small clips in Adobe Spark video. During the training, the trainees were encouraged with orders, while getting acquainted with Badge design. The training participants also got acquainted with QR code making techniques.

The participants were able to discuss the differences between Games and Serious games and used the "Escape room" as a version of gamification. The lecturers got acquainted with the steps that helped them to form their own gamification strategy. At the end of the course, each of them delivered a presentation about their gamification teaching strategy. 

The active process of instruction, the active involvement of lecturers and feedback suggest that these innovative methods will be applied in their future activities.

TT Course #3 ՛՛Hybrid/Blended Teaching՛՛

Trainer: Associate Prof. Vanane Mirzoyan (VSU Faculty of Pedagogy, Chair of Psychology and Sociology)

A Teachers Training (TT) course entitled “Hybrid/Blended Teaching” conducted by Vanane Mirzoyan (participant of ERASMUS+ PRINTeL Project, Associate Prof. at the Chair of Psychology and Sociology of VSU) took place in Vanadzor State University from February 25 to - March 1, 2019. 

The following aspects were introduced during the course:

• the role of blended learning in teaching and learning process,
• online collaborative tools,
• e-Moderating and the reflective practitioner, Gilly Salmon's model,
• Moodle,
• e-Portfolio in teaching and learning, examples of e- Portfolio
• MOOC and its types,
• creating of Trello,
• creation of videos, examples of videos.

12 lectures from different departments participated in the course. They worked in pairs or small groups depending on the material.

Throughout the course, all the participants showed great enthusiasm and inspiration.

Trello platform and video creation caused particular interest among the professors. Each of them created a video related to his/her teaching field to use them during the lectures and practical works. The professors assured that they would continuously use these methods in the future. 

TT course was very useful and efficient. During the 5-day training the professors not only enriched their theoretical knowledge, but also gained many practical skills. By the end of the TT course, the trainees expressed a desire to organize such trainings more frequently.

TT Course #2. ՛՛Hybrid/Blended Teaching՛՛

Trainer: Associate Prof. Arine Danielyan (VSU Faculty of Philology, Chair of Foreign Languages)

Within the framework of Erasmus+ PRINTeL project a five-day teacher training course on Hybrid/Blended teaching conducted by Arina Danielyan (participant of ERASMUS+ PRINTeL Project, Assistant  Prof. at the Chair of Foreign Languages of VSU), took  place on 18-22  february 2019 at Vanadzor State University. The central objective of the course consists in familiarizing the participating lecturers with the method of Hybrid/Blended teaching & learning  – an innovative approach regarding how traditional classroom/independent studying methods and e-learning can be interconnected in the teaching process. 

The content-related issues to be discussed on the agenda of the training chiefly related to the introduction of the course and the role of the teacher in online courses, online learning environment and portfolios, multimedia production, operating with online project management tools and assisted group work.

Lecturers were provided with an innovative and flexible tool to help them meet the individual needs of their students. They gained computer-based educational tools that provide a variety of lessons and assessments not normally found in a traditional classroom environment. This provides instructional alternatives that greatly increase the number and quality of instructional tools available to the teacher. Each lesson was a combination of theoretical and practical components.

The training was summarized by presenting the self-study projects as well as discussing individual experiences. All the participants of the course received certificates of successful participation at the end of the training.

TT Course #1. “Active Learning in the Flipped Classroom”

Trainer: Associate Professor Anna Arakelyan (VSU Faculty of Philology, Chair of Foreign Languages)

During one-week training (18-22 February, 2019) 15 participants from different faculties of Vanadzor State University have been trained. The participants were introduced with the methodology of Active Learning, its concepts and basic ideas, as well as its role in promoting and motivating students’ involvement and active participation in the whole process of education. As a practical part the participants were asked to fill in active learning worksheets and to show the results of combining active learning strategies with digital technology in the active learning grid.

 The trainees were also introduced with the model of the Flipped Classroom and basic principles of implementing the model into the reality. As a practical assignment the participants were asked to record some part of their lectures and put them into the lesson presentations.

Special attention was paid to the study and strategies of ABC design and principles of designing or redesigning their courses via the suggested model.

This 5-day training passed in the atmosphere of great enthusiasm, sound collaboration and cooperation. The participants welcomed the idea of organizing meetings and sharing experience after implementing the taught models of teaching.

For video please refer to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=874mr35JbQA&list=PLuK1Dqu4Ra0KzT9-lIZF0hRrOs0W11YS1&index=1