Training the Trainers

The interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary character of the field of European Studies and its increased openness to both traditional students and non-traditional groups, i.e. professionals, require a mix of pedagogical approaches and the use of innovative tools in order to address the academic needs as well as job market demands 

INOTLES is targeted at training academic and IT staff involved in teaching ES across its partner universities. The training is based on a cooperative approach, building on partners’ practice and encouraging group learning in innovative teaching methods and tools that would tackle the major challenges across the field of ES.

The focus is on identifying the specific fields of knowledge and expertise that the EU institutions require, job market demands, as well as exploring the appropriate balance between knowledge and skill transfer to learners.

The training combines face-to-face and online interaction and exchange of practices. Selected trainers from PC and EU institutions will be brought to Brussels for face-to-face training in June 2014, where the EU partners will enable them to experience different pedagogies at first-hand by sharing their teaching expertise in innovative methods, such as problem-based learning, e-learning, and simulations. This will be followed by online group collaboration to develop conceptual understanding of pedagogical approaches. The training will conclude with a face-to-face conference in Georgia in January 2015, reporting the lessons learnt and disseminating its results to a broader national and international audience.

The trained staff from PC universities are expected to disseminate the gained knowledge and skills within their universities. The national Centers of European Studies in Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine will offer at least one in-house training in teaching ES by the end of 2016.