Abstract:

The global trend of implementing new learning technologies together with various faculty policies regarding the use of e-learning tools are pushing teachers to apply digital solutions as part of their courses and their teaching practices in general. This may, however, cause resentment for two main reasons: lack of digital literacy and lack of time.

To successfully deal with these two issues, we devised a stipend scheme to motivate students to get involved in the process of preparing and running blended e-learning courses together with their teachers. In the role of assistants, such students perform various tasks ranging from organizing study materials to filling up test banks to moderating forum discussions. In this way, teachers get help in both of the above-mentioned areas; they save time by transferring part of the workload on these assistants, and they save effort and also avoid much frustration by letting the more technology-savvy students deal with demanding technology-related issues. The program has been running for several years and has been quite successful in promoting innovation and new ways of teaching and learning round the faculty.

The present poster will outline the scheme of the stipend program and summarize the main issues connected to its successful implementation. Also, the poster will show an overview of the current academic year as regards the total number of e-courses at the faculty, number of student assistants, and list of the main activities carried out by the students involved.

Keywords:

e-learning, digital gap, innovation, student assistants.