Abstract:

An important challenge in higher education didactics is the implementation of student-centred learning and teaching. The term "student-centred learning and teaching" is increasingly used in documents on higher education development and is now considered synonymous with high-quality educational activities in higher education institutions. Student-centred learning and teaching enable students to actively participate in the study process, to influence it and to control their own learning process.

In this paper, we present support for university teachers in training for working with students. We were also interested in the extent to which curricula are student-centred and how students perceive learning and teaching from the perspective of the teaching method.

The research results remind us that the Republic of Slovenia is concerned about the pedagogical competence of university staff and teachers. We are reminded of this by the large number of participants in the trainings held as part of the project "Innovative learning and teaching for quality careers of graduates and excellent higher education" (INOVUP).

The topics of the trainings conducted guided university teachers to use different approaches that help students to activate their thinking processes and lead to deeper learning. The topics were: planning the pedagogical process and preparing lectures and exercises, the specifics of higher education teaching when working with large and small groups of students, engaging research and pedagogical work, writing good exam questions, characteristics of flipped learning and teaching in higher education, current issues of professional development, the issue of interculturality, problem-based learning, mentoring doctoral students, integrating educational technology into the pedagogical process. The trainings were held in the form of workshops, which helped the audience to acquire various knowledge and skills in the field of higher education didactics.

When analysing the lesson plans, we found that the teachers plan both methods that put the teacher in the foreground (e.g., lectures) and methods that are more student-oriented (discussions, problem solving). This is also confirmed by the results of previously conducted research (Shirani Bidabadi, Nasr Isfahani, Rouhollahi and Khalili, 2016), which emphasise the importance of planning and prior preparation of the learning process by the teacher. They also believe that the best approach to teaching includes both student-centred and teacher-centred learning methods.

These efforts were also confirmed by the students from the University of Maribor who participated in the research. The results of the research show that university teachers at the University of Maribor use various teaching methods in the implementation of the study process, among which lectures dominate (Ivanuš Grmek, Javornik, Ograjšek, 2020). The use of different teaching methods has a positive effect on students' learning performance, it enables students to actively participate in and influence the learning process and to control their own learning process (Ganyaupfu, 2013).

Keywords:

Higher education didactics, student-centred learning and teaching, university teacher training, curricula.