SHAPING UP A CULTURE OF QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE COMMUNITY OF BECOMING ACADEMIC TEACHERS – THE CASE OF ‘INSPIRING EACH OTHER - UNIVERSITY DIDACTICS PLATFORM'

From the time of Bologna Declaration there is evident, among academic communities, that taking a care of developing quality of education in all aspects of university activities is indispensable condition to prepare young people to their professional life.

In this article I would like to present an approach to prepare doctoral students and novice assistants at the University of Technology to become academic teachers, who understand and respect in their work with their students a strong need to keep a high quality of teaching, to make possible to students to gain competencies necessary in their future professional work, and also who are able to develop permanently their own professional workshop in art of higher education.

Today employers’ demands from young people who have just got an academic diploma, are strongly connected with so called ‘soft skills’ rather than mastered formal knowledge. Thus, becoming academic teachers shall be prepared to their didactical work with students in such a way that developing all necessary competencies by their students could be possible, assuring a high quality of their studies.

My author’s idea is creating an environment – so called ‘Inspiring each other - University Didactics Platform' (UDP) - that allows doctoral students to gain an experience in teaching before they start working as academic teachers, as well as novice assistants in their initial period of academic career. The first step was taken seven years ago – as an approach to teaching the ‘University Didactics’ (UD) two-semester course, which is gradually developed and enriched by innovative ideas and activities of its participants. This UDP became open to all doctoral students of various technological and social disciplines at the university, so that now there is possible for all participants to experience working together in interdisciplinary teams and inspiring each other.

The main expected learning outcome of the UDP is a preparation of participants to innovative teaching, aimed at assisting and supporting students in their learning process - 'student-centered learning' (SCL), by encouraging their creative thinking and enhancing their cognitive development.

To achieve this aim, the UD-course is implemented exactly in a ‘learners’ activating style, and participants themselves need to have a ‘first-hand’ experience, what really is ‘learners’ supporting by a teacher’ in the process of studying and what means for learners ‘an activating teaching style’.

The keynote of realization of this course - from the perspective of participants - is working on a Team Projects which consist in planning, elaborating and carrying out SCL-classes for students, including all elements of the work of an academic teacher ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ the activity. Participants are highly motivated to complete their own Team Project. They also have an opportunity to observe their academic teacher in the role of a person supporting them in their learning process.

I announced above only the main ways of becoming academic teachers’ working together in a frame of the UDP. In the article the most fundamental pillars of innovative academic teachers training are recognized and explored - explaining them in the context of shaping up and permanent enhancing a quality culture in higher education.