Abstract:

Analyses of current trends in economics, economy, industry and forecasts of their development in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution indicate a strong need for skills, which today are required only from a small group of employees, but in the near future these skills will be necessary and common for many employees. These analyses also predict that in the near future there will be a drop in the number of jobs requiring routine manual and cognitive skills, and an increase in the number of positions requiring non-routine analytical and interpersonal skills.

Among the skills, that seem to be the most sought after in the 21st century, there are basic skills, in addition to literacy and numeracy skills, such as: ICT, financial, cultural and civic literacy; key competencies, such as: critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration; and also character qualities, such as: persistence, adaptability, curiosity, initiative, leadership, social and cultural awareness (World Economic Forum Reports, Davos, 2018).

To give students the opportunity to acquire these skills, it is necessary to organize their learning process in such a way that students can systematically develop all these skills. This is an urgent task for teachers at all levels of education.

However, at university level, developing the skills of the 21st century is still a challenge for academic teachers and requires them to reorganize the teaching process – the transition from traditional, teacher-centered teaching style to the style of effectively supporting students on their way of studying, gathering educational experiences, building own knowledge and developing desired skills.

In this article I would like to present the main results of my own project: “Exploratorium - learning through engagement”, which is a didactic environment for novice academic teachers at the university of technology, in which – within one year - they practice innovative didactic SCL methods to support the active learning of students in the field of science, ICT, engineering and mathematics, simultaneously developing all the required skills mentioned above. The report from this project will be extended to the opinions of students and teachers who participated in this project or continue to participate in it. I will also present cases of further didactic experiences of teachers who have already completed their contribution to the project.

Keywords:

University didactics, innovative forms of academic teaching, innovative academic teachers’ training.