HR4RS stamp
Raul Garcia Hemonnet
La III Week of Teaching Innovation It will begin on November 22nd and will take place on the Móstoles campus until the 25th of the same month. Now that the experience of the pandemic has largely passed, those responsible for the event, the Center for Teaching Innovation and Digital Education (CIED) of the URJC, have decided to focus "on one of the parts of the innovation process, which is which has to do with evaluation. This aspect will focus the three major activities of the Week: meeting of Degree coordinators, Educational Innovation Workshops and Teaching Innovation Conference (JID)”, says César Cáceres Taladriz, academic director of the CIED and professor at the ETSII.
One of the main novelties of this III Week is that, within the framework of the VII IADB, there will be the authorized voice of the students, with a table featuring and moderated by members of the student body in which they will talk about the role of this essential group in the evaluation process.
The work of the new Teaching Innovation Groups (GID) that responded to the call made by the CIED will also be presented, "we intend that these groups have a space to present proposals and results". "The pandemic has mobilized many teachers out of their comfort zone and they have had to innovate yes or yes, this has been channeled through the GIDs, since it has allowed teachers to collaborate."
Communications Record
One of the classic elements of the IADB are the communications that the URJC teachers send about innovative educational practices. In the 2021 edition, all records have been broken "We have received 144 communications, of which we have selected 94, that is, we have tripled the communications received and doubled those selected," says César Cáceres, who adds that this fact is "a symptom of the increase of awareness of the need to innovate by a greater part of the teaching staff. Before, the 'innovators' were a small group, but now it has grown a lot”.
There will also be space to see how the different central services of the university can contribute to the innovation of the teaching staff. The Equality Unit, Ofilibre, the Green Office and the Disability Care Unit will participate in this table. In addition, a Meeting of Degree Coordinators will take place, which will open the activities, in which the lessons that the pandemic has brought to innovation will be analyzed.
The week will feature the participation of a large majority of teachers from the URJC, but also from universities in the rest of Spain, who will take part, mainly in the initial presentations of the symposium.
“You have to innovate, otherwise the institutions die”
César Cáceres points out the need for the university to continue innovating, a need that is not limited to teaching, “if our university does not innovate in all aspects: teaching, research, services, etc. If it does not adapt to what society demands and what is seen to work, the institution falls behind and dies”.
Cáceres Taladriz also wanted to highlight the effort made by the entire university community, starting with the student body, and continuing with the PAS and faculty to adapt to the new situation. "Things have been done here, many times, at the same level as other renowned universities and in some cases, better," he says.
The Week is completed with the delivery of the VII Prizes to Innovative Teachers and the IV Recognition to Excellent Teachers, of the DOCENTIA program, acts that will constitute the closing of the event and will have the presence of the rector, Javier Ramos.