Early career academics’ reflections on learning to teach in central Europe

The book contains studies from how participants of an educational development programme offered at the University of Economics in Bratislava and Masaryk University in Brno have integrated acquired knowledge and skills with their pedagogic practice. The chapters are written as case studies of good practice or case studies of problematic issues encountered in the participants’ teaching. Relying on the relevant literature, each case study describes one or two pedagogic concepts that informed the change that the participant introduced in their teaching. The chapters are grouped according to a teaching challenge faced by the author and form five clusters (with two or three chapters each). A commentary by an external expert (educationalist) accompanies each group of chapters to highlight its theoretical and practical implications. The book is thus framed by a theory-to-practice link that is so vital to good educational development.

The book is edited by Gabriela Pleschová and Agnes Simon (ISBN: 978-1-902435-63-3). Published 2018.

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Reactions to each chapter can be found at SEDA blog and ALPS.

You can download the PDF of the whole book here.

• Introducing Educational Development for University Teachers in Central Europe by Gabriela Pleschová
• Chapter 1: Using cut-ups and and topic maps in semiotic analysis seminars to enhance student participation, interest and knowledge by Michał Tkaczyk
• Chapter 2: Group work as a tool to improve participation and overcome fear of foreign languages among non-native English speakers by Godwin Kwasi Awuah
• Cluster 1 Commentary: Young Academics’ stories from learning to teach; Taking the plunge into group work by Lynn McAlpine
• Chapter 3: ‘Design your own flying carpet’: Helping students to master research proposal writing by Ivana Rapošová
• Chapter 4: Using the flipped classroom approach to teach qualitative comparative analysis by Kateřina Fridrichová
• Cluster 2 Commentary: Stepping stones in a learning journey as a university teacher by Katarina Mårtensson
• Chapter 5: Does active learning work? The experiences of Brno and Tehran psychology students by Stanislava Kováčová
• Chapter 6: Student perception of active learning methods in a political science course by Ina Fujdiak
• Cluster 3 Commentary: Activating teaching methods – Multiple perspectives for educational development by Peter Van Petegem
• Chapter 7: Life after academia; preparing students for successful collaboration by Dubravka Kovačević
• Chapter 8: Enhancing formative assessment as a way of boosting students’ performance and achieving learning outcomes by Nikita Minin
• Cluster 4 Commentary: Small-scale scholarly teaching innovations that might spark wider change by Torgny Roxå
• Chapter 9: Redesigning an unpopular university course: Ways to promote student’s motivation and quality of learning by Ludmila Kašpárková
• Chapter 10: It takes two to tango: How to get international relations students engaged in their learning by Barbora Padrtová
• Chapter 11: Student pair work as a tool to promote active learning among students in Kosovo by Shpend Voca
• Cluster 5 Commentary: Enhancing student motivation, interest and participation: Young academics’ experiments with active learning by Kathleen M. Quinlan
• Chapter 12: Engaging non-majors in an introductory political science course via debates, primary sources and cut-up cards by Martin Karas
• Chapter 13: Comparing classes with different levels of student control while cultivating students’ intercultural competences by Alexander Pechersky
• Chapter 14: Implementing constructive alignment and active learning while leading accounting seminars by Petra Srnišová
• Cluster 6 Commentary: Fostering active learning for student engagement in higher education by Kate Thomson
• Chapter 15: Peer feedback to facilitate independent learning among first year sociology students by Alica Rétiová
• Chapter 16: Using an online quiz as a formative tool in Latin medical terminology courses by Natália Gachallová
• Chapter 17: ‘I know what social work is’: Bringing constructive alignment to a social work course by Daniela Jaklová Střihavková
• Cluster 7 Commentary: Reflection on feedback and reflection as feedback by Allan Goody
• Conclusion: Inspiring change in teaching in Central Europe and elsewhere by Agnes Simon