Environmental Protection and Natural Disasters
Start date: Sep 1, 2015,
End date: Aug 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
The problems of environmental protection are integrated, interdisciplinary and combine multiple sciences. Because of that in integration of different disciplines we see the prospect for successful compilation of problems of environmental protection. At the points where different disciplines come together usually the new skills and knowledge are created, and the new technical solutions are formed. Interdisciplinary doctoral study of Environmental protection (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) offers lectures of various contents/topics. The main focus of doctoral studies is an interdisciplinary research work and collaboration of internationally renowned national and international experts in teaching and research arena of environmental protection. Doctoral studies ask for development of new knowledge worldwide and that is not possible without transnational collaboration. Because lecturers from all relevant areas of the summer school can not be obtained from Slovenia we need to cooperate with foreign universities, which have suitably qualified lecturers. Need of partners was to create discussion about hypothesis of doctoral study on international level and summer school offers good opportunity.
The idea of our project is to carry out 2 international blended learning summer schools. “Blended learning” designates the range of possibilities presented by combining Internet and digital media with established classroom forms that require the physical co‐presence of teacher and students (Friesen, 2012). Blended learning is a methodology to be used in carrying out the project.
Partners were chosen based on references in the topics that will be covered by the program. Participating organizations are University of Ljubljana, Brescia University, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences and Piktorama d.o.o.
The project is directly intended for 21 PhD students and potential PhD students from the three partner universities (7 from each University). Directly also teachers, professors and lecturers will be involved. Indirectly interested experts able to participate in online discussion will be involved. The other interested public will have the opportunity to watch and participate in the activities of the summer school project through the portal and e-classroom which will be developed.
The project is innovative because it allows PhD students to improve doctoral dissertation using on-line discussions, into which experts from the entire world shall be included. Doctoral dissertation deal with specific issues, so the opinion of experts who deals with similar issues is very important. And these experts usually can not be find locally, so we need to look at the global level. After the end of the summer school we will implement the workshop together with our partners. At the workshop we will present the results of use of blended learning method in PhD program.
The main objectives of project are: implementation of modern teaching method of “blended learning” as support to existing study techniques; finding best ways of this kind of study for doctoral and potential PhD students; international experience sharing between partners regarded blended learning and topic of summer school; deeper integration of risk studies in environmental research.
The first part of both summer schools will take place through online courses, the second part of the summer schools students will spend in Ljubljana. Second part of summer school provides among others discussion of doctoral dissertations of participants of the summer school. Lectures and discussions will be recorded and the material will be accessible through the portal and social networks even after the end of the summer schools. In this we see one of the potential long-term benefits of the implementation of our project. In this we see one of the potential long-term benefits of the implementation of our project. Other long-term benefits are: integration of blended learning methods of learning in other programs in both the partner and other universities; as students and professors will get contacts from each other; professional cooperation for the future is enabled etc.
Our desired results are that students will improve their: research work and deeply checked the hypothesis through on-line discussion streaming; communication skills in relation student-student and student-professor (also trough ICT); knowledge of the issues and approaches of solving from other backgrounds etc. Our desired results are also that participating organizations: improve cooperation; obtain useful information on the learning method “blended learning”; in further research will be able to use results of PhD students seminar etc.
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