Trans-flipping the classroom face-to-face in Rep North Macedonia

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION AND THE ACTIVITY

     Dr. Zoran Zdravev is founder/co-owner of PoliProekt and he is e-learning and information systems consultant. He received the PhD degree in Computer Science from the Faculty of Natural  Sciences and Mathematics Skopje, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje in 2011. At the moment he works as a head of the E-Learning Center at Goce Delcev University in Stip. He is engaged in several EU projects related to e-learning and using ICT in the education Open Data/Open Educational Resources. His research interests include: E-learning (methods, technologies, and quality issues), Learning Content Management Systems, Learning Objects, Learning Objects Repositories, Social and Semantic Web (Web 2.0, interaction capturing, personalization), Virtual Learning Environments, Digital Repositories and Natural Language Processing. As a consequence of this, the activity will have an E-learning component and focus.

PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS


     Participants from Spain, Romania, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovenia will take part in this learning/teaching /training activity. As for the general profile, all the participants will be staff members involved in flipped instruction or willing to implement this kind of approach in their classes or training programs. The selection process will take into account the profile of the hosting organization so that the impact and results are guaranteed.

     More specific profiles per organization will be:

  • Colegiul Iuliu Maniu: Teachers and trainers of foreign languages, IT...
  • Verdiblanca: staff (teachers, trainers, administrators...)working with disabled students.
  • IES La Puebla: staff working with adult students in Secondary Education and Higher Secondary Education programs for adults (blended learning, face to face, IT...)
  • University of Hannover: experts and researchers in the field of Education.
  • Polo Europeo della Conoscenza (Europole): (teachers, trainers and administrators) working with Third Age Universities and students with different disabilities.
  • Centrum pro komunitni praci Severní Morava: Staff involved in adult education and community development.
  • Ljudska Univerza: Staff (teachers, trainers and administrators) involved in Third Age Universities and staff working in immigrant integration.

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION, GOALS AND RESULTS


     The activity will last for 5 full days, so the participants will travel the day before and will leave after the last day of activity.

     The basic program will include, at least, the following aspects:

  • Activities conducive to a better understanding and knowledge of cultural and socioeconomic aspects of the environment where the organization is located. These activities are important to be able to put the hosting organization into context, and identify different lifestyles, routines, values, challenges, intercultural aspects, etc.
  • Interaction with the administrators and staff members from the organization (headmaster, manager, deans of instruction, counsellors, teachers...). This activity will enable the participants to a better understanding and knowledge of the educational system in Romania and to establish long-lasting bonds and cooperation.
  • Interaction with students in the learning environment. This activity will be important to interact face to face with students that are involved in the virtual part of the learning community that will be created on Moodle. This interaction will provide further relevant information to the teachers about the students.
  • Observation of flipped classroom activities. The flipped classroom observations are essential to the project objectives since they will allow the participants to observe and exchange good practices and gather additional materials.
  • Observation of regular classes. These activities will enable the participants to compare and contrast regular methodologies with flipped instruction. This will lead to a better knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of each program so that the staff can deal with the disadvantages and benefit from the advantages in a more effective way.
  • Observation of how the staff at Colegiul Iuliu Maniu help the disadvantaged students to overcome their learning difficulties due to lack or resources. This will help all the staff members from all the participating institutions to identify good practices to help disadvantaged students due to lack of resources.