University pedagogy students visiting the Educational Support facilities
Authors: Kalypso Filippou & Heidi Salmento
“I had no idea we have such great facilities & video studios here on campus. I was great to meet Opetuki personnel in person: it is easier to ask for guidance or advice when one knows the team in person. I found especially the presentations of the H5P tools and chat GPT and discussions during the visit on author/copyright issues regarding presenting and sharing of e.g., video material highly useful.”
This is one of the quotes that a university pedagogy student shared with us after attending the organised visit to the facilities of our university’s Educational Support Services. On the 31st of March 2023, our university pedagogy students who attend the advanced level of university pedagogy studies and the UTUPEDA staff members visited the Educational Support Services.
The visit was organized by UTUPeda Centre for University Pedagogy and Research and the Educational Support Services, and it was part of the course ‘Interactive Teaching’ (6 ECTS). The morning session started in Educarium with the students presenting and discussing their pre-recorded material which was part of the course learning tasks. Then we moved to Arcanum for the kick-off event of this collaborative day.
When we arrived in Arcanum, we had a short introduction round and then the staff members from the Educational Support Services presented current topics related to teaching. The topics of the presentations focused on the H5P tool and its multiple capabilities, and on ChatGPT which is a key topic of conversation between our teachers. Between the presentations, questions were raised by our students and lively discussions followed. After the presentations we were divided into two groups and had the opportunity to learn about classroom technology and the studio in Calonia. The lightboard in the studio and the many creative ways that we can incorporate it when we record our teaching were especially impressive.
“The Opetuki team provided a great opportunity to share ideas and experiences of using ChatGPT with researchers from different disciplines. I will also keep the possibilities of Rosetta’s webinar studio in mind for future panel discussions.”
University Pedagogy student
“It was great to meet the staff members of the Educational Support Services especially getting to hear and see the new technical solutions and discuss the possibilities of ChatGPT. I didn’t know about all the facilities and possibilities before. Personally, I think that the university could do better with more technical support to use the different facilities and the technologies they offer, for example for large events and especially for sudden dilemmas. Also, copyright issues and the use of online materials are still a matter of concern. In the end, I think the best part of the day was meeting people face to face and generally being able to discuss facilities and technical solutions. I got to know the faces behind the names, and it is now easier than ever to get in touch with them.”
University Pedagogy student
Meeting point in front of Calonia. Walking between the facilities gave an opportunity for further discussions on current teaching-related topics and sharing ideas on how to develop our teaching skills.
In Rosetta there is a webinar studio with the latest technology which can be used for recording ones teaching session but also for contact-, online-, and hybrid-teaching. After we got familiarised with the webinar studio, we shared our thoughts and impressions which were developed through our visit to the facilities of the Educational Support Services.
Here you can read some of the testimonies from the university pedagogy students and their impressions of the visit.
“For me, the best thing about this day was to attach real people to the names we’ve seen on the intranet. I’m much more inclined to ask for help now that I have at least a superficial understanding of who these people are and how much they could actually do for us. Visiting the facilities was also highly beneficial, as pictures do not tell the whole story.”
“The Opetuki visit was useful to have on a course like this. While I was aware of some of the premises, I had not yet been to all of them, and it was helpful to discuss things like ChatGPT which I had already tested myself, but I feel it is important to have time and space to discuss things like these.”
Overall, this was a very interesting and thought-provoking visit that we hope to repeat with our future university pedagogy students. We highly recommend our university staff members to familiarise themselves with the Educational Support Services and reach out for support and new ideas.