On February 12-17, 2024, the Workshop: "Train-the-teachers on developing innovative learning and teaching material" were held at the University of Agriculture in Krakow, which was the next (after Vienna: BOKU/TU - May 2023) meeting of the partners of the Li4LaM Project (ERASMUS+; financing ERASMUS-EDU-2022-CBHE-Project: 101083003; budget EUR 707,800.00).

 

The Kick-off Meeting Workshop session was officially opened by Prof. Ph.D. engineer Andrzej Sechman - Vice-Rector for International Cooperation of the University of Agriculture in Krakow. The invited guests of the Workshop on February 13, 2024 were also: Dr. hab. Eng. Tomasz Zaleski, prof. URK - Director of the Research Center for Tropical Areas, Ms. Msc. Dominika Dankiewicz - Head of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange; Ph.D. Eng. Maciej Pach, prof. URK – Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Forestry and Katarzyna Trochanowska, M.A. – Head of the e-Learning Center of URK, represented by Mr. Witold Nogieć, M.A.

The aim of the Li4LaM Workshops in Krakow was to familiarize teachers from 4 universities in Ethiopia with modern remote teaching methods on the Moodle platform (equivalent to eUReKa URK / Massive Open Online Course - MOOC; TU Wien) and to present and practical use of Open Source tools in the field of video editing to prepare materials. multimedia used in teaching. Practical assistance to workshop participants was provided by, among others: URK e-Learning Center conducting workshops using CapCut software in a professional recording studio. During the week-long workshops, their participants prepared online courses with multimedia materials in working groups along with an exam (quiz), which were finally made available on the Moodle platform. The project assumptions include the purchase of servers and the implementation of the Moodle system (https://moodle.org/) at 4 Universities in Ethiopia, as well as equipping and training local teachers in the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and local GNSS base stations necessary in the teaching process.

The main objective of the Li4LaM project is to develop and provide innovative teaching materials for 12 existing modules of study programs related to land management and spatial information, offered at 4 universities in northern Ethiopia. Each of the partner Ethiopian universities will also develop one new module (5 ECTS) tailored to the specific land management needs in their region, as well as one module (10 ECTS) developed for Lifelong-Learning (LLL) courses aimed at upgrading local skills experts in this field.

During the workshops, participants had the opportunity to learn practically about geoinformation technologies (GI) used in monitoring and managing protected areas (Tatra National Park) as well as 3D LiDAR presentations of mining facilities (the Wieliczka Salt Mine tourist route - UNESCO). The participants were also presented with the didactic processes of teaching subjects in the field of: GIS systems, 3D digital photogrammetry, UAV (UAV), digital cartography and satellite remote sensing (RS) used at the Faculty of Forestry of URK. Project participants visited the Soil Museum at the Soil Science Education Center thanks to the courtesy of Dr. Eng. Piotr Pacanowski and got to know the Old Town in a nutshell under the professional care of a professional tourist guide.

The partners of the Li4LaM (ERASMUS+) project are: Technische Universität Wien (TUW; Austria) – project leader; University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU; Austria); University of Agriculture in Krakow and University Lubljana (UL; Slovenia) from the UR countries and: Debre Markos University (DMU; Ethiopia), Bahir Dar University (BDU), Woldia University (WU) and Addis Ababa University (AAU).

The workshops in Krakow were prepared by a team of URK employees and PhD students: Head of the Li4LaM project at URK - Dr. hab. Eng. Piotr Wężyk + support: M.Eng. Wojciech Krawczyk, prof. URK; Ph.D. Eng. Marta Szostak, prof. URK; Dr. Eng. Paweł Hawryło, Ph.D. Eng. Karolina Zięba – Kulawik and MSc. Erdenetuya Boldbaatar – Ph.D. candidate).

You can read more about the Li4LaM project and the URK team at www.li4lam.urk.edu.pl

The next design workshops are planned for 2024 at universities in Ethiopia, but they depend on the improvement of the political situation in this country.

The Workshop organizers would like to express their special thanks to the Rector's Authorities of the Agricultural University of Krakow and the Rector's Office for providing support in matters of visa consultations and logistical assistance. We would also like to thank the URK e-Learning Center and the URK Congress Center for their cooperation.