In September 2021 we will hold a hands-on workshop on e-learning techniques and strategies, under the aegis of CECAM, Psi-k and the MaX (Material Design at Exascale) European Center of Excellence, aimed at teachers and researchers in electronic structure and HPC in general. Join us! 

Around fall 2019, we were preparing to organize a hands-on workshop to demonstrate and teach online teaching tools and methods. “Because,” we wrote in the abstract, “these will change the higher education landscape in a way that cannot be fully predicted as yet.” Little did we know that soon all higher education on the planet would happen online. The workshop itself did not take place, as it was not possible to travel.

In this new world after the pandemic, experience and needs of those preparing online teaching are different. Therefore, we are once again preparing to organize a hands-on workshop on online and blended teaching, but now one that addresses the needs of the post-Covid era. There are plenty of reasons to keep elements of teaching in an online form permanently. How can we learn from the past year? How can we offer our online and blended teaching in a way that leads to better learning and increased student satisfaction? And what are the pitfalls we must avoid?

We’ve set ourselves the challenge to bring this information to you in an online format that will keep you engaged and motivated. You will leave the workshop with a set of online teaching materials you will have prepared, for your own courses, talks or science communication. You will not have the chance to hide yourself anonymously behind your laptop, and you will learn how to avoid the same for your students or your audience.

If you participate in this online workshop, you may expect :

• A short self-paced online preparation course, where you will learn the very basics and where you will set up the soft- and hardware you will need during the workshop. This will happen in the first two weeks of September.

• Four half-day live online sessions spread from September 15 to September 22. During and after every session you will work on several tasks, in small teams together with other participants.

• At the end of this week, you will be given a larger task that deals with a topic of your choice (e.g. something you will need to teach about at your institute, or a lecture you will have to give, or simply a science topic you like). You will work on this for one week.

• On October 1, there is a final online session where you will see what the other participants accomplished, and where you will get feedback on your work.

If you are interested to participate, you should register in two different steps (both steps are mandatory) :

• step 1: register at CECAM via this form (if you don't have one yet, create a CECAM account first)

• step 2: register via this form.

We're looking forward to wellcome you !

Stefaan Cottenier (Ghent University)
Andrea Cucca (CNRS)
Rex Godby (University of York)
Myrta Grüning (Queen's University Belfast)
Gian-Marco Rignanese (Université Catholique de Louvain)
Francesco Sottile (Ecole Polytechnique)
Matthieu Verstraete (University of Liege)
Zeila Zanolli (Utrecht University)