Six Lecturers from RSU Hone Their Digital Skills at the University at Buffalo

22 lecturers from different Latvian universities returned to Latvia at the end of 2021 after completing their full-time studies at the University at Buffalo in New York, USA. Six lecturers from Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) were among the programme’s graduates.

The participants learned how to improve the quality of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) teaching and programme aims to ensure that the skills the participants learn are transfered to Latvian universities. 

Six lecturers from RSU participated in the training programme:

• Assistant Professor Ieva Kalve from the Department of International Business and Economics, Faculty of European Studies;
• Līga Ozoliņa, Head of the Communication and Media Studies study programme at the Faculty of Communication;
• Sniedze Vilde, lecturer at the Language Centre,
• Oskars Radziņš, laboratory assistant at the Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry;
• Uldis Doniņš, Head of the Information Systems Division, Department of Information Technology;
• Assistant Professor Jevgenijs Proskurins, Head of the Department of Physics.

After the lecturers’ return to Latvia, they were congratulated by RSU Rector, Prof. Aigars Pētersons, Dean of the Faculty of Communication, Prof. Anda Rožukalne, Dean of the Faculty of European Studies, Prof. Andris Sprūds, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Assoc. Prof. Jana Pavāre, as well as Director of the Human Resources Department, Dace Jasmane.

The Rector urged them use their newly acquired knowledge and skills as extensively as possible, since digitalisation part of the university’s strategic development.

‘We welcome your suggestions in all shapes and forms e.g., approbation new IT tools for academic and research work, developing new study programmes and study content, working on practical solutions to digital challenges at the university, as well as implementing digital pedagogy at RSU more extensively,’

emphasised Prof. Pētersons, expressing his satisfaction with the enthusiasm of the staff and their interest in studying in the USA.

Līga Ozoliņa, researcher at the Faculty of Communication:

‘The biggest advantage of this programme is that you can observe and experience the pros and cons of the intensive American study process, because you are a full-time student in the direct sense of the word – we had lectures, homework, tests, group projects, presentations, and exams. Another advantage of the programme is that each member has a wide range of options to select courses in pedagogy, computer science, etc. that suited everyone’s research interests and daily work needs, mixing bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral level courses. As a result, each participant is given the opportunity to create a unique set of knowledge, which can then be introduced back into the study process in Latvia in the form of new courses, different teaching methods or innovations to existing courses and work processes.’

As part of the programme, the lecturers acquired the latest methods for preparing and teaching IT courses. Studying at the University at Buffalo enhanced their management and supervision skills and broadened their research and interdisciplinary academic experience. With a particular emphasis on the integration of digital content in other areas, the programme offered lecturers the opportunity to choose digital subjects from various faculties and departments. 

This interdisciplinary computer science programme began to be developed in 2018, when universities and industry partners looked for solutions and opportunities to increase the capacity of ICT specialist training during discussions with the Ministry of Economics and the Ministry of Education and Science. 

The digital literacy programme for lecturers was launched in 2019, before the pandemic, with 14 courses implemented over two years. It is necessary to continue such programmes and to build high-level teaching groups in Latvian universities and scientific institutions in order to strengthen Latvia’s digital capacity. The next group of 22 lecturers will travel to the University at Buffalo at the end of January. Four RSU lecturers are part of the group that will study in the USA until 21 May 2022.