RSU Lecturers Innovatively Modernise Study Courses

Lecturers from Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) have developed new and innovative study courses and upgraded current courses by creating appropriate methodological solutions in four months with the financial support of the Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation. A repeated scholarship application period will open this August when healthcare and social sciences lecturers from RSU will have the opportunity to apply.

The lecturers started working on modernising study programmes and developing ideas this February, at a time when nobody could have even suspected the impending global pandemic. ‘When we started selecting scholarship recipients, the commission was unanimous in thinking that modernising the e-study environment and integrating tools allowing lecturers to prepare at home before classes and seminars would greatly benefit students. We could not at that time have even imagined that very soon this would become our daily life and that the entire university would be forced to adapt to the remote learning process within a very short period of time.

I can proudly say that RSU employs truly motivated lecturers, who were ready to devote their free time to modernise study courses in order to promote meaningful remote studies without foreseeing future events, and based entirely on their own initiative,’

says Artūrs Kaļva, the Executive Director of the RSU Alumni Association and member of the Scholarship Commission.

Nora Jansone-Ratinika, the Director of the Centre for Educational Growth (CED), and Raimonds Strods, Teaching and Learning Project Manager, add that modernising study courses means that the quality of studies improves, which is particularly important at a time when the university is switching from regular to remote studies: ‘As a result of targeted scholarships, lecturers have not only enriched the content and design of their study courses, but have also improved their e-study courses in a way that makes it possible to implement them using blended learning approach. Thanks to technological solutions, learning has become flexible and accessible at any time and in any place.

Lecturers not only worked independently and with each other, but also consulted with colleagues from the CED thus bringing high added value. Finally, they jointly reviewed and evaluated the outcomes that, in turn, promoted further innovation, new cooperation projects and interdisciplinary study courses.’

In early June, 13 lecturers presented their performance to the Scholarship Commission, including those who developed their modernisation plans individually, and new lecturers, who worked hand-in-hand with their mentors. The scholarships were granted to lecturers from the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Communication, the Faculty of European Studies, the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Dentistry. Two new study courses have been developed and eight existing study courses have been upgraded with interactive video lectures and self-assesment tests. In addition, a digital catalogue of histological and embryological macropreparations was created, and a study course to help students prepare for the state uniform lawyer's qualification examination was improved, among other noteworthy innovations that have been introduced.