“Meeting people who are equally passionate about teaching gives you wings and lifts your spirits,” says Łukasz Pajewski, M.Sc. from our Faculty, trainer of the Centre for Teaching Excellence.

The Centre for Teaching Excellence was established in 2020 to develop and support the modernization of education at our university and to promote best teaching practices.

Since then, the unit has carried out a number of activities, such as research, analyses, trainings and meetings. Some of them were: Days of Good Teaching (in 2022 and 2023), TES seminars (Teaching Excellence Seminars) and the University's Teaching Excellence initiative. As part of the latter, the Centre established the School for Education Leaders, which provided training to 29 people, who in turn provided training to other teachers at our University.

In total, almost 400 lecturers from Wrocław University of Science and Technology took part in original training courses (in Polish and English) conducted by people involved in CTE initiatives. One of them is Łukasz Pajewski, M.Sc. from the Department of Telecommunications and ICT.

“After we were trained ourselves, we could start deliver professional internal trainings at WUST,” says Łukasz Pajewski. His adventure with training and CTE began in 2019, even before the Centre was established. This is when the project "Innovative university – innovative teacher" was carried out at our university. “Teaching has always been exciting to me. From what students say, it appears that I have a knack for it, so when I heard about the possibility of improving my competences, I took part in a total of 12 training courses.”

Łukasz Pajewski recalls that it was an amazing adventure during which he could expand his skills, observe the work of professionals and obtain a tutor certificate. He still uses everything he learned then in his work with students.

“The beginnings are always difficult, but incorporating design thinking, action learning, feedback methods or any basics of public speaking into the classes brings wonderful results,” says our academic teacher. “Meeting people who are equally passionate about teaching gives you wings and uplifts your spirit.”

The scientist continued training under the "Action Inspiration" program, in which the skills of the already trained teachers were passed on to other lecturers in originally prepared internal trainings. Łukasz Pajewski conducted a training on social loafing, talking about the dangers of working in a group and how to force all group members to actively participate in the task.

CTE also conducted almost 60 supervisions of teaching classes – in the form of peer support in the teaching process. The unit emphasizes that this type of course assessment is much more appreciated by academic teachers than traditional observations (it allows teachers, among other things, to learn new teaching techniques, shows that teaching at the university is important and gives the opportunity to consult with someone more experienced).

“It is about showing alternative ways of conducting classes, listening to and understanding another teacher,” emphasizes Dr. Anna Borkowska, current director of the Centre for Teaching Excellence.

During the Thursday's conference, university authorities presented plans related to the future of the Centre and the development of education at the university. The objectives of the unit are, among others, to: develop tutoring activities at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, create a team promoting the problem-based learning method, develop other teaching methods (e.g. using gamification) and create opportunities for lecturers to use the latest technologies in teaching.

“Until now, we had the door ajar, and now we are opening it wide,” said Prof. Kamil Staniec, vice-rector for education at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. “The Centre will change in terms of its organization, operating on a par with the Education Department and the Recruitment Department. It will have its own budget and support of experts, opening itself to new initiatives. The Centre's budget is to be supplemented by grants supporting scientific approaches to teaching and learning, curriculum designs and conference trips.

Future activities result from the extensive analyses that the Centre has carried out so far, preparing three reports related to teaching at the University, including, research in the form of surveys, which were completed by 50 percent of WUST teachers. Prof. Elżbieta Zienkiewicz, who will currently serve as the director of CTE, notes:

“I want our Centre to be alive – strong, open and inviting, caring for people with initiative, and also bold in proposing initiatives – both new and original ones and those that have already proven successful at other universities. It should also be controversial and rebellious, because we want a revolution. We intend to look at what is happening in education around the world, analyse, ask questions and follow trends, and then implement solutions that we believe will change our teaching for the better.

The CTE representatives also emphasise that the unit will focus on the student, because teaching at university is about supporting the development of young people.

“I am very grateful to all people involved in the activities of the CTE,” said Prof. Arkadiusz Wójs during the Thursday's conference. “We all want our students to spend some valuable time when gaining experience at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. We want to change for them.

During the meeting, the teachers and students who support the activities of the CTE were awarded certificates.

•    SuperVisors:

•    TuTech – for representing the University during teaching events, volunteering at Unite!, supporting the activities of the CTE and co-organizing trainings as part of the "University Teaching Excellence" project:

Oliwia Frankiewicz, Mateusz Drąg, Maciej Kazalski, Stanisław Oliszewski, Patryk Peroński, Aleksandra Mokrzan, Kamila Żabicka, Christopher Jones, Zuzanna Walkowiak, Agata Biesiekierska and Jan Stogniew.

•    analytical team: