Quarantine is not an obstacle to the educational process: the experience of associate professor Khvist V.O.

The management of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine and the faculty for humanities and pedagogics, represented by Professor Nikolaenko S.M. and professor dean Shynkaruk V.D. have taken all necessary measures to keep the educational process under new conditions.

 

On March 12, 2020, professor Bilan S.O., head of the department of international relations and social sciences conducted a remote meeting of the department, at which it was decided to quickly organize the educational process with the help of e-learning technologies on the platform elearn.nubip.edu.ua and other most acceptable ways of feedback with students with constant two-way contact (e-mail, wyber, telegrams, etc.).

 

 

 

 

 

It should be noted that the instructors of the department were ready for such changes, since they have been familiar with distance learning for a long time. Back in 2007, the team, then the department of history of Ukraine, prepared a training manual in accordance with the curriculum, which outlines the method of studying the course "History of Ukraine" for students of distance learning of all specialties. In addition, since the early years of the introduction of the Moodle system at the University of Ukraine, where the NULES Training portal was built, our instructors have been actively involved in the process of creating and using e-learning courses. And if earlier they were used more for organizing students' independent work, performing tests or for part-time study, now it is the time to use the full-time distance learning opportunities!

 

 

 

 

 

The faculty of the department of international relations and social sciences has created 46 ETCs on 38 disciplines, which are taught to students of different specialties of the faculty for humanities and pedagogics and students of other faculties and TSI of NULES of Ukraine. Some of them are already certified, and the rest are tested and prepared for certification. This kind of work is really effective because both teachers and students work in the system every day. In addition to Moodle, other resources are also used: Google Classroom, PowToon, LearningApps, Kahoot, Skype, Viber, Telegram, Messenger, as well as widely used communication and information sharing via email. 

 

 

 

 

As of March 23, 2020, associate professor Khvist V.A. organized the work of the 1st year students of all 4 groups of the specialty "International relations" for training two seminar topics ("Foreign relations and consular law", "Constitutional status of the person and citizen") in the discipline "Comparative constitutional law and public international law" and one seminar topic ("International relations and European diplomacy of the XVIII century to the Great French bourgeois revolution") on the discipline "History of diplomacy". The instructor sent the necessary materials (seminar topics, lists of basic literature, requirements for completing assignments, etc.) to the e-mails of students of all his groups. All this information was also duplicated in the relevant eLearn e-learning courses. Therefore, the instructor uses all available and convenient means for exchanging information and communicate with the students: Skype, Elearn, Viber and e-mail. It should be noted that the students treated the assigned tasks extremely responsibly, conscientiously and, most of all, in a timely manner, completing the assigned tasks. 

 

 

 

 

Therefore, quarantine for the teaching staff of the department of international relations and social sciences did not become an insurmountable obstacle to the effectiveness of the continuing education process, every effort is made to make distance learning during quarantine productive, useful and interesting for students. This quarantine, like any crisis, is a good reason to acquire new professional skills; begin to do what has long been done.

 

One thing is clear – our instructors will find a way out of any situation. And they will do their best to give our students knowledge.. 

 

 

 

 Victoria Khvist,
associate professor of the department of international relations
and social sciences