EUGLOH Members Gathered to Exchange Best Practices in Pedagogical Innovation
Under the coordination of the EUGLOH working group dedicated to International Teaching and Learning, the goal of this workshop was to identify and bring together teachers who stand out in their academic communities for the quality and innovative nature of their pedagogical practices.
Throughout the event, participants engaged in hands-on training activities in science communication (media training), developed audio-visual materials to disseminate their pedagogical approaches and contributed to compiling inspiring practices that will serve as future references for the entire EUGLOH network.
The key moment of initiative took place on 23 October, with the “Workshop on Pedagogical Innovation: Best Practices Showcase”, a public session led by Pedro Graça, Dean of the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences (FCNAUP), dedicated to sharing the best pedagogical practices identified through a competitive call for proposals launched internally. Eight innovative practices, selected by an evaluation committee, were presented by teachers from six universities:
- Bruno Echauri Galván, University of Alcalá, Spain (“Translation With Morals: Service-Learning, Translation, and Storytelling as Tools for SDG Awareness”);
- Gyula Nagy, University of Szeged, Hungary (“Resilient and Green Cities: Adaptation and Biophilic Design”);
- Lucas da Silva, University of Porto, Portugal (“Transforming Engineering Education: An Integrated Multimedia Learning Model”);
- Luiz André dos Santos Gomes, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (“Innovative Approaches to Inclusive Education: Hospital Pedagogy in Global Perspective”);
- Parisa Moll-Khosrawi, University of Hamburg, Germany (“Undergraduate emergency and communication training (Simulation)”);
- Sonya Van Schalkwyk-Barrois, University of Paris-Saclay, France (“In other wor(l)ds - a new approach to teaching English in the Workplace”).
- Stanka Radojicic, University of Novi Sad, Serbia (“Rebranding ESP with COIL”);
- Živana Komlenov Mudrinski, University of Novi Sad, Serbia (“Face-to-face, hybrid, and online educational escape room in nursing education”).
To identify and select the most innovative pedagogical practices, a set of five criteria was developed that achieved consensus among the universities of the Alliance: the relevance and suitability of pedagogical strategies in relation to the skills to be developed by students; the degree of innovation and change comparing to previous practices; the social impact, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals; student success and learning outcomes; sustainability and long-term viability of the practices.
Beyond being a training space, the workshop created a space for collective reflection on the opportunities and challenges posed by pedagogical innovation within European universities, in a context strongly shaped by digital transformation and the integration of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.
Discussions emphasized that pedagogical innovation extends far beyond the use of new technologies. Its true value lies in articulating digital transformation with the core principles of European higher education: inclusion, democracy, human dignity and critical thinking.
In this context, the EUGLOH member universities are working to promote transnational learning ecosystems that combine technological innovation with strong ethical and civic commitments, preparing students to address global challenges grounded in a shared European citizenship.