Trained in digital tools to conduct online teaching of social sciences.
[ 29/07/2022] Human Language Technology Institute (INESC-ID), Lisbon, Portugal
Open Lecture: Digital tools and LG programs to be utilized in university teaching of social sciences in Albania
[Date] 11.00 Am, Tuesday, July 26th , 2022
[Speaker] Dr. Mirela Alhasani (Dubali)
Mirela Alhasani (Dubali) received her PhD degree in classic and modern philology from University of Sofia ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, Bulgaria, in 2019. Her doctoral thesis focused on the need to urgently reform the university curricula of foreign languages in compatibility with the professional linguistic needs of EU market as the main target of university graduates in Albania. This interdisciplinary research was illuminated by the European integration theories obtained from Dr. Alhasani ‘s master program at Central European University, Budapest in 2004. She has been lecturing applied linguistics for 18 years at several universities in Albania and abroad. Recently, her research interest is into higher education andragogy depicting issues about digital pedagogy, language policy of multilingualism and bilingualism in EU and the ESP programs design. She has a notable record of publications of articles in Scopus, Web of Science, book chapters and books from SENSE ranking.
[Abstract]: COVID-19 pandemic education was carried out via online tech-merged teaching locally and globally. Digital tools were used as the only channel to transfer knowledge at all cycles of education in Albania ever since pandemic outbreak in March 2020. This unexpected scenario enforced instructors and learners to adapt fast to technology and language generated programs despite dispossession of any previous digital training or updated digital infrastructure. A study was carried out on the effectiveness of online academic English writing and reading graduate course taught during the 2020-2021 academic year at EPOKA university in Tirana, Albania. The author of this study was the lecturer of the said course who carried out the students’ needs assessment survey. The survey obtained unbiased feedback from 92 students enrolled in this academic English course. It revealed that overall, students succeeded in grasping knowledge however, they did not approve of tech-merged education reliance for any future unpredictable scenario. Students did not feel competent of self-management learning and assessment styles of their academic papers at home settings. Meanwhile, multimodal language technologies have been the central aim of digital EU next generation agenda, these discouraging findings call for more rapid action from the academic staff and students to better adapt and use language generation technologies in Albanian academia. This presentation aims to examine how and what language generated programs could be utilized for more effective techmerged teaching and learning styles for two end-users: academics of humanity programs and their students who revealed lack of digital competence. It sheds light on the inevitable necessity to introduce digital tools to both students and staff facilitating teaching and learning process of linguistics, but not limited to languages, encompassing law, political science, and social domains typical of voluminous writing, and reading tasks.
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