This week has been somewhat different compared with the previous ones. Studies for the MSc course had to come second for most of the time as I have been in Poland for five days to attend the DARE Conference at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
Although I had managed to login a few times from the Hotel’s PC there was only limited functionality as the interface was entirely in Polish and I could not install any software.
So this week’s summary will just be about my conference experience:
The conference was about raising the profile of disability units at Universities and find ways to enhance the effectiveness of different learner support units.
The program was essentially divided into three main themes:
- Physical disabilities (e.g. wheelchair access)
- Visual and hearing impairements
- Dyslexia and other learning difficulties
Interestingly many of the delegates had some sort of disabilities with several blind and deaf/dumb delegates attending. I managed to talk to a number of them and some of them were lecturers or professors in their relevant subject areas indicative of the potential which resides in those individual. This was quite an unsual experience as I have never really encountered any disabled people when attending previous conferences.
The organiser of the Conference, Ireneusz Bialek turned out to be blind too and I have rarely seen a funnier man.
My own presentation was towards the end of the conference and I was talking about a new, radical Blended Learning approach which may assist in helping disabled people learn more effectively and despite the late timing it was well received and several delegates have expressed an interest to try this peadagogic model out.
Jagiellonian University located within the old centre of Krakow is by far the oldest University of Poland, founded in the 1364 by Kasimier the Great, a very powerful Polish-Lithuanian ruler at the time, initially under the name Krakow Academy. One of its most famous Alumni were Nikolaus Kopernikus and in the 20th century Carol Woytila alias Pope John Paul II.
As a very traditional and proud institution centred around liberally minded and deeply religious professorial staff the Jagiellonian suffered terribly under the reign of the communists with most resources funnelled towards the University of Metallury and Engineering . It was only after the collapse of the Communist regime in 1989 that its full status had been reinstated and since then its delapidated buildings have been restored to its former glory.
Below is a short clip which demonstrates the prgress which has been made over the past 15 years of restoration. Using the Flip HD camcorder I have made a few short recording from the inside of the Auditorium of the Collegium Novum where the lectures were held and the Collegium Maius where the first Conference Dinner was hosted.
http://www.vimeo.com/7253222
