is a project organized by epsNet and Slovak PhD. Students' Association (ADS). Its aim is to help first-time University teachers of political science to improve their teaching practice.
First workshop took place in June 2004 during annual epsNet conference in Prague. Fifteen young University teachers from different European countries participated in the workshop. At the beginning of the session they received training from three experienced teachers: L. Kvasz (Comenius University), L. Thorlakson (Nottingham University) and J. Vihan (Cambridge University) how to teach their students better. Then they discussed experience with education of undergraduate students in political science. They talked about the problems they face and also discussed different approaches, purposes and ways of motivation of their students. According to the participants of the first workshop it was a very good experience and very helpful. They all manifested enthusiasm, fervor and sincerity to be good teachers.
Second workshop took place in June 2005 during annual epsNet conference in Paris. epsNet again supported 13 PhD. students to participate at the workshop. Karen Henderson from Leicester University, Matyas Szabo from Central European University and Martin Plesch from the Slovak Academy of Sciences acted as lecturers. About 30 people listened to their lectures and involved in the fierily discussion. First draft of the volume from the workshop can be downloaded here.
Third workshop is planned for Budapest (June 2006). When compared to the previous half-day workshops, in Budapest we plan to organize a two-day event composed from lectures, presentations, discussions and a training of special skills. Namely, previous workshops showed the need to enlarge the event and organize more discussions oriented on different issues in order to profoundly analyze the most crucial problems first-time University teachers meet with. The partner organizations are ADS, epsNet, IFYS Foundation and Course Development Centre of the Central European University.
Except for these international meetings, a two-year training program for the first-time University teachers in Slovakia starts in October 2005, which consists of several workshops and meetings. The Slovak PhD Students' Association is one of the three project partners.
Furthermore, in the near future, we plan to organize a workshop and training in one of the NIS countries, most probably in the Ukraine.
The workshop is focused on several key problems young university teachers struggle with.
EpsNet usually provides a per diem support for PhD students who participate at the workshop. It is granted to doctoral students that have sent by e-mail a short paper on one of the topics describing their experience with teaching (3 pages).
One of the outputs of the workshop is a volume Gregušová, G. (ed.): "How to Teach Political Science? Experience of First-time University Teachers" epsNet Teaching Political Science series no.1, Budapest 2005 (ISSN 1815-2457, ISBN 963 218 399 1). It contains papers of the lecturers L. Kvasz, L. Thorlakson and J. Vihan, moreover most notable essays of PhD participants and conclusions of the workshop. This way PhD. students can use better information and experience of colleagues during their daily praxis at the University.
Call for papers for the Paris workshop can be downloaded here. Call for papers for the Budapest workshop and training shall be published in late Autumn 2005. The event shall be particularly focused on the issues of motivation and supervision.
If you were interested in the project please do not hesitate to contact the coordinators of the project (me - gregusova et fses.uniba.sk) or Eszter Simon from the Central European University in Budapest (eszter_simon et freemail.hu)