Best e-course of the year is “History of the Baltic Sea Region” of the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies

On 28 May, the Information Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA) organised the festive online recognition seminar to introduce high-quality e-courses created in Estonian higher education institutions, vocational and general education schools, to acknowledge the authors of e-courses awarded with the quality label and announce the best e-course of the year.

The title of the best e-course of the year went to the e-course “History of Baltic Sea Region” of the UT Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, created by Heiko Pääbo. The title of the best e-course of the year comes with a grant of 2,000 euros to the author of the course.

According to the panel of experts, this course combines face-to-face and online learning in the best possible way, uses interactive learning materials and creates a learning environment that fosters freedom of opinion.

“It’s a great recognition for me. Creating an online course is a time-consuming process. This course offers learners the possibility to study in the classroom or now also online. I’ll definitely go on developing e-learning, and already in the autumn semester, students can continue both face-to-face and remote studies in the programmes and courses I teach or manage,” said Heiki Pääbo, Lecturer in Politics of Baltic Region Countries, as he received the award.

In the 2020 call for applications, HITSA granted the e-course quality label to 13 e-courses of the University of Tartu. All in all, 119 e-courses of the University of Tartu have received the quality label and eight have won the title of the best e-course of the year. Six of the e courses awarded with the quality label in 2020 were nominated for the title of the best e-course of the year. These six included five e-courses of the University of Tartu and one from the Estonian University of Life Sciences.

Further information: Lehti Pilt, Senior Specialist for Educational Technology, University of Tartu, +372 737 6306, lehti.pilt@ut.ee