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