James Groccia shares the best practice in learning and supervising

Professor of higher education of Auburn University James Groccia is in Tartu in March, giving lectures, consulting doctoral students and counselling supervisors of doctoral students of the University of Tartu at an open seminar.

While in Estonia, James Groccia teaches a course for international doctoral students “Learning and Teaching in Higher Education”. Doctoral students can also receive individual feedback from Groccia on their work and ask him questions related to their doctoral thesis and studies.

Pihel Hunt, doctoral student of the University of Tartu Institute of Education, says that James Groccia guides students to think about their philosophy of teaching and offers good tips for making studies more effective and more meaningful for the learner. “While a large proportion of our studies as doctoral students is taken up by research work and discussions on different dissertation-related topics, James Groccia’s lectures and seminars enable us to also think of other aspects of work at the university, like learning and supervising,” said Hunt.

On 23 March, Groccia conducts a seminar for supervisors of doctoral students “Best Practice in Supervising Doctoral Students”. The seminar takes place from 10:30–14:00 in UT Institute of Education (Salme 1a-104), and supervisors of the University of Tartu doctoral students are invited to attend. The schedule of the seminar can be found here. Please register for the seminar by 21 March. The seminar is organised by the Graduate School of Educational Sciences, financed by the University of Tartu’s ASTRA project PER ASPERA, which is supported by the European Regional Development Fund.

Professor of higher education of Auburn University James Groccia has been visiting professor at the University of Tartu Institute of Education since March 2016.

Groccia’s contacts with Estonia started in 2007, when he attended the meeting of the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED) in Tartu and led a workshop for teaching staff here. He has taught university teachers at a Summer Academy, delivered presentations and conducted workshops at conferences aimed at developing teaching skills.

Additional information: Mari Karm, Associate Professor of Higher Education Teaching, 737 6470, mari.karm@ut.ee