What is the difference between a lecture and a tutorial and why is it not the same as a lesson? Thanks to the constant cooperation of the University of Lodz with the teaching staff of secondary schools, students can learn the answers to these and many other questions. Classes as part of the Open University programme arouse young people's scientific passions and interests, and help them discover them. Students can feel the academic atmosphere and experience that the University of Lodz is a truly open university that "frees the mind" and promotes development.
Some meetings under the Open University programme are held in small groups. "Emotions – a friend or a foe?" classes ran at the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Lodz constitute a great example. Such events are workshops in nature, during which interactive methods are used. There are also meetings whose participants fill the entire lecture hall. Demonstrations of experiments that take place at the Faculty of Physics and Applied Informatics of the University of Lodz are watched with great interest by nearly 150 high school students.
CHALLENGES DURING THE PANDEMIC AND WHAT NEXT?
The time of the pandemic and related to it restrictions was a special period for the Open University programme. We have set ourselves the goal of maintaining relationships with schools and we took up the challenge of continuing the project remotely. Not every class could be carried out in this formula. Despite this, during this most difficult period of the 2020/2021 school and academic years, we managed to meet with students from schools from the entire region of Lodz as many as 45 times.
The 2021/2022 school year was marked by a gradual return to normality. Initially, we met remotely, but in the second semester we started the much-awaited organisation of on-site events.
The last school and academic year 2022/2023 proved how much schools value our project and how much students missed visits to the University of Lodz. During this period, together with the researchers from the University of Lodz, we carried out as many as 120 classes. We hosted students from secondary schools from all over the Voivodeship of Lodz, as well as from further parts of Poland, for example:
- Liceum Ogólnokształcące z Oddziałami Dwujęzycznymi im. Władysława Jagiełły w Płocku [Władysław Jagiełło High School with Bilingual Departments in Płock]
- II Liceum Ogólnokształcące w Piszu [High School no. 2 in Pisz]
- IV Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Ignacego Jana Paderewskiego w Kaliszu [Ignacy Jan Paderewski High School no. 4 in Kalisz].
Students visited each of our faculties. The most popular classes were those held at the:
- Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection
- Faculty of Philology
- Faculty of Management
- Faculty of International and Political Studies
- Faculty of Educational Sciences
- Faculty of Economics and Sociology.
RELATIONS AND DEVELOPMANT OF THE PROGRAMME
The Open University programme is not only about organising classes, but also taking care of good relations between the university and the teaching staff of secondary schools, listening to current needs and expectations. We are constantly working on the programme, enriching and updating our proposals. This way, completely new classes have recently appeared:
- "Rozum czy serce – czyli to hormony rządzą uczuciami i emocjami" [Mind or heart, i.e. hormones govern feelings and emotions] a lecture by Dr Paulina Wigner-Jeziorska at the faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, the subject of which is particularly important from the perspective of young people
- "Enigma, czyli tajemnica" [Enigma, or secret] – a lecture combined with a workshop, conducted by Dr Aleksandra Sylburska at the Faculty of Philosophy and History, presenting the history of the Enigma encryption machine and its development by the Polish and Anglo-Saxon cryptological services, and in the practical part engaging students in the role of cryptanalysts.
Thanks to the Open University programme, we show teachers and students what development opportunities we create here. Choosing a university and a study programme is definitely one of the most important decisions in the lives of young people. We hope that soon the University of Lodz will be your choice.
Text: Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz
Photos: Dr Joanna Ciesielska-Klikowska
