TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE Establishment of a Central Unit for training the Educational Staff of T.E.I. of Crete training the Educational Staff of T.E.I. of Crete in New Pedagogical Methods and New Technologies in Education in New Pedagogical Methods and New Technologies in Education J. Kaliakatsos, Ch. Haritaki, E. Antonidakis, G. Liodakis

TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

 Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I.) of Crete conducted a survey among its educational staff members and found that there is a need for training them in new trends and new technologies in education. Thus was decided to organize and put in operation a Central Unit for this scope.  This is very important for the Institution because it is in the process of evaluating and reforming its educational program of studies. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

The organizational structure of this Unit consists of a committee with the responsibility to organize expert groups in the following subjects: New trends in Higher Education.. Introduction of New Technologies in Education for the whole Institution. Use of new technologies to deliver distance education, lifelong learning [3] and training at the six branches of the Institute, all around Crete. Act as a first level self-evaluating committee in the process of evaluation of our Institution TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

The Directions of the Central Unit are the following: 1.Support Self-Training of educators at the new educational trends: (i) the usage of new technologies on multimedia and informatics and (ii) the introduction of new courses offered by distant learning for the wider opening of the Institution to the society through life-long learning. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

The Directions of the Central Unit are the following: 2.Help to improve the quality of the produced educational material, in print or electronic form, with the evaluation and support of the editing mechanism of the institution. 3.Promote collaborative work towards the solution of different problems. The environmental problems were targeted first with the introduction of new courses related to the ecology, the quality of life and the protection of the environment TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

Even though professors of T.E.I. of Crete are of high qualifications, only a few have experience and knowledge of the application of new technologies on education and thus the following measures are taken:. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

1.Seminars were organized on the subject of New Technologies on Education to trigger the lecturers. Experts specialized on new educational methods, quality on education and evaluation of the educational process were invited to present their subjects to the stuff members of T.E.I of Crete TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

2.Self-training courses were offered using videoconferencing, internet and e-forum on the education with new technologies. T.E.I of Crete has developed applications through the “Distant Learning” Programs conducted in the past, and there are today organized videoconferencing rooms in 3 branches. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

3.A help-desk team has been created, consisting of specialists on informatics, multimedia, telecommunications, to offer support to staff members (i) on transforming their educational material in multimedia form and (ii) on continuous self-training on new educational technologies TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

The Central Unit team, assisted by specialists on multimedia educational material production and students from the Departments of Applied Informatics & Multimedia and the Department of Electronics, is working on to: TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

 Define the guidelines and create the platform for the development of Electronic Material through special software and in collaboration with the Library.  Reform existing electronic material according to the defined specifications  Create new form of electronic material to be used in virtual classrooms, remote laboratories, electronic forums, electronic meetings, etc TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

The Central Unit team, assisted by representatives of departments that offer courses on environmental education, is coordinating and supporting the following actions: TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

1.Organize interdisciplinary environmental courses that will promote the team work, aiming to point out the multidisciplinary of the environmental problems as well as the need for organized action for their solution. 2.Find solutions for the peculiarities of each department. 3.Introduce courses on environmental protection with emphasis on developing environmental consciousness to students, the future technological engineers. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

Find solutions for the peculiarities of each department; recycle electronic components for the Electronic Department, protect the water bodies in the ground for the Departments of Agricultural direction. organize additional seminars, adapt laboratory experiments, add tutorials, to cover the special needs of the each department. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

Introduce courses on environmental protection with emphasis on developing environmental consciousness to students, the future technological engineers. These courses are taught by staff members of T.E.I of Crete and by external specialized associates. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

1.Investigate the material of the courses offered to the students of more than one department. There is an evaluation and assessment group which 3. Create standards for the interdisciplinary courses. 2.Coordinate the departments and point out the specialties of each department for the better adoption of the course for each department TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

T.E.I. of Crete decided to proceed on offering interdisciplinary courses on the environment. A one-day seminar took place before the courses started. The number of students attending the seminar from the different Departments is shown on Table 1. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

SchoolsDepartment Number of Students Agriculture Green House Cultivations29 Agricultural Production6 Business Accounting54 Tourism Management17 Engineering Natural Resources20 Electrical2 Civil25 Applied Informatics14 Mechanical3 TOTAL170 TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

The environmental courses that was decided to be offered where the following: 1.Framework of Environmental Protection 2.Environment and Administrative Bodies 3.Extreme Weather Conditions 4.Innovative Methods for Waist Treatment 5.Business and Environment TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

There were 491 course registrations by students. Table2 shows the course registrations to the above courses by department. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

SchoolsDepartment Number of Students Agriculture Green House Cultivations26 Agricultural Production30 Business Accounting55 Tourism Management357 Engineering Civil9 Mechanical14 TOTAL491 TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

Subject No of Sudents 1 Framework of Environmental Protection Environment and Administrative Bodies87 3 Extreme Weather Conditions3 4 Innovative Methods for Waist Treatment5 5Business and Environment 142 Total357 No of Registrations from Tourism Management Dept TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

The Cental Unit team in collaboration with the people that either have worked in the previous [1] “Distant Learning Programs” and students from the informatics and telecom related departments is working on to: TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

1.Organize the videoconferencing rooms and laboratories [2], 3.Adapt the educational material needed for the courses offered through distant learning in order to be appropriate for the trainees as well as for assistance to the professors 4.Organize modules, that are targeted not only for students but also for graduates and for the society in general 2.Train the personnel that is used for technical support for the distant learning actions. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

CONCLUSIONS The establishment of a Central Unit, for training the Educational Staff of T.E.I. of Crete in New Pedagogical Methods and New Technologies in Education, is shown to be of high value. In our society with continuously changing needs a special body is needed to assist the institution and help for better quality of education to be offered. The Central Units role, in its first year of existence was the to assist on the self-training of the professors, set the guidelines and help to prepare educational material in electronic form, promote environmental education and consciousness, establish the infrastructure and operate the distant learning courses. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

The first results from the above actions are very encouraging. A satisfactory number of students (more than 400) have attended the multidisciplinary courses. More than 40 courses are delivered electronically and there is an interest from the professors to attend the training seminars for the new technologies. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Project is co-funded by the European Social Fund and National Resources under the EPEAEK II program for reforming the Greek educational system. TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE

REFERENCES [1] N. Afentakis, A. Katsamaki, J. Kaliakatsos, “Pilot Educational Program for RES in Crete by means of traditional and interactive distance learning methods”, Proc. of the VI World Congress in Renewable Energies, Brighton, UK, 1-7 July 2000, Part II pp (2000). [2] E. Antonidakis, N. Petrakis, I. Kaliakatsos, C. Athanasaki- Michailidou, “Laboratory performance in integrated ODL environments”, ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND RESEARCH – 2002, iNEER and Begell House Publishers [3] C. Jones, “Computers and education: towards a lifelong learning society”, Computers & Education, Volume 45, Issue 2, September 2005, Pages TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CRETE