From the 25th till the 26th of March 2021 Department of library and information science at the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation held the international conference “Library and Information Science Education in the Pandemic”. Three Croatian representatives participated in the conference. Invited speakers Martina Dragija-Ivanović from the University of Zadar and Boris Badurina and Tatjana Aparac-Jelušić as project’s team members have given a talk “LIS Education in the Pandemic: Experience of Croatian Universities”. The talk focused on the issue of measures undertaken to decrease the danger of spreading the pandemic at Croatian universities with special emphasis on courses’ structure and performance, communication with students and conducting examination, as well as student traineeship and internship in the field of information sciences. Alongside the review of research done by the Agency for Science and Higher Education, speakers presented the DECriS project (Digital Education for Crisis Situations: Times When There is no Alternative) which was accepted within the Erasmus+ call launched in September 2020 supporting digital education readiness and creative skills. Project DECriS started on the 1st of March 2021 and will run for a duration of two years.
Project DECriS is focused on applying innovative digital technologies during COVID-19 and other possible future pandemics with special emphasis on acquiring and developing digital competencies, building new innovative curricula and educational methodologies, achieving potential international cooperation and engaging in cooperation with businesses sector. The project aims to create a framework for proper adoption of OERs in general, and in crisis situations in particular making sure it will improve the quality of online (virtual) education, decrease the feeling of isolation common in situations like lockdowns, and support both teachers and students in their development, especially in terms of adaptive, personalized and smart learning. One of the goals is also to investigate possibilities and strategies that may lead to cost savings and repurposing finances to other educational activities and resources, e.g. acquiring adaptive, flexible and smart ‘tools’; generating students’ greater participation in virtual classrooms, i.e. increasing the level of their interest and engagement in online learning; and, lastly, creating and/or improving OERs.
The project is based on several sets of specific research goals the results of which will enable effective management of online teaching and learning processes, as well as informed decision making in crisis situations. Main project coordinator is Department of Information Sciences at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Osijek, Croatia with four partners – University of Barcelona, Spain; University of Hildesheim, Germany; University of Library Science and Information Technology, Bulgaria; and University Computing Centre at University of Zagreb, Croatia. Also, there are four associate partners – University of Sarajevo and University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina; St. Petersburg State University of Culture, Russia; and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
