The HEP-TED project focuses on developing competence-based teacher education, strengthening pedagogical leadership and quality assurance practices, and supporting the long-term development of technical and vocational teacher education in Rwanda. Through collaboration between universities and teacher educators, the project creates opportunities to exchange experiences and develop teaching practices together.
The workshop itself was designed using learner-centred and activating methods. Participants worked in pairs and small groups and engaged in activities such as think-pair-share and inner-outer circle discussions. These methods created an open and collaborative atmosphere in which participants could discuss their own teaching practices, share experiences and reflect on pedagogical ideas together.
One of the questions explored during the workshop was what learner-centred teaching means in the context of technical education. Participants reflected on this question together and produced short written definitions and explanations in pairs. The discussions emphasised active student participation, the teacher’s role as a facilitator of learning and the importance of connecting teaching with real professional situations.
In addition to learner-centred pedagogy, the workshop addressed several themes that are increasingly important in higher education teaching. We discussed ways to activate students during learning, the role of learning analytics in supporting learning processes, approaches to assessment in competence-based education and the emerging role of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning. These discussions highlighted the importance of designing learning tasks that support meaningful learning and professional competence rather than focusing only on completing assignments.
During our visit we also had the opportunity to familiarise ourselves with RTTI’s TVET teacher education curriculum and with Moodle-based course materials used in the programme. In particular we examined the courses Educational Technology and Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Processes. It was encouraging to see that many of the assignments in these courses are reflective and practice-based. Teacher students are asked to test their ideas in real classroom situations, observe their teaching, collect feedback from students and reflect on the outcomes of their lessons. These assignments are often supported with photographs, videos and student feedback collected during the lesson. Tasks of this kind are highly authentic and professionally relevant because they are directly connected to real teaching situations. Interestingly, such assignments are also quite resistant to the challenges posed by artificial intelligence. Because they are based on real classroom experiences and personal reflection, they cannot simply be generated using AI tools. Artificial intelligence can certainly support the analysis of observations, feedback or reflections, but the learning itself must emerge from genuine teaching practice.
The workshop also demonstrated how valuable international collaboration can be in the development of teacher education. Finnish and Rwandan teacher educators share many common goals, including improving teaching quality, strengthening competence-based education and supporting teachers in creating engaging learning environments. Through projects such as HEP-TED, these shared goals can be developed together while learning from each other’s experiences and educational contexts. At the same time, the workshop discussions reinforced the importance of designing learning tasks that remain meaningful in an era of artificial intelligence. When learning is based on real experiences, observation and reflection, it becomes both pedagogically powerful and naturally resistant to superficial AI-generated answers. These insights are valuable also for our own teaching and course design at TAMK.
Written by:
Elina Harju, lehtori, Pedagogiset ratkaisut ja kulttuuri
Sami Suhonen, yliopettaja, Pedagogiset ratkaisut ja kulttuuri
