Programme Belgrade THE_ACADEMIC_WEEK_-_November 2012

The participants’ evaluation results

The University of Craiova is one of the largest educational and research institutions from Ro- mania. The University intends to build partnerships between the institutions that are actively in- volved in working with seniors and geragogy and tries to address seniors’ needs by developing educational programs and networks in the local (and national) community. The Academic Day is a part of the vast educational project, with the cooperation of the NGO Window Romania and other interested parties and stakeholders. The leaders of the University are also very in- terested to involve seniors in the educational activities, thus building bridges between people from different educational areas and interests.

Motto: “Seniors and University: together for successful education”

Participants involved in the project

Almost 50 seniors were involved in the project directly via collaboration with the NGO ‘Win- dow Romania’ Association from Craiova, Romania. However, in the Academic Day, also young participants took part, especially from the Department of Education Sciences at the University of Craiova. Included in the group of seniors were also several persons with disabilities. The group was well balanced also from the gender point of view.

General description of activities

The project consisted in organization, imple- mentation and evaluation of academic adult education (and more particularly seniors’ edu- cation) event called Academy Day that is regu- larly implemented by ZAWiW of Ulm Univer- sity in Germany. At the University of Craiova we organized a series of lectures held by the following professors: Corneliu Novac, Asso- ciate Professor of Psychology and Education Psychology; Remus Mogonea, Junior Profes- sor, Junior Professor of Education Psychology; Claudiu Bunăiaşu, Junior Professor of Educa- tion Sciences; Alexandru Strungă, Teaching As- sistant in Education Sciences. We established a very good communication with the NGO Window Romania’ and before the implementation of the program we organized together a round table to discuss our perspectives of the Academy Day and to make a survey in order to address seniors’ learning needs. This information was subsequently used for the design of the curriculum of the Academic Day.

Achievements

The most important achievement was that the seniors became aware of the necessity of learning at an older age. They were highly interested in the lectures’ topics and were also very active, i.e. putting questions and collaborating. They also requested to continue this program after the completion of the project which was our intention as well. Besides this exciting at- mosphere of learning and enjoyment, the universities’ leaders were also receptive: the Rector and Vice-Rector are becoming more and more interested in seniors’ education encouraging us to establish a European Institute of Geragogy. The number of seniors who wish to take part in the next Academic Day is also growing. Also highlighted in the lecture of Professor Novac was the European dimension of collaboration and communication between seniors living in the Danube Region and we think that it is important to use in the future events a topic with European (and regional) relevance.

Impact, visibility and follow up

In our opinion the event was a success, creat- ing a new tradition at the University of Craiova. The feedback from the seniors was very en- couraging and the professors were proud to make a contribution to this very important subject that was neglected in our country for so long – seniors’ education. We also plan to organize the event again in Craiova and also to develop this idea in other cities i.e. Timisoara (with the help of Cultural Association ‘C. Bran- cusi’) and in Drobeta Tunu – Severin (a univer- sity centre subordinated to the University of Craiova). Also, an article about DASUN will be soon published in the next number of our journal – Annals of the University of Craiova, Psychology and Pedagogy series. Finally, the posters we used provided our seniors with more information about the event. We also hope that our professors as well as the collaborators from the NGO will serve as multiplicators for the project DASUN, making the methods of the Academy Day known to the general public.

Conclusions

In our opinion, the Academic Day was a great success, because we accomplished all our ob- jectives, creating in the same time an efficient network for seniors education.

The majority of seniors (82% from our feedback mini-survey) suggested to continue the event next year, being very interested in the topics (74%). The Academic Day was the first event cen- tered on a partnership between UCV, NGO and seniors from the municipality of Craiova. We hope we will organize other events of this kind as well.

We received positive feedback from the TSTD’s Director, Professor Viorel Ionel and from a UCV’s vice-rector. Also the cooperating NGOs encouraged us to continue, offering their sup- port and experience.

The main obstacle was that there aren’t many NGOs specialized in seniors’ education in Craio- va and pensioners’ associations are not so well organized so it was sometimes difficult to get

in contact with the target group. But we’ve managed to overcome this with the help of ZA- WiW that has a lot of expertise in this field and with the support of Cultural Association

‘C. Brancusi’ from Timisoara.

As drawbacks we observed that some seniors were reserved, not being so much interested in workshops. This passive attitude reflects, in our opinion, a certain mentality of the Romanian seniors, that after you retire you can’t really continue your education or bring substantial con- tribution to the society. It is a mental representation that must be challenged!

Also the communist regime had a big influence in terms of seniors not being organized and without initiative for their own interests.

Recommendations

1. Continue building up a seniors education network in Craiova with the help of the University, ACB and Window Associations.
2. Workshop with UCV’s and other professors with the topic of didactical methods used in ger- agogy, especially on how to activate seniors, raise their interest in academic-based education
3. Continuing searching for new ways of self-financing of the project and at the same time gathering additional funding and support from EU and Romanian local, regional and national authorities.
4. Doing further research in the field and publishing the results.
5. Lobbying for the creation of educational policies for seniors.

Abstract. The paper presents a concept for an academic program for continuing education of seniors created by the University of Rousse under the project DASUN.

Introduction

The project DASUN: Danube Seniors‘ Universities was supported by the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, the Heidehof Stiftung and the Zentrum für Allgemeine Wissenschaftliche Weiterbil- dung (ZAWiW) der Universität Ulm.

Its main objective was the development of a concept for academic program for continuing education of seniors as a bridge between science and civil society.

Concept background

A research instrument (questionnaire) was developed with the methodological help of ZAWIW team, to study the old people needs and the necessity of getting specific knowledge and abilities.

The survey conducted in Rousse showed that the seniors are interested mainly in: forming and development of skills in computer and Internet usage (93%); healthy lifestyles (13%); Bulgar- ian and foreign cultural-historical heritage (12%); intergenerational activities (12%), etc.

The most important expectations of the seniors from the continuing education are: to be to- gether with people who have similar interests (20%); to be able to follow new social develop- ments (15%); to be able to discuss things with other people, also younger ones (12%).Four training groups were organized with four scientific subjects:

1. Group A: Healthy Lifestyle. Geragogy, Andragogy, Ethnologic, Physical Culture and Sport, Methods of Instruction in Physical Activities and Sport.
2. Group B: Bulgarian and Foreign Cultural-historical Heritage – Travelling from the Past to To- morrow. Architecture, Ethnology, Folklore, Anthropology, History, Art.
3. Group C: Solidarity between Generations – a Message to the Future. Social Pedagogy, Age Pedagogy, Psychology, Sociology.
4. Group D: Computer and Internet Usage. Computer Sciences, Geragogy

The training in the first three groups took place on 14 June, 2011, the training in the last one took place every Saturday from April to July.

Academic Day

The Academic Day was open by official representatives of the national and regional govern- ment organizations and NGOs. 146 participants took part in it.

Group A. The subject was Geragogy and especially the impact of the aging processes on old people’s learning abilities and life quality, the psychological processes and scientific meth- ods for their measuring, values system development. Important methods for healthy life style were presented by the lecturers and by the participants.

Main conclusion: do not leave your spirit inactive, do not stay alone, move and communicate!

Group B. The content was a lecture on the legislation of finding, preserving and popularizing the archaeological findings in Bulgaria and on the liaison between the archaeological findings and the current customs and traditions.

The participants presented customs, unique national costumes created 200 years ago.

The “Academic Day” was an application of the concept created by the University of Rousse. The announcements were made on various oc- casions by Prof. DSc. H.Beloev, Rector of RU,

by Prof. N.Mihailov, the Coordinator of the project in Rousse and Vice Rector of RU and by Eng. Y.Kazakov, President of the Union of Pensioners’2004–Rousse (UP).

Also presented by seniors and by students from the club “Keep Bulgarian Identity were tradi- tional foods and other things of interest.

Main conclusion: in order to be preserved, the customs have to be popularized by older people among the younger ones, because losing them would mean losing our Bulgarian identity.

Group C had young and old participants. There was a lecture on the historical roots of the re- lationships between the different generations, scientific research on age and its physical and psychological characteristics. Young members of BRC showed life-saving methods for seniors.

Main conclusion: both young and old people have something to learn and to help each other.

Group D. The trainers were students – future teachers in mathematics and informatics and pensioners from Rousse.

Conclusion

Generally, the participants were satisfied by the activities of the Academic Day. The University of Rousse and the UP supports the ideas of the DASUN project and joins the conclusion that continuing education of seniors is necessary.

The partners in the project DASUN in Sofia, Bulgaria were the State University of Library Stud- ies and Information Technologies (SULSIT) in partnership with the Association of University Libraries (AUL). For all activities we received advice from the Zentrum für Allgemeine Wissen- schaftliche Weiterbildung (ZAWiW) der Universität Ulm.

Preparation

During the first meeting in Ulm at the beginning of the project we made a brainstorming and decided some basics re thematic direction and structure of the planned education event for adults 50+ at our university. We made several assumptions about the learners’ as well as in- stitutions’ needs and interests. That helped us to design a questionnaire. A sociological survey was conducted with 140 respondents. Included were adults from 50 till 90 years, with different professions and level of education. We aimed to receive information about the respondents’ computer skills and if they are interested to improve their knowledge in that field. Then we had to clarify the form, themes, length of the education. Concerning the form, the biggest inter- est was shown in lectures, followed by practical education. Preferred were shorter education forms. Most popular themes were: “healthy manner of life”; “ideas for leisure time” ”informa- tion for treatment of illnesses” and “information about heritage”. This provided the basis for the design of our Academic Day.

Academic Day

The Academic Day was held on 8th June, starting from 9.30 until 17.00 o’clock. In the morning we had two lectures. The first one was “The Thracians and their belief in immortality” by Prof. Valeria Fol. The second lecture was “Typical third age diseases. Prophylactic and therapy pos- sibilities”, hold by Dr. Petrov. All participants received leaflets with web addresses on the above themes. After lunch we made several short presentations, disseminated leaflets with useful information and made practical exercises. There was a computer for every participant and tutors to help. The participants learned how to use Skype, how to sent an e-mail, how to communicate per facebook. Others were interested in how to find information in the Internet

Outcomes

The participants filled also a feedback form. As a motivation for the presence on the Academy Day most of them indicated – “I want to learn something new”. The majority of the respondents answered that they liked all presentations (70, 7%). They also said that the first lecturer was interesting, wonderful and incredible. Others indicated that they learned something new and interesting on the topic. The second lecturer was perceived as practical specialist in the most common diseases for that age. The most valuable was considered that the lecturer provides easy to implement information. Also all other presentations were highly appreciated. Special interest was shown in the practical exercises with the Internet, when the participants wrote their own e-mails, addresses in facebook and searched for practical information in Internet. We hope that this will help for better communication between older people. We hope that they will be more confident in searching for the necessary information on the web. In this we see the benefits of adult learning 50+ in universities.

The biggest percentage positive answers we received for the organization of the event. Most of the answers were – “I liked everything” or “I liked it because the topics were interesting, professional; presented in understandable language; there was a direct contact with the lec- turers; the Academy Day was organized dynamically, I received useful information on an aca- demic level.” There were no negative answers. Most importantly, 94% of the participants were willing to attend future academic days..

Problems to resolve

In Bulgaria the work activity of the adults 50 + is very high and organization of the Academy Days must be comply with the working time.

In conclusion, we understood that SULSIT, in partnership with AUL, disposes of enough tech- nical equipment and premises for realization of Academy Days and other similar events. Both organizations can provide quality education how to use information technologies. In the future the Academy Days can be realized as cyclic initiatives. The target groups can be defined more clearly according to their life position and interests. Another option is to create special virtual programs to improve the information knowledge of working people 50+. We can also arrange for adults 50 + guided trips to new cultural and historical sites.

In the project “Danube Seniors’ Universities” (DASUN), which is funded from December 2010 to July 2011 by the Baden-Württemberg Foundation and the Heidehof Foundation, possibilities for science-founded education for older adults were analysed at the universities of Belgrade, Serbia, Craiova, Romania, Sofia and Rousse, Bulgaria in close cooperation with cultural and educational institutions. After the analysis, educational offers for seniors were developed and tested in each of the partner organisation. The “academy weeks” of ZAWiW, the co-ordinator and scientific lead of the project, served as a model. Each university determined the needs and interests of the seniors with the help of a questionnaire and developed a concept for an education day for seniors at their university. These seniors’ education days were held in May- June 2011.

Serbian team consisted of University of Belgrade – Faculty of Philosophy, as a university part- ner, and National Foundation for Human Aging Dr. Laza Lazarevic and University of the Third Age, as NGO partners.

In Serbia, situation looks like this: there are some institutions dealing with seniors. Most of them are homes for the elderly or they are related to health care. But the University of the Third Age is concerned about their mental condition and offers different non-formal educa- tional programs like foreign languages, computer literacy, Yoga and Tai Chi, dance classes and art workshops of patchwork. Therefore, DASUN project offered very interesting new form of education for seniors – university-based academic education, which has not been established in Serbia so far.

Preparation

We were interested in our seniors’ attitude when it comes to these type of programs and the most important results of the initial questioning are:

84.5% of the 85 respondents would like to participate in programs of continuing education; Regarding subject areas of educational programs, most of them are interested in foreign lan- guage, PC and Internet. On the “second place” are cultural themes and health;

Regarding the goals that the respondents connect with continuing education, 48.2% of them chose “I want to deepen my knowledge”, 40% of them want to stay mentally fit, 24.7% want to get together with people with similar interests and 23.5% of them want to understand things better.

Academic Day

The main event of the project was so called the Academic Day, held on Saturday, 11.06.2011. in the Faculty of Philosophy, in Belgrade, Serbia, in which the academic educational contents were presented to the participants. They were invited by the National.

Foundation for Human Aging Dr. Laza Lazarevic and the University of the Third Age to partici- pate in this event and to bring up their impressions as well as ideas for the improvement and for the next Academic Day. The concept of this Day included lectures about experiences in education in the third age and the psychology of adulthood and aging, and also four workshops of the four departments from the Faculty of Philosophy: Ethnology and Anthropology, Art His- tory, Archaeology and History.

Outcomes

The participants’ impressions speak for themselves: 38.5% of the 52 participants liked this event, 59.6% said that it was very interesting and inspiring for them, and 1.9% of participants chose the answer “Other” and gave also positive comment: “I didn’t expect this day to be so interesting”. This refers to the Academic Day in general.

The participants’ proposals for the next Academic Day and actions in this field, which inter- ested us very much, were: to organize the Academic Day more often; to organize it as Aca- demic Days/Week, not only as a one-day event; to organize workshops at different times, so that participants can attend not only one of them, but more if they are interested; to inform people about the project – especially through the media and associations/ organizations of pensioners; to expand the Academic Day to other faculties of the University of Belgrade and its scientific fields.

Problems to resolve

The main problem and barrier of participation of the potential students is financing these pro- grams. Seniors in Serbia cannot afford to participate in educational programs because they have small pensions, have to pay medical treatment and medicines and often help their chil- dren who are possibly unemployed or have small salary. Therefore, we have to devise a special strategy to find sponsors, so that this idea can begin to live in Serbia and satisfy the hunger for knowledge and companionship of our old people.

Experience is our friend this time, but the irrefutable fact is that the elderly in Serbia want to be heard, that they want to have a part of the educational system as their own spiritus movens, so they can satisfy their educational and social needs.

In the morning we’ll organize 2 lectures on the following themes:

• Cultural heritage of the Thracians in Bulgaria, and
• Healthy life- prevention and treatment of heart diseases, bone illnesses, diabetes, etc.

The morning session will finished with demonstration of different database and sites where the participants can find interesting for them information.

After the lunch break we’ll start with afternoon session.

Durng the afternoon session the participants will work in small groups /10-15 persons/ with tutors who will help them to exercise their computer skills and work in Internet. In this session will be used the following interactive methods: workshops, practical exercises, consultations and fulfillment of the individual tasks.

For the afternoon session will be provided 5-6 rooms with computers for every participant. In every room there will be a tutor from the team of the project DASUN to help the participants.

All participant will receive leaflets with instructions how and where to find in Internet information for healthy life, leisure time, tourism and other interesting for them themes.

In the end of the Academy day all participants will receive Evaluation forms to estimate the form and contents of the Academy day. In this way the team of the project will receive feedback information for the opinion of the participants and will have in mind how to organize such events on the best way in the future.

We plan to have 1 coffee break in the morning session and a lunch break in order to be more effective during the working hours and to create friendly environment for the participants in the Academy day.

Developers: Elena Georgieva, President of Regional Council of the Pensioners 2004, Rumyana Radkova – volunteer, Yourdan Kazakov, President of Union of Pensioners 2004, Emiliya Velikova, University of Rousse

First part. Preparing the Academy Day (AD)

1. Survey within DASUN project with the maiAll Postsn aim to definite the necessities and the possibilities for organizing common training of adult; 19^th March, 2011 in Rousse, Bulgaria; 41 participants.
2. Analysis of the survey. Preparing a report and publishing on the web site (http://www.dasun.eu/activities/university-of-rousse/215).
3. Flashmeetings, organized by the coordinators of the project.
4. Six meetings of the coordinator and/or the researcher of the project from the University of Rousse and the representatives of the Union of Pensioners’ 2004, branch Rousse for developing Scenario of the Academy Day in Rousse; participants from 2 to 13.
5. Taking part in the Annual Meeting of the Academic staff of the University of Rousse and the Pensioners; 100 participants. The advertisement materials: Presentation of the Vice Rector; Poster of DASUN; Invitation; Flyer with information about the Academy Day and how the pensioners can take part, Survey with the main aim to definite the discussion groups, appropriate rooms and number of plots for exhibition posters, tables, etc. for the exhibitions; Participant lists.
6. Training in Computer usage – every Saturday and Sunday in room 2.102

Second part. Preparation of the Academy Day

1. Interview on TV, 10-14 June, 2011, responsible: N.Mihailov, Y.Kazakov;
2. Interview on radio, 10-14 June, 2011, responsible: N.Mihailov, Y.Kazakov;
3. Developing information about Academy Day for the newspapers and electronic medias, responsible: N.Mihailov, Y.Kazakov;
4. Informing medias, responsible: N.Mihailov, R.Karshakova
5. Analysis of the Survey and publishing of the web site, responsible: E. Velikova
6. Buy plots for exhibitions posters, responsible: K.Kalinov, Y. Peneva
7. Find appropriate rooms for the Academy Day – room for Opening and Closing ceremonies, three rooms for discussing groups, places for exhibitions, room for coffee break, responsible: I.Stoyanov.
8. Arrange technique and team for making pictures, recording the work of the disuccing groups, etc., responsible: M.Mihailov.
9. Meeting with participants of the Group B and arranging exhibition of pictures on June 10, 2011, responsible: E. Velikova
10. Meeting with the participants of the Group C and arranging exhibition of food, clothes, souvenirs, etc. on June 14 at 8.00 a.m., responsible: E. Velikova
11. Preparing a list of official guests from the regional/government institutions, responsible: UP’ 2004, RU.
12. Inviting official guest who are important for the development of training of adults, responsible: N.Mihailov, Y.Kazakov.
13. Inviting three seniors from the neighbour town Giurgiu, Romania, responsible: Y.Kazakov.
14. Inviting the members of Drujba Club, Bulgarian Red Cross, Bulgarian Red Cross – Youth, Tourists Club, Nadezhda Club, “Aleko Konstantinov” Secondary School, Sport Club – veterans, responsible: N.Mihailov, Y.Kazakov, E.Velikova.
15. Preparing materials for the participants – badges (17-AD_Badjove_DASUN.jpg), pencils (18_AD_pencils.jpg), Blok notes with the AD program (10_Poster.jpg, 18_AD Flyer.jpg), Common Survey, responsible: D.Antonova, E. Velikova, N. Mihailov.
16. Distributing information about AD in the University, in the UP’2004, in the regional and government institution through posters (10_Poster.jpg), flyers (18_AD Flyer.jpg), invitations (12_Pokana_za AD_ENG 2.pdf), responsible: N.Mihailov, Y.Kazakov, R.Karshakova, Y. Peneva, E.Velikova.
17. Coffee break, responsible: K.Kalinov
18. Decoration of the University for the Academy Day, responsible: E.Velikova, Y. Peneva.

Third part. Academy Day

9.00 – 10.00 The participants receive AD materials:

badges, pencils, Blok notes with the AD program, responsible: E.Velikova, Y.Peneva

10.00 – 10.30 Opening ceremony of the Academy Day

Place: Aula 2.204

Leading: Vice Rector of the University of Rousse, Assoc. Prof. Dr Nicolay Mihailov. Presenting the official persons.

Presenting the project DASUN.

Presenting the discussing groups, their lecturers and tasks:

• Group A. Healthy Lifestyle. Lecturer: Dr Konstantin Kolev, member of the Bulgarian Red Cross.
• Group B. Bulgarian and foreign cultural-historical heritage. Travelling from the past to tomorrow. Lecturers: Mrs. Desislava Dimitrova, Ethnographic Museum and Dr. A. Nenov, Historical Museum, Rousse.
• Group C. Solidarity between generations – a message to the future.

The main questions of the Academy Day are:

• What is the most important thing for the life of adults?
• What are the expectations of seniors from taking part in different kind of activities?
• How the new knowledge of adults will change their life?
• Who/what is the source of new knowledge in nowadays?

The answers these questions will be given by the moderators of the groups.

Giving the floor to the Rector and other official persons to congratulate the adults and their striving to learn more and more.

10.30 – 12.00 Lectures and discussions

10.30 – 10.45 Dividing of people into three groups.

Group B. The exhibition with pictures is prepared on June 10, 2011 in the room of the group. There are special plots for posters for every participant who would like to present some cultural-historical places or events. All participants will visit the exhibition. After the Academy Day this exhibition will be presented in the University lobby for two weeks.

Group C. The exhibition with materials will be prepared in the morning on June 14, 2011 in the room of the group. All participants will visit it. At the end of the Academy day the participants will try all culinary wares. The exhibition will be closed this day.

10.45-12.00 Work into the groups

The lecturers are also group moderators. They present the group items, the main questions and remarks. The main ideas are written on the white tables. The moderators generate the results and make conclusions. The discussions will be recorded by cameras.

12.00-12.30 Coffee break with snacks – coffee, tea, soft drinks, water, sweet things, etc.

12.30 – 13.30 Presenting the groups’ results

The coordinator of the Project DASUN, Assoc. Prof. Dr Nicolay Mihailov give the floor to the group moderators who have to present the conclusions of the group for 8-10 minutes.

The coordinator generate the results of the Academy Day and present the new ideas for long life learning for adults.

13.30 – 14.00 Visiting the exhibitions

14.30-14.40 Closing Ceremony

Congratulations by Assoc. Prof. Dr N. Mihailov. Making a picture of the Academy Day in front of the University.

Fourth part. Results

1. Analyzing the Common Survey, developing figures, publishing on the web site responsible: E.Velikova.
2. Presenting the Academy Day on the web site and on the meeting in Belgrade, Serbia, responsible: E.Velikova
3. Collecting the interviews, publications, pictures, etc., responsible: E.Velikova
4. Developing a video clip (30 minutes) and a DVD with all collected materials and with records of  other activities of adults as sport events, dancing, traditional dancing “Shareno horo”, festivals, Computer training, volunteering, etc.

Pictures

The University of Craiova is one of the largest educational and research institutions from Romania and one of the most important aims is adult education, and in particular – seniors education. Also the University intends to build partnerships between the institutions that are actively involved in working with seniors and geragogy. The university constantly tries to address seniors needs by developing educational programs and networks in the local (and national) community. The Academic Day is a part of the vast educational project, with the cooperation of the NGO Window Romania and other interested parties and stakeholders. The leaders of the University are also very interested to involve seniors in all the educational activities, building bridges between people from different educational areas and interests.

Flyer

» Seniors Academic Day Flyer

Motto

“Seniors and University: together for successful education”

Event’s aims and objectives:

• To assimilate knowledge from the field of Seniors Psychology, Art and Applied Physical Education
• To identify the context and concrete life situation in which they can apply the learned methods
• To use the methods for improving active aging

Location and date

University of Craiova, Room 321; 14.06.2011, 10:00 – 15:00

Evaluation and Assessment

• Impact evaluation (gathering feedback from seniors regarding the accessibility and usability of the things they learned) by questionnaire and focus-group
• Group Project with a subjects chosen by the seniors.

Subjects

• The Role of Arts In Developing Active Aging
• Health And Sport For Seniors: Contemporary Perspectives
• New Learning Methods For Seniors

Keynote Speakers

• Viorel Ionel, TSTD Director, Associate Professor, University of Craiova
• Marian Dragomir, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Professor, University of Craiova
• Corneliu Novac, Associate Professor of Psychology

Target group

60 seniors selected by the Windows Association, Craiova

Agenda

“Academic day” – 14.06.2011. – AGENDA

10:00 – 10:15

Receiving the participants, introduction of the project by TSTD Director Prof. Viorel Ionel, PhD; Claudiu Bunaiasu, PhD and Alexandru Strunga, MAEd

10:15 – 11:45

Lectures:

• The Role of Arts In Developing Active Aging
• Health And Sport For Seniors: Contemporary Perspectives
• New Learning Methods For Seniors

11:45 – 12:00

Coffee break and refreshments

12:00 – 14:00

Workshops in the field of arts, sport and health, learning methods in the context of Danube Region

14:00 – 14:15

Coffee break and refreshments

14:15 – 15:00

Evaluation of the “Academic Day” by the participants, the final word, and further plans for activities in this area

Planned number of participant of the “Academic day” is 50–80, max 20 for each workshop. Great number of them will be participants from the research, done in March 2011: students from the University of the Third Age and courses attendants in the Belgrade City Library.

At the beginning of this day, there will be one-hour lecture about adult education, especially – education opportunities for older adults and concept of the lifelong learning. Lecturers will be dr Ljiljana Levkov, docent, and Mr. Zorica Milosevic, assistant. Main subject of the “Academic day” is life and culture of people in the Danube region that will be elaborated and adapted within four study groups of the Faculty of Philosophy, which organize and realize four two-hour workshops: ethnology and anthropology, art history, archeology and history. Each study group will adapt this topic to its field of science, so this main topic will include customs, architecture, art, life and history of people in the Danube region. Proposed topics are:

• Еthnology and anthropology: Serbian folk religion, mythology and demonology of water; lecturer and leader will be Dr. Danijel Sinani, associate professor
• Аrt history: (still considering); lecturer and leader will be Mr. Vladimir Simic, assistant, and Dragana Pavlovic, teaching assistant
• Аrcheology: Roman heritage on the Danube; lecturer and leader will be Dr. Stasa Babic, associate professor
• History: Serbian capitals on the Danube – Belgrade and Smederevo in the 15. century; lecturer and leader will be Dr. Marko Suica, docent

» See the “Academic Day Concept” Flyer

Below is the frame agenda attached:

“Academic day” – 11.06.2011. – AGENDA

10.00 – 10.30: Word of welcome, introducing participants with the program “Academic Day” and the pilot project, in which the program was created and implemented, and work plan

10.30 – 11.30: Lecture: The concept of lifelong learning, adult education, further education opportunities for older adults in Serbia

11.30 – 12.00: Coffee break and refreshments

12.00 – 14.00: Workshops in the field of ethnology and anthropology, art history, archeology and history; topics related to life and culture of people in the Danube region

12.15 – 13.00: Coffee break and refreshments

13.00 – 13.45: Evaluation of the “Academic Day” by the participants, the final word, and further plans for activities in this area