West University of Timişoara (UVT) continues to revolutionize teaching by promoting cutting-edge teaching methods. Beyond the boundaries of the theory traditionally taught in the 70 years of existence of the Faculty of Letters, History, Philosophy and Theology, a new innovative method manages to interconnect seemingly completely different fields (Humanities and Information Technology) to provide students with an overview of real-world challenges.
At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Associate Professor Karla Lupșan, Vice Dean of the Faculty, who is redefining the concept of academic learning by transforming classic courses into true "event courses". This approach emphasizes interdisciplinarity, stimulating student creativity, and generating real impact in the community.
Features of the new approach:
- IT working methods: Students create products with immediate utility, enter real professional roles, plan their deliverables in "sprints" and use AI technology and applications as a facilitating tool, with the teacher taking on the role of mentor and coordinator
- No grades imposed exclusively by the teacher: Grades are awarded through mutual evaluation between students, based on questionnaires that measure the quality of the final product, the responsibility and autonomy of each member.
- Without classic exams: The assessment is done in front of a wide audience and special guests, transforming the exam into a community event.
- Social impact: The purpose of the teaching act goes beyond the closed space of the amphitheater. Each project ends with a public course-event, an open platform where the products created by the students are presented to the community, the general public, and specialists in the field, who engage the audience in dialogue.
The efficiency of this method is demonstrated by the practical utility of the projects developed by German students (bachelor's and master's), directly oriented towards the needs of the community:
- TRADoku Series (Methodology of translation from German to Romanian – Bachelor's degree program Applied Modern Languages): Students apply the method scrum in the process of translating from German to Romanian. They democratically select the documentary they are going to subtitle, assume the roles of translators, revisers or subtitling technicians and deliver the final product. The most recent edition addressed a theme of maximum social impact: raising awareness of the current obsession with beauty and the social pressure to achieve ideal standards. The special guest was asist. univ. dr. Gianina Lăzărescu, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
- The "KI-KOMPASS" project (European Studies – Master's degree program German in a European Context – Interdisciplinary and Multicultural Studies): Students applied the Design Thinking methodology to create two products in German to support humanities teachers in integrating digitalization in the classroom: a printed brochure and a KI-KOMPASS website that offers a unique evaluation of 20 AI applications: https://sites.google.com/e-uvt.ro/ki-kompass/ki-kompass.
This new teaching paradigm shows that when young people are given total trust, they respond with remarkable professional maturity. The success of the “event courses” and the students’ engagement demonstrate that innovation in education does not only redefine the technical skills of German students, but also shapes their character, transforming simple attendance at a class into a team commitment where every piece of the puzzle counts.
By validating this "course-event" format, the West University of Timisoara reconfirms its status as a leader in academic innovation, demonstrating that the synergy between experiential learning and collaborative strategies in the professional environment represents the definition of future education.
