Eaquals Press Release 2nd November 2020
Eaquals holds their first online training event with Eaquals Online
Eaquals are celebrating the success of their first online training event, Eaquals Online. The event welcomed just under 1,000 participants to the online training sessions which ran over two days on 23rd & 24th of October 2020.
The event was officially opened by Eaquals Executive Director, Lou McLaughlin, and Eaquals Chair, Justin Quinn, who both reflected on the challenges of 2020 and the impact of the pandemic on the international education sector.
The programme for Eaquals Online focused on providing input, support, training, discussion options and case studies around 4 strands that are of most relevance: Pastoral Care in Times of Crisis, Crisis Management, Teaching & Learning Online, and Looking Forward. The sessions were linked together so that each provided an overview of the theory and worked through this to the more practical and experiential reports from Eaquals members by means of their case studies.
Eaquals Online showcased the knowledge and expertise from within the Eaquals network. The majority of speakers were Eaquals members who were keen to share their experience and work together to deliver quality teaching and support learning – underpinning the Eaquals ethos.
During the opening plenary, Sarah Mercer presented “Teacher Wellbeing in Times of Crisis – coping with kindness”. This pertinent topic was well-received by attendees and set us up for a productive two days. Martyn Clarke’s plenary looked at “Managing in uncertainty: What to do when we don’t know what to do” focused our attention on different models to employ in the current climate and paved the way for the case study reports from Eaquals members, Ozyegin University School of Languages and Lacunza-IH San Sebastian. The second day opened with a plenary from Sophia Mavridi on “From emergency remote teaching to sustainable online education: dilemmas and solutions” which addressed the current issues faced by teachers and looking towards a more sustainable response.
All of the sessions over both days provided valuable information, shared personal experiences and ultimately led to an open discussion of the difficulties being faced by the language teaching community at the moment. Sharing with colleagues in this way allowed us to reinforce the support felt within the network and #eaqualsfamily.
Reflecting on the event, Lou McLaughlin, Executive Director of Eaquals said:
“The feedback on the event has been extremely positive and were pleased to be able to provide both members and non-members with high quality training throughout Eaquals Online at a time when it is most needed. We were delighted to announce the forthcoming Eaquals Online Accreditation scheme at our AGM and look forward to the official launch in 2021”.
The next Eaquals annual international conference will be held in Belfast, 22 – 24 April 2021. Click here for the conference programme. Resources from the event will soon be added to the Eaquals website and an album of official conference photographs will be added to the Eaquals Facebook page.
