Dr. Brigita Janiūnaitė

The emergence of various types of pedagogical innovation affect and change not only students learning methods but also university teachers' competences and activities. Adoption of pedagogical innovations as well as study methods are faster and better when they are close from cultural, social and value-based perspective, i.e. when they are adapted. The teacher should have the appropriate competences to adapt, modify innovative study methods according to its users – students, at the same time not departing from the study program aims and study subject (module) results. There are a lot of issues during the adaptation process, e.g. what are the peculiarities of teachers' activities in adapting innovative study methods? What are the possible variations in the process of innovative study method adaptation and etc.

During the colloquium the focus will be on the relationship between the concepts of adoption and adaptation in the social innovation process. Further, the focus will be on the grounding of teachers' activities in adaptation of study methods as innovation at university. The case study of adaptation of study methods as pedagogical innovation (at Kaunas University of Technology), namely design thinking, case study as a teaching and learning method will be analysed together with the discussion on case studies of adapted study methods and the results of teachers' interview. The insights into different variations when university teacher's adapting study methods as pedagogical innovation will be discussed, too.

Brigita Janiūnaitė is professor and principal investigator of the Research Group of Educational Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Kaunas University of Technology.
Her research is focused on the issues social innovation; development of innovative culture at individual and organizational level; management of educational innovation. Among her publications is a monograph on 'Educational Innovation Implementation' (2004, in Lithuanian) and several research studies. She was elected a Visiting Fellow at St. Edmund's College, University of Cambridge, in 2007. Brigita Janiūnaitė has been involved in a number of international and national research and projects. She is MC Member (representing Lithuania) of COST action "Transdisciplinary solutions to cross sectoral disadvantage in youth".