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paper in foreign language was awarded to the article “Beliefs about teaching: Persistent or malleable? A longitudinal study of prospec- tive student teachers’ beliefs” by Katrin Poom-Valickis and Erika Löf- ström, which was published in the top level research journal of the field, Teaching and Teacher Education. The decision was based on the significance of the results to a wider stakeholder group, correct- ness of conducting the survey and clarity in regard to limitations, and presentable form.
The best study book was “Punkt. 6.klassi eesti keele õpik ja töövi- hikud” (Point. Study book and workbooks of Estonian for the 6th grade) by Helin Puksand from TU, Reet Bobõlski from Rakvere Gymnasium and Margit Ross from Koolibri Publishing House. The study set is characterized by diverse design, methodology and exer- cises, user-friendly structure, variation in genre, closeness to life and children, fluent integration of different topics and general compe- tences. The set is in accordance with the national curriculum and is a continuation of the 5th grade set “Koma” (Comma). The workbooks support the acquisition of knowledge and expand the text selection; a selection of tests has been added for feedback.
1.8 SUPPORT ACTIVITIES FOR RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND CREATIVE ACTIVITY
In 2014, the process of updating documents regulating the univer- sity RDC activity continued. During the process the Conditions and Procedures for Payment of Research Performance Pay and the reg- ulations for the protection of intellectual rights were renewed and the Research and Development Regulation was supplemented. The statutes for contests in different study fields were also updated.
Information sessions took place in order to introduce application rounds for institutional and personal research funding; the DoRa programme was introduced to the university Master´s students and freshmen.
In relation to the implementation of the progress review system for doctoral students, assessment results were analysed for making counselling more efficient. An introduction of the TU doctoral the- ses defence procedure in English was organised at the Institute of Informatics, which was recorded in order to be used in counselling international doctoral students.
Since the key factor of success in doctoral studies lies in the qual- ity of supervision, a specific seminar relating to supervisory skills was organised within the framework of the Primus programme, which in perspective could be targeted to all supervisors of doctoral stu- dents. The seminar was based on the presumption that a supervisor has a readiness to develop and render meaning to his or her super-
vision practices and analyse themselves as a supervisor with focus on interaction, analysis and activity. For those who participated in the seminar in spring, a follow up meeting took place on the topics of a supervisor´s individual and collective reflexive practice, among other things with a goal to support the initiative of participants for sharing their knowledge and experience with other supervisors at the institutes.
The University Research Fund financed projects that support student research activity coordinated by the Student Union. As pre- viously, funding took place in two rounds, in spring and in autumn. The projects financed include summer schools and lecture evenings that popularize research, and the writing of theses. A total of 16 applications from the 2014 application rounds received funding.
Activities planned for research, development and creative activity in 2015 include:
» Creating Centres of Excellence in research in all focus fields
determined by the development plan.
» Developing a common framework following the new structure
of the university for the transmission of research activity via the university homepage, which provides clarity and availability of information to potential cooperation partners, researchers and degree students;
» Developing of a cooperation model to enhance the support for the growth of research activity, and the application and imple- mentation of projects at the university;
» Modernising the internal regulations, financing principles and the motivation system of the university research activity pursu- ant to the objectives of the new development plan and structural reform.
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