Launch of Claus Docents, the UAB's new support series for university lecturers
The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona launches Claus Docents, a new series of handbooks for university lecturers prepared by the Vice-Rectorate of Training and Teaching Innovation and developed through the Institute of Educational Sciences (ICE-UAB). The initiative aims to share useful and transferable knowledge with university teaching staff, offering resources that help plan, develop, and evaluate university teaching from a practical, rigorous, and well-founded perspective.
The series aims to provide teaching staff with resources that can be applied in the classroom, facilitating the transfer of knowledge regarding university teaching into actual teaching practice. At a time when universities are facing new challenges linked to digital transformation, artificial intelligence, student diversity, and changing learning patterns, the UAB is strengthening its support resources for lecturers and continues to place teaching among its institutional priorities.
For José Luís Muñoz Moreno, vice-rector for Training and Teacher Innovation, the new series represents an opportunity to continue fostering the professional development of teaching staff: “Teaching plays a central role in university life. We want UAB lecturers to have access to resources that help them reflect on their practice, address current educational challenges, and enrich their teaching work. With Claus Docents, we take another step forward in our commitment to providing support to teaching staff with tools that contribute to improving teaching and learning processes”.
The initiative also highlights the role of the ICE-UAB as a key hub for the transfer of teaching-related knowledge within the University. Through the Claus Docents series, the ICE-UAB reinforces this function by providing faculty with resources to improve university teaching. In the words of Edelmira Badillo, director of the ICE-UAB: “This series aims to provide faculty with useful teaching resources that help enrich their teaching practice.”
Claus Docents forms part of other initiatives driven by the Vice-Rectorate for Training and Teaching Innovation—through the ICE-UAB—to generate knowledge about university teaching and make it available to lectures. Notable among these is the Educational Studies Report series, with the support of the Social Council. Launched with an initial study on student absenteeism, the series continues this year with a second study focused on attention to diversity. While these reports help foster a better understanding of certain educational realities at University, Claus Docents offers guidelines, strategies, and resources to help lecturers address these realities in their teaching practice.
The first handbook has been published coinciding with the launch of the series. Entitled Preventing Absenteeism: Keys to “Attracting” Attendance to University Classes and Improving Active Participation, the handbook was authored by lecturers Patricia Olmos (Department of Applied Pedagogy) and Dolors Márquez (Department of Economics and Economic History).
The book draws on the results of a study on student absenteeism conducted at the UAB and offers a constructive perspective on a phenomenon that concerns many university lecturers. It provides strategies to foster student engagement and active participation across various dimensions of the teaching practice: methodologies, assessment, materials, the relational climate, and tutoring. Additionally, it includes self-reflection tools, practical recommendations, examples, and an extensive resource bank to help lecturers review and enrich their teaching practice.
With Claus Docents, the UAB expands its teacher support resources and strengthens its contribution to generating and sharing knowledge about university teaching. The series helps recognise the value of teaching, facilitates professional development, and reinforces the UAB’s commitment to providing a high-quality educational experience for students.