Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago has forced Ukrainian students and teachers to switch to online education. 

This week, a delegation of Ukrainian educators attended workshops held over two days at Oregon State University in which OSU organizers and staff provided academic and emotional support in Ukraine’s transition to online education.

The ‘train the trainer’ workshops, where five Ukrainian delegates learned from staff how to provide trainings when they return to Ukraine, were held on Aug. 7 and 8 in the Autzen Classroom at OSU Valley Library. 

These workshops were sponsored by the Corvallis Sister Cities Association Uzhhorod Council and an internationalization grant from the OSU Office of Faculty Affairs. 

According to Lynne L. Hindman, learning experience designer and organizer of the event as well as board member of the Corvallis Sister Cities, Russia’s invasion led to disturbances in education with destruction.

Hindman said that right now, only one-fifth of students are engaging in education in Ukraine.

Research conducted by Cedos Think Tank, an independent think tank that works on social development, shows that as of Jan. 20, according to the Ministry of Education and Science, 3,051 educational institutions were affected and 420 were completely destroyed. 

At the top of the list were secondary schools, and as of Jan. 23, 2023, 1,259 were damaged and 223 were ultimately destroyed. 

This same research showed that 36% of schools were teaching remotely, 36% were using a mixed method and only 28% were providing in-classroom learning. 

For parents of Ukrainian learners, 24% mentioned that their children were not concentrating well during online tasks and 24% mentioned that another problem was lack of communication with peers. 

Alice Rampton, co-director of the TOUCH project, a sponsorship program for Ukrainian children, mentioned Katrin Bizilya, a teacher of 35 years honored as a “Teacher of the Year” in Ukraine. 

Bizilya was also the first president of the Uzhhorod Sister Cities Association when the sister city relationship started in the early 1990s, and currently lives in Uzhhorod.

Although Bizilya is not one of the delegates who came to Corvallis, she offers insight as to what educators are facing amidst the war. 

Bizilya said distance learning is something Ukrainian families and teachers had to get used to because of the constant halts to classes as they have to run to shelters due to air alerts.

According to Bizilya, there was no electricity at times which led to no internet connection, so teachers had to become even more creative in order to motivate students to study.

Before the war, students were used to placing cell phones in a separate area of the classroom, but now in their current situation, they use them to learn through applications such as Skype, Google Meet, Vyber and Moodle. 

Bizilya said at their Linguistic Gymnasium, teachers work in two shifts because there are over 750 students. Once, during an air alert, not all students were able to find shelter because of this high volume of students.

According to Hindman, many internally displaced persons have relocated to Uzhhorod, and Bizilya said the population of the small city has increased due to these refugees. 

Many of the student refugees come from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Dnipro and other cities located east of Ukraine. 

Although it has been difficult to adjust in a new place during an invasion, Bizilya said students are kind and welcoming to refugees.

Taking in mind the current situations of teachers such as Bizilya, to create these workshops, Hindman says delegates were surveyed to find what the most vital needs were, primarily focusing on grades 5-12. 

A document shared by Hindman, which provided a schedule and objectives states that after the training, the delegates will be able to work with programs such as Canvas, which is used at OSU.  

Delegates will be able to bring these teachings and provide at least three workshops each to other educators, such as Bizilya, where they can help academically and be a friend in a time where, as Hindman said, “they are not only teachers, but protectors as well.” 

An event like this has not occurred before on an OSU campus and it definitely did not come with ease, said Hindman. 

While first planning, she said she applied for an Open World Congressional Grant and was notified it was awarded. A few weeks later, another notification arrived and informed her that money for the grant had run out. 

The work the CUSC Uzhhorod Council wanted to provide was deemed far too important to stop after this news. 

Hindman said the council applied for a $5,000 internationalization grant from faculty affairs which was granted. With funding from the association and the grant, they were able to bring the delegates here and provide their visa, hotel and flights. 

The five delegates from Ukraine will be in Oregon from Aug. 4 to 14 where they will stay with host families, attend other activities separate to the workshops and explore Corvallis.