The community of UNIC’s Centres for Teaching and Learning aims to bring forward virtual international collaboration in the university classroom.
The UNIC CTL's Mission
We develop and conduct UNIC InterTeach – professional development programme for university teachers - within the UNIC consortium, aiming at assembling teachers of all partner universities and from all disciplines in order to think of new ways of international cooperation in Higher Education.
Our network aims towards a stable and deep collaboration in order to improve our local offers and shape and design common offers. We are currently realising our first years’ programme for all UNIC university teachers, bringing together intercultural encounter and professional development. We also work on support materials and documents.
UNIC InterTeach
UNIC InterTeach: intercultural and innovative Teaching and Learning
is the UNIC wide professional development programme for university teachers. It shall help and inspire university teachers to design innovative teaching and learning settings. All workshops are organised for an international audience, interactive, online and in English.
Interested teachers can register for one workshop or many, just as they wish. Participants will get a ‘proof of attendance’ after completion of any single workshop.
Participants can get a ‘certificate of engagement’ if they participate in two workshops of the same core topic AND evidence their engagement towards their local Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL). For further information, please contact your local CTL or write to ctl@unic.eu
Core Topic: Innovative Mobility/Virtual Exchange
Via Virtual Exchange students work together online on tasks and develop several skills such as cooperation and intercultural communication, in addition to professional knowledge. After following this workshop, you are able to
- Formulate actions to adapt your course design to integrate VE.
- Motivate the opportunities for integrating an international experience in your course.
- Select activities/tasks and tools for collaborative and international teamwork of students.
-Discuss possible solutions for basic challenges of VE.
This workshop is organised in collaboration with the European University Alliance ‘Circle U’, with partners based in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Serbia. In this international setting you will familiarize with Virtual Exchange as a pedagogical activity for engaging students in authentic intercultural collaborative projects with international partners.After completing the course, you will be able to:
- Explain the potential learning outcomes of Virtual Exchanges
- Do the steps for setting up and running a Virtual Exchange in your course
- Use a collection of materials and examples as inspiration for your activities
- Network with teachers from other countries in order to establish potential Virtual Exchange partnerships
In this international workshop setting you will familiarize with the concept of Virtual Exchange (resp. COIL), reflect on your own teaching culture and discover the learning and teaching culture of your partners. You will collaborate to create a Virtual Exchange setting for your students and create first ideas for fostering the collaboration of your students.After this workshop you will be able to:
- Explicate how culture influences teaching and learning processes at universities
- Describe the intercultural challenges for your students in a Virtual Exchange setting
- Apply different teaching activities that support Virtual Exchange and intercultural learning for your students
- Collaborate with other teachers from the European university on Virtual Exchange activities
This workshop is organised in collaboration with the European University Alliance ‘Circle U’, with partners based in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Serbia. In this international setting you will familiarize with Virtual Exchange as a pedagogical activity for engaging students in authentic intercultural collaborative projects with international partners. After completing the course, you will be able to:
- Explain the potential learning outcomes of Virtual Exchanges
- Do the steps for setting up and running a Virtual Exchange in your course
- Use a collection of materials and examples as inspiration for your activities
- Network with teachers from other countries in order to establish potential Virtual Exchange partnerships
In this international workshop setting you will familiarize with the concept of Virtual Exchange (resp. COIL), reflect on your own teaching culture and discover the learning and teaching culture of your partners. You will collaborate to create a Virtual Exchange setting for your students and create first ideas for fostering the collaboration of your students. After this workshop you will be able to:
- Explicate how culture influences teaching and learning processes at universities
- Describe the intercultural challenges for your students in a Virtual Exchange setting
- Apply different teaching activities that support Virtual Exchange and intercultural learning for your students
- Collaborate with other teachers from the European university on Virtual Exchange activities
In this international setting you will prepare a concept for the implementation of CBL in your courses (transformation of the currently coordinated course to the CBL model). After this workshop you will be able to:
- Know the specifics of the CBL method as a way of organising a course with Students and the stages of its implementation.
- Understand the role and tasks of Students and Academic Teacher at the different stages of CBL and the importance of their systematic engagement.
- Select and use engaging (active) teaching methods useful in the implementation of the CBL method.
- Motivate Students to engage in activities that consist of the CBL method.
- Systematically extend your knowledge and skills in the implementation of CBL in the teaching process and to increase Students' engagement in it.
- Organise, coordinate and moderate the implementation of projects by Students according to the CBL method.
In this international setting you will work through hands-on activities and examples of real service-learning (SL) experiences in higher education. You will also discover a check-list to implement service-learning, and design your own SL experience for one of your courses. After this workshop you will be able to:
- Describe service-learning methodology and identify its defining elements.
- Identify the steps to implement service-learning methodology in a course.
Teaching controversial issues (sometimes called “sensitive issues”) is becoming an increasingly contentious issue within higher education. Society is increasingly distinguished by antagonistic tensions due to i.e. the visibility of large-scale international conflicts, the polemical rhetoric in social media, the erosion of civility in political discourse, and medias obsession with conflict. After this workshop you will be able to:
- Critically examine the use of controversial issues in your own field of knowledge
- Engage with a tool that highlights the pitfalls that a teacher might fall into when teaching controversial issues.
- Reflect how the pitfalls that the tool highlights are expressed in their own fields of knowledge.
The goal of the workshop is to introduce participants to foundational principles and current international trends about Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in relation to Teaching & Learning in Higher Education. After this workshop you will have enhanced your abilities to:
- Reflect on the meaning of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in your educational context
- Articulate your values in relation to inclusive teaching practice
- Investigate your cultural identity in relation to your role as an educator
- Describe core principles for designing and facilitating equitable learning experiences that foster students’ growth mindset, purpose, agency, belonging, and mattering
- Appraise and critique how these principles relate to your lived experiences and inform your ability to act within your teaching contexts
- Connect with colleagues in interdisciplinary dialogue to share practical ideas and approaches
- Draft an action plan to apply concepts learned via 1) a small teaching tweak intervention in the current semester/year, and 2) a unit or assignment redesign for the next semester/year
The goal of the workshop is to help faculty members figure out the ways to integrate agile project management process by applying AI tools in their courses with a sustainability focused learning outcome. After this workshop you will be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of the practices and tools of Agile Project Management
- Apply certain AI tools to facilitate project management process in the context of sustainable development
- Develop ideas for designing and delivering group projects for sustainability focused courses
The goal of the workshop is to discuss pedagogies of transition, supposed to fostering sustainability within Higher Education. Given the scale of the environmental and social crises, our teaching is faced with complex challenges, the session will revolve around the two questions: what skills will our graduates need to act professionally in a complex and uncertain world? What pedagogies to develop our teaching in a perspective of sustainability and transition?
Objectives of the workshop:
- Start a discussion on the notion of “future skills” deemed to be more fitted to the current challenges
- Start a discussion about the impact of pedagogical choices on ecological footprint
ABC is an effective and engaging hands-on workshop for higher education teachers in the learning design supported by digital technologies. Using a game format teams can work together to create a visual ‘storyboard’ outlining the type and sequence of learning activities (both online and offline) required to meet the course learning outcomes. After this workshop you will be able to:
- Demonstrate ABC method in the course design
- List the advantages of using the ABC method
- Create module/ e-course using the ABC method
The Centre is compiling documents that help teachers get inspired on international teaching – you can read about your colleagues realising international teaching collaborations in our Handbook on Physical and Virtual Mobility. These "stories from the field" show the variety of options for how Internationalisation of the Curriculum is implemented within UNIC.
You can also find checklists and practical hints if you want to reflect on your teaching.
The UNIC Handbook on Physical and Virtual Mobility is freely downloadable and shareable. A PDF viewer is recommended to view this document.
Check back soon for new materials to support teaching in intercultural settings.
The UNIC VIP Fund
The UNIC Fund for Virtual and International Education Projects aims to support virtual international educational activities across UNIC university partners. It is an open Call supporting the design, coordinatation and implementation of virtual exchange initiatives that are inclusive and accessible.
The call is open to all staff members of all ten UNIC universities (part- and full-time professors, educators, lecturers etc.) involved in teaching. All faculties, topics and disciplines are welcome.
