Entrepreneurship Education and Sustainability – Virtual Exchange Course in English as a Foreign Language

English learners from around the world collaborate in transnational teams to find solutions to bring Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) forward. They develop a business plan and present their ideas in a video pitch. The accompanying teachers co-developed the learning environment for their students and acted as mediators in their learning process.

Virtual Place

Date

Start: 01.04.2024

Partners

The University of Zaragoza , Poznan University of Technology

EnComTOP – English Communication through Transnational Online Projects

Background information

The course originated from the EntreSTEAM project, which was financed by EU Erasmus+ funding from 2020 to 2022. The three founding partners were the University of Oulu, the University of Zaragoza and Poznań University of Technology. Following a study visit of a Finnish partner in Bochum in 2024, the Language Centre of Ruhr University joined the project in Autumn 2024.

Coordinating educators

Eva Braidwood and Suzy McAnsh from the Centre for Languages and Communication, University of Oulu (Finland), Anna Soltyska from University Language Centre of Ruhr University Bochum, and language teachers from several participating universities including Kraków and Poznań (Poland), Zaragoza (Spain), Budapest and Nyíregyháza (Hungary) and Maringá (Brasil).

Target group and recognition

The course is aimed at BA and MA students from all degree programmes who wish to enhance their English communication skills and have an interest in entrepreneurship and sustainable development1. Due to its online-only format and flexible nature, the course is particularly attractive to students with work or family commitments (e.g. part-time work or childcare), or to students with disabilities that make commuting to campus difficult. As with other participating universities, at Ruhr University the course is integrated into the electives, and participating students are awarded 3–5 CPs depending on their workload and level of engagement.

Course organisation

Based on the results of a pre-course survey completed by all prospective participants, students are allocated to international teams of four to five people. The survey provides information on the students’ academic and professional interests, current language skills (B1+ is the minimum requirement), learning objectives, attitudes towards teamwork, the roles they are willing to take on and any other relevant skills. Teachers use this information to form student teams in which diverse experiences and talents contribute to each team's success.

At the start of the course, all the participating students and teachers meet in a joint Zoom session. This is when the teams are announced and teachers accompanying each team are introduced. Each teacher is responsible for mentoring one or two transnational teams. The collaboration phase of the course takes place over 10 weeks during the winter semester (when Ruhr University participates in the project). Students who wish to obtain more than 3 CPs can take part in an additional self-study phase with mentoring of about four-six weeks.

The course uses Moodle as the main LMS, which is developed and managed by the course teaching team. Accordingly, all coursework must be submitted and commented on via Moodle for documentation purposes. The use of other collaboration and communication tools is encouraged. Each team selects their preferred tools and arranges their own meetings to fit within the overall course schedule.

Students’ tasks

Within the collaborative phase, the following Design Sprint framework is used to guide student work in their respective teams:

  1. Students exchange their knowledge and understanding of the SDGs and identify one SDG that is relevant to them and their diverse contexts.

  2. Through research and collaborative discussion, students find out who is immediately affected by failing to reach the selected SDG. They specify and narrow down the problem, among others by comparing their local contexts and local target groups in relation to their selected goal.

  3. Students brainstorm several possible ways of tackling the selected problem.

  4. Upon evaluating the proposed solutions students decide which of them would be most feasible and economically viable.

  5. To further develop their chosen solution students conduct further research and propose concrete steps for the implementation of the solution. As a crowning of the collaboration phase, each team prepares a video pitch, in which the problem, their idea and the plan to implement the solution are presented. Teams watch selected pitches created by other teams and provide feedback on their performance based on specific criteria.

The teamwork during the collaboration phase is guided by weekly Moodle content provided by the teachers and organised independently by each team. The teams report to their teachers on weekly basis. The mentoring teachers unobtrusively support the teams working together, and provide feedback on submitted work (meeting reports, storyboards, generated ideas, etc.). The teachers are always in the background, ready to answer questions, join the meetings if requested, and mediate if problems arise.

Educators’ tasks

The involved teachers (at least one teacher from each participating university) meet on regular basis to discuss coursework-related questions, in particular problems with teamwork, transparent communication with or within teams, and interpretation of course tasks/instructions in Moodle.

Each teacher is responsible for one or two groups (depending on the number of students sent by their university) and acts as the contact person in case of any questions and problems. In addition, each teacher is also the first point of contact for their local students, in particular for questions about recognition and workload for additional CPs.

Benefits for the educators

The educators have a unique opportunity to collaborate closely with an international team of other teachers and English language experts. Together, they plan the course, regularly discuss its progress, and learn to solve problems (both within their own teams and within teams mentored by other colleagues) through collegial support. Collaborating as a team enhances intercultural learning and opens teachers' eyes to issues of diversity, working styles, the need for explicitness or tolerance for ambiguity, culture-specific approaches to assessment and other important topics in higher education. The ability to compare systems and operational frameworks at various collaborating universities (e.g. the functionalities of Moodle at different universities) enables participating teachers to reflect on their own circumstances and learn from the experiences of others. Data derived from analyses of students’ collaboration and course outcomes provide an opportunity for joint publications, which will help to further the understanding of students’ learning and the effectiveness of teaching methods.

Challenges for the students and educators

Need for transparency and clarity for self-directed and self-organised learning: The course information and guidance on Moodle should be comprehensive and written in clear, accessible language. Instructions on both mandatory and optional tasks should be provided in multiple formats (written, audio and graphic) to accommodate different learning styles. Any possible misunderstandings or misinterpretations should be anticipated and avoided.

Balancing teachers’ support and self-organised learning: Students need guidance from their teachers to help them develop their social competencies, particularly their problem-solving skills, when conflicts within teams arise. Teachers need to display diplomatic skills when helping students with challenging situations they have not witnessed themselves. They must strike a balance between providing sufficient support and intervention on the one hand, and allowing their students to assert themselves independently on the other hand.

Dealing with divergent attitudes to teamwork: Due to differences in personality traits and attitudes towards teamwork that are specific to certain cultures, some team members may feel exploited and underestimated in their involvement in group work. Conversely, others may enjoy a 'free ride' and contribute little to the final outcome. Such situations require sensitivity from everyone involved, and teachers may need to mediate between group members.

Technical support and troubleshooting: Although the teams are free to select their preferred tools, it is important to clarify in advance who should be contacted in the event of technical problems. Ideally, students should be provided with a basic 'toolkit' containing instructions about the available and recommended tools and their functionalities.

Students’ voices (based on course evaluation)

“Actually, the most valuable part of the course happened not in Moodle, but in WhatsApp. Asking others about their progress, sharing useful links, communicating some difficulties – all these parts of a working process let me develop my soft skills. The grammar tasks and the learning videos in Moodle were certainly helpful, but the unique part of the course, that distinguishes it from other English lectures, is the communication in a team.”

“I plan to maintain the skills I developed by actively applying them in real-world projects, collaborating with diverse teams, and continuing to practice effective communication in English.”

Preconditions on the educators’ side

Teachers willing to embark on similar teaching projects should be open to innovation, finding new solutions and discovering new perspectives. They should be prepared to discuss and if necessary to review their own teaching methods, long-established procedures and teaching mindset. Such a collaborative project requires mutual trust, so teachers should be prepared to commit to developing supportive and non-competitive relationships with their colleagues.

Further reading

McAnsh, S. & Braidwood, E. (2024): Fostering student engagement through problem-solving in multidisciplinary, transnational teams, Fremdsprachen in Lehre und Forschung 57 (2024), pp. 56-65.

Anna Soltyska, University Language Centre (Zentrum für Fremdsprachenausbildung), Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Tags

Case Gallery

Themes

Entrepreneurship Education

Type of Case

Course

Languages

English

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