Participants
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learned about key issues related to innovation in foreign language education through online lectures and discussion of reading materials;
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engaged in task-based discussions with student teachers (and in-service teachers) from various European countries around the theme of innovation in foreign language education across Europe;
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developed a classroom-based project and learning materials based on the themes of the course.
Collaborative task: Students developed and presented an innovative teaching project in their international working groups. It was based on the guest lectures and/or on other innovative teaching approaches. The students were asked to create a project which combines a series of small tasks and employs an approach that is not commonly used in the foreign language classroom.
Challenges: The challenges were mainly related to administrative aspects, e.g., how to bring together the different requirements for students (with and without course integration), or the funding of physical mobility through Erasmus+ (receiving funding before physical mobility, different funding amounts at different HEIs, etc.).
Voice of students: “I feel that the combination of both modes is key. I don’t think that our collaboration would have been so easy and comfortable if we haven’t met each other online before.”
“I think that communicating via online tools is a good way to ‘start’, but meeting physically sure is on another level. It has value to combine these two modes of collaboration for sure: starting via zoom probably made it easier to get in touch with the others physically, because they were no complete strangers.”
Sina Werner, Prof. Dr Robert O’Dowd
