Telecollaboration at European Studies
In het kort
In dit project hebben studenten van de opleiding Europese Studies van de UvA op afstand samengewerkt met studenten van de Universiteit van Turku aan de ontwikkeling van hun academische vaardigheden. Het onderwerp dat centraal stond in deze samenwerking was het lustrum van de bevrijding van Auschwitz.
Hoe laat je studenten van verschillende contexten met elkaar samenwerken? Hoe kunnen studenten van verschillende universiteiten zinvol met elkaar samenwerken aan eigen leerdoelen?
Over dit project
| Lecturers | Claudia Daiber (lecturer German language UvA) Almut Meyer (lecturer at the Centre for Language and Communication Studies, University of Turku, Finland) |
| Department | European Studies |
| Programme | BA European Studies |
| Courses | European Studies German Advanced |
| Date | February 2020 – March 2020 |
| Mode of operation | Telecollaboration. Password protected website with an installed podcast possibility |
At the University of Amsterdam students of European Studies are obliged to earn 24 ECTS by following a language module. The students can choose from a variety of language among which is also the German language. During the last years the German language module attracted about 60 students per year. About one fourth of this group enters the course at a level of at least A2+ or even B1 according to the European Framework of Reference for Languages and for this reason is assigned to a subgroup labeled advanced. In more pragmatic terms this means that these students are challenged to communicate in an academic manner on a given subject.
In order to further this aim, Almut Meyer and Claudia Daiber set up a telecollaboration program between the class of ES German Advanced students at the University of Amsterdam and a corresponding group of students from the University of Turku. The subject which they decided on for the joint telecollaboration project was the 75th anniversary of the freeing of Auschwitz in 1945 by the Red Army.
Telecollaboration is a didactic model for learning languages and intercultural communication through cross-border contact. Students are working together online.
Results
With this project the students have gained insight into:
- the other group’s understanding of the Holocaust;
- reasons and motives for differences in understanding; and
- their functioning when applying the German language as a lingua franca regarding this specific subject.
The added value of this online communication has been that:
- students are encouraged to develop their communication skills in a digital environment;
- students are encouraged to develop their intercultural language competences;
- students are encouraged to reflect their own cultural patterns by comparison with the ones of their partners.
More information:
Claudia Daiber
Almut Meyer
Zelf aan de slag?
Neem contact met ons op via tlc-fgw@uva.nl.