• ConnEcTEd – Coherence in European Teacher Education (2020-2023)
• [IO8] Internationalising the FLTE curriclum – Digital tool kit and virtual communities of practice

Institution

Topic

GOALS

• Present an overview of foreign language teacher education in Finland
• Introduce special features in FLTE specific to the University of Helsinki
• Give background information about the education system/foreign language learning path

Domains/aspects of internationalization

Target group

Educational level and study year

Context information users would need to understand the digital tool (e.g., about the TE system, curricular integration)

License

In how far does your approach strengthen the internationalization (of the curriculum) in Teacher Education?

Which dimensions of digital transformation in teaching for teacher educators did you incorporate (utilize)?

How have you utilized digital tools/methods/resources in your teaching practice to strengthen coherent/integrative and/or international approaches, and what specific strategies or techniques have you found to be effective in achieving this objective?

• https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/faculty-of-arts/research/disciplines/languages
• https://studies.helsinki.fi/instructions/article/would-you-become-subject-teacher
• https://www.helsinki.fi/en

How have you employed co-creative approaches and/or participatory design in your use of digital tools to enhance student learning and engagement, and what have been some of the successful outcomes that you have observed as a result?

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Guidelines and specifications for international collaborations on digital outputs

Institution

University of Helsinki

Topic

Instructions for creating a digital series (video, webinar & podcast)

GOALS

Provide explicit instructions and guidelines for producing a series of videos, webinars, and podcasts as part of an international project.

Target group

Foreign language teachers, teacher educators

Educational level and study year

All levels

Context information users would need to understand the digital tool
(e.g., about the TE system, curricular integration)

The creation of the video/webinar and podcast was part of IO7 of The ConnEcTEd project.

License

Creative Commons license of the original creation if applicable; in the absence of this license, copyright should be attributed.

In how far does your approach strengthen the internationalization (of the curriculum) in Teacher Education?

• Our approach incorporates the creation of components or modules centered around international themes. This aspect contributes to the overall curriculum and provides students with a broader perspective on various global topics.
• Additionally, our approach aims to share international content specifically related to European Foreign Language Education and Education systems. By doing so, students are exposed to diverse educational approaches and gain a deeper understanding of language learning within an international context.
• Furthermore, the guidelines and instructions provided for the IO7 activities are designed to be applicable to any transnational collaboration or project. These resources serve as a valuable reference for facilitating effective teamwork and ensuring successful outcomes in future collaborative endeavors.

Which dimensions of digital transformation in teaching for teacher educators did you incorporate (utilize)?

Our approach emphasizes the importance of digital infrastructure by addressing the provision of digital resources and infrastructure to support teaching and learning.

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Institution(S) or Teams

Topic

GOALS

1. Explore the concept of being a European teacher and delve into its meaning.
2. Provide an update on current projects and research within the field.
3. Address the significance of coherence when teachers from diverse institutions across Europe collaborate in practice.

Domains/aspects of internationalization

Target group

Educational level and study year

Context information users would need to understand the digital tool (e.g., about the TE system, curricular integration)

• ConnEcTEd
• Teacher academy : projet UNI-T Academy

License

In how far does your approach strengthen the internationalization (of the curriculum) in Teacher Education?

Which dimensions of digital transformation in teaching for teacher educators did you incorporate (utilize)?

How have you utilized digital tools/methods/resources in your teaching practice to strengthen coherent/integrative and/or international approaches, and what specific strategies or techniques have you found to be effective in achieving this objective?

How have you employed co-creative approaches and/or participatory design in your use of digital tools to enhance student learning and engagement, and what have been some of the successful outcomes that you have observed as a result?

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Development of a digital toolkit to internationalize the curriculum

Institution

University of Turku, Department for Teacher Education

Topic

A digital tool for teacher educators’ course and curricular planning

GOALS

To support teacher educators, when they plan teacher education programs and curricula. The goal is to support teacher educators’ individual and collaborative work.

In specific, the aim of the tool is:

• to encourage educators and students to reflect upon visions of teacher education programs
• to enhance students to construct coherence between theory and practice
• to create opportunities for students to analyse practice
• to support students’ opportunities to enact practice
• to support students’ sense of self-efficacy
• to create opportunities for students to benefit from digital tools and learning environments

Domains/aspects of internationalization

Groups of students from different countries work together in a virtual classroom and create common projects, which are presented during the course.

Target group

Teacher educators in classroom teacher and subject teacher education

Educational level and study year

All educational levels in teacher education

Context information users would need to understand the digital tool
(e.g., about the TE system, curricular integration)

Teacher education programs are striving for developing curricula that support high-quality student learning and development of competences that are needed in future teacher profession. (Mikkilä-Erdmann et al. in preparation) Teaching is a complicated, many-faceted competence requiring high-level expertise. Teachers are expected to be well educated and develop their skills as “knowledge workers” with profound theoretical domain-specific understanding and general cognitive and social skills. In addition to that, the so-called situation-specific skills are required in the classroom interaction situations (Metsäpelto et al. 2022). European teacher education programs are many-faceted and differently structured and designed. However, through the suggested guidelines we intend to support teacher educators in different institutions and in different roles to reflect on the following dimensions in teacher education: Coherence of theory and practice, opportunity to analyze practice, opportunity to enact practice, teacher self-efficacy and vision of teacher education program. The dimensions are based on the pilot survey conducted in Finland. (Mikkilä-Erdmann et al. in preparation) These guidelines are intended to support teacher educators’ reflection on how to support coherence in teacher education.

License

Copyright

In how far does your approach strengthen the internationalization (of the curriculum) in Teacher Education?

The outcome, Guidelines for planning curricula in teacher education to support coherence, is based on a digital survey that was developed in international collaboration (ConnEcTEd IO4 and other IOs). In the future, the document will reach teacher educators internationally through the ConnEcTEd open access portal and will influence curricular work in teacher education.

Which dimensions of digital transformation in teaching for teacher educators did you incorporate (utilize)?

This outcome will be available for teacher educators in digital format on ConnEcTEd platform.

How have you employed co-creative approaches and/or participatory design in your use of digital tools to enhance student learning and engagement, and what have been some of the successful outcomes that you have observed as a result?

A digital survey tool was designed based on previous research (see references below) by IO4 in collaboration with other partners in the framework of ConnECTed project. Hence, the survey is based on successful collaboration with international research partners using co-creative and participatory approach.

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Development of a digital toolkit to internationalize the curriculum

Institution(S) or Teams

ConnEcTEd consortium – IO5/6-subteam

Topic

Report on online working mode in transnational co-creation of course concepts for TE

GOALS

Get basic insights about challenges and success factors of co-creation in online mode

Domains/aspects of internationalization

• Internationalization of the TE Curriclum (IoC)
• Relevance for(of) digital transformation
• Aspects of co-creation

Target group

Lecturers in HEI, study coordinators, project coordinators

Educational level and study year

All levels

License

CC 0

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Development of a digital toolkit to internationalize the curriculum

Institution(S) or teams

• Université Côte d’Azur and University of Education Freiburg (PHFR)

• Institute of German Studies/Nice and Institute of Romance Studies/Freiburg

Topic

Various – virtual exchange on transcultural learning/digital learning

GOALS

Originally, the objective was to “connect” students in France and Germany that were (thinking) about to study a bilingual teacher education program in a binational project work in the course of which they had the possibility to collaborate transnationally and to reflect individually on their perspectives of becoming a language teacher.

Gradually, the concept was further developed and opened for more target groups and phases of study; it was soon no longer a preparatory project for a binational program, but a virtual exchange approach which could connect courses between France and Germany (and beyond) through a common task-based course design and transnational project work (ideally followed by a “real mobility”, i.e. in the form of a student conference, as in the example below.

Thus, in general, the objective of the approach is to internationalize the curricula, to open thematic (subject-related, subject-related didactic or partially integrated) seminars for a transnational dialogue, to enable course participants to experience valuable changes of perspective and thus to deepen their intercultural communicative and methodological competencies.

Domains/aspects of internationalization

Internationalisation of the curriculum, blended mobilities, virtual exchanges

Target group

Teacher education students, partly also associate schools

Educational level and study year

Bachelor/Master of Education

Context information users would need to understand the digital tool
(e.g., about the TE system, curricular integration)

The format was developed and piloted in 2016 in the context of the DFH/UFA-funded binational Teacher Education program “ITS”.

License

• ower Point/PDF with theoretical background: CC O
• Concept sketch with examples/fotos: Copyright

In how far does your approach strengthen the internationalization (of the curriculum) in Teacher Education?

As stated above, the approach addresses several dimensions of internationalization (of the curriculum), since it connects educators, students and, partly, also schools from Germany and France through blended collaborations that combine virtual/physical staff mobilities, virtual exchanges, transnational collaborations/project work.

Which dimensions of digital transformation in teaching for teacher educators did you incorporate (utilize)?

Firstly, the digital infrastructure is vital for the virtual exchange approach since it shaped the teaching and learning environment of the etandems. Just important, however, was the implication of the digital pedagogy used, mostly based in a virtually supported task-based-approach.

Besides, digital competencies were a) needed for the realization of the VE as well as b) themselves the topic of some cooperations. The competence framework used in this context was the DigiComEdu framework of Digital Competences of Teachers by the European Union.

How have you employed co-creative approaches and/or participatory design in your use of digital tools to enhance student learning and engagement, and what have been some of the successful outcomes that you have observed as a result?

Co-Creative approaches were applied in the design, implementation and evaluation of the course. 

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Sharing, retrieving, reusing and adapting Open Educational Resources transnationally

Institution or team

ConnEcTEd consortium – IO5/6-subteam

Topic

Suggestions, guidelines and repository indications for integrating Open Educational Resources from other countries

GOALS

• Raise awareness among teachers of the potential of transnational OERs.

• Explain important legal frameworks.

• Provide references to important national repositories for OERs.

Domains/aspects of internationalization

• Internationalization of the TE Curriclum (IoC)
• Relevance for(of) digital transformation
• Aspects of co-creation

Target group

Lecturers in HEI, study coordinators

Educational level and study year

Any

License

CC 0

In how far does your approach strengthen the internationalization (of the curriculum) in Teacher Education?

Collaborating with colleagues from abroad, we aim to develop and share international content on European Foreign Language Education and Education systems.

Which dimensions of digital transformation in teaching for teacher educators did you incorporate (utilize)?

Working in collaboration with colleagues from around the world, we strive to enhance digital infrastructure by providing resources and support for teaching and learning purposes.

How have you utilized digital tools/methods/resources in your teaching practice to strengthen coherent/integrative and/or international approaches, and what specific strategies or techniques have you found to be effective in achieving this objective?

For more information on Pedagogical Studies at the University of Helsinki, please click on the following links:

• https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/faculty-of-arts/research/disciplines/languages
• https://studies.helsinki.fi/instructions/article/would-you-become-subject-teacher
• https://www.helsinki.fi/en

How have you employed co-creative approaches and/or participatory design in your use of digital tools to enhance student learning and engagement, and what have been some of the successful outcomes that you have observed as a result?

A language faculty is inherently rooted in collaboration as it thrives on the exchange of ideas, diverse perspectives, and collective efforts. In such a faculty, students and faculty members work together to explore linguistic theories, conduct research, and engage in language learning and teaching practices. Through collaboration, the faculty fosters a dynamic environment that enhances language proficiency, cultural understanding, and academic growth.

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Development of a digital toolkit to internationalize the curriculum

Institution

Faculty of Teacher Education University of Zagreb

Topic

Team teaching as a tool for fostering program coherence

GOALS

• foster program coherence trough collaborative teaching
• provide digital tools for planning of collaborative teaching
• evaluate collaborative teaching using digital tools
• enhance the use of collaborative teaching in higher education

Domains/aspects of internationalization

OER’s (information on OERs, list of national repositories, examples)

Target group

Teacher Educators

License

CC BY-NC

This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. 

In how far does your approach strengthen the internationalization (of the curriculum) in Teacher Education?

The H5P tool for planning and implementing collaborative teaching is a digital tool that can be used for collaboration with colleagues at one’s own institution or with colleagues from abroad. It enables teacher educators to plan, implement, and evaluate team teaching. It strengthens internationalization by providing examples of tool use from international partners, allowing for analysis and comparison of different educational practices in the EU.

Which dimensions of digital transformation in teaching for teacher educators did you incorporate (utilize)?

The provided tool integrates the dimensions of digital competencies and digital pedagogy in teaching. It is a digital tool and resource that can be incorporated into teaching practice, thereby enhancing teachers’ and students’ digital competencies. Additionally, the tool offers a digital infrastructure for implementing alternative teaching strategies, promoting digital pedagogy. The flexibility to modify and adapt the tool to the specific needs of a teacher training institution contributes to a digital curriculum.

How have you utilized digital tools/methods/resources in your teaching practice to strengthen coherent/integrative and/or international approaches, and what specific strategies or techniques have you found to be effective in achieving this objective?

To enhance coherence in the program content that emphasizes teaching the mother language (Croatian) and a foreign language (German), a collaborative teaching approach was implemented in the course “Plurilingualism in School Language Education.” Two university instructors were involved in the implementation of the course: one specializing in German language, foreign language teaching methodology, and intercultural learning, and the other specializing in Croatian language, mother tongue learning, and teaching. For this integrative teaching approach, the H5P tool for planning and implementing collaborative teaching was utilized.

How have you employed co-creative approaches and/or participatory design in your use of digital tools to enhance student learning and engagement, and what have been some of the successful outcomes that you have observed as a result?

Using the H5P tool for planning and implementing collaborative teaching enabled two university instructors to thoroughly plan and implement their co-creative approach within the course Plurilingualism in school language education. The evaluation of this approach by the students showed that they found the collaborative teaching to be a very good teaching method, enabling them to get information and possibilities to analyze certain content from two perspectives. The collaborative teaching approach emphasized coherence between mother tongue (Croatian language) teaching and foreign language (German) teaching and raised student teachers’ awareness of connections between two parts of their study program (Primary teacher education and German language teacher education).

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Development of a digital toolkit to internationalize the curriculum

Institution(S) or teams

• NETT DEVISE KA 2 project
• Prof. Dr. Anna Turula, Pedagogical University Krakow

Topic

1. Virtual Exchange: planning, design, implementation, evaluation
2. Designing VE tasks and task sequences
3. Responding to challenge
4. VE student mentoring
5. Intercultural communication and ICC (intercultural communicative competence)

GOALS

To train academic teachers in the planning, design and implementation of virtual exchange programs with special regard to the design of tasks / task sequences which develop higher order thinking skills and intercultural communicative competence.

Domains/aspects of internationalization

Groups of students from different countries work together in a virtual classroom and create common projects, which are presented during the course.

Target group

Academic staff; PhD students

Educational level and study year

PhD and post doc levels

Context information users would need to understand the digital tool
(e.g., about the TE system, curricular integration)

The tool used is a Moodle-based course together with various apps (e.g. Padlet). No special content knowledge necessary.

License

Copyright

In how far does your approach strengthen the internationalization (of the curriculum) in Teacher Education?

This training aims at making faculty of different universities more familiar with virtual exchange as a means of internationalisation. It gives the know-how of virtual exchange together with the philosophy of such pedagogy, its rationale and ICC-connected outcomes, the latter being even more important for internationalisation.

Which dimensions of digital transformation in teaching for teacher educators did you incorporate (utilize)?

• digital competencies (use digital tools and resources effectively in your teaching practice),
• digital pedagogy (integration of digital tools and resources into teaching and learning strategies, including the development of new approaches, methods and techniques),
• digital assessment: use of digital tools and techniques to assess and evaluate learning
• digital infrastructure (the provision of digital infrastructure and resources to support teaching and learning).
• digital literacy: tech-savvy task-tool affordancing

How have you utilized digital tools/methods/resources in your teaching practice to strengthen coherent/integrative and/or international approaches, and what specific strategies or techniques have you found to be effective in achieving this objective?

For example the use of digital tools and resources, such as virtual exchanges with students from other countries, could enhance the international and cross-cultural dimensions of a learning experience. Additionally, good task-tool affordancing as well as innovative, ICC-oriented task design guarantee the development of higher-order thinking skills. Finally, virtual exchanges provide excellent context for various learning modes – individual, local group, international group – which cater to various learner needs and individual differences.

How have you employed co-creative approaches and/or participatory design in your use of digital tools to enhance student learning and engagement, and what have been some of the successful outcomes that you have observed as a result?

Virtual exchange is a mode of learning in which students work in teams – local or international. VE task design capitalises on this learning mode: most assignments are about the co-creation of a certain outcome which is subject to future processing (international peer evaluation and constructive feedback; re-design; implementation by the partner group, etc.).

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TITLE

“General Information on OERs. Everything you always wanted to know about Open Educational Resources​ (but were afraid to ask)”

Author

Robert Schuwer

Name of the institution

Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven, NL

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