Title: Pan Nordic project on Intercultural Competencies course development: Pilot, Platform and Course Series, 2023-2024

Name of presenter: Kirby Vincent

Affiliation and academic title: University of Helsinki, University Lecturer

Email address: Kirby.vincent@helsinki.fi

 

Keywords: Intercultural competencies, course development, course formats, university co-operation, online learning platform

 

Abstract:

Whereas Sandro John Amendolara’s presentation described the context and process around creating the course series about intercultural communicative competences for use between the four universities (Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Iceland), in this presentation I will discuss the pilots that took place in 2023 and also look in detail at the components of the online course series, and how they are being run in autumn 2024. Throughout the presentation I shall show how digicampus, the online learning platform crucial for the success of the course series, has been implemented and integrated.

Each of the courses in the series had, at least, one independent lesson piloted in order to test the technology and to determine how well the material worked from the students’ point of view.  The feedback was shared within the group and used to improve the activities, lessons and the course series. I will discuss this process and the developments it inspired.

The three courses are Navigating academic culture, The role of language in intercultural communication, and Engaging with and reflecting on culture(s) and identities and were developed by different group. Each course is divided into course units which we have called themes. The themes have an asynchronous component and can also have synchronous components which can be student online collaboration and/or Zoom sessions with an instructor. The presentation will describe the course contents and go over the reasoning behind the choice of different course formats and instructional modes.

I will end the presentation by discussing the future of the course series, and how it may be developed.

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