Incidentally Learning Other Cultures And Languages through an APP Erasmus Project

Project Title

Incidentally Learning Other Cultures And Languages through an APP

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

The ILOCALAPP project (Incidentally Learning Other Cultures And Languages through an APP) aimed at facilitating student mobility by means of a smart tool specially designed for mobile devices. The popularity of mobility programmes like Erasmus is growing more and more among youth, but this quantitative trend does not necessarily correspond to the high quality of the experience in terms of growth of proficiency in the language of the country of destination, and consequently in terms of intercultural comprehension and integration in the new environment as well. The ILOCALAPP project faced this challenge by developing UniOn!, an app for the incidental learning of 4 cultures and languages: Finnish, Italian, Polish and Portuguese. Following the principles of incidental learning, with UniOn! the acquisition of language and culture relies on the learners’ participation in the process of knowledge creation, and happens in a informal setting. Thanks to ILOCALAPP, mobility students are offered the possibility to get acquainted with local language and cultural in a smart way, thus enabling them to integrate in and interact with the country hosting them. The objectives achieved by the ILOCALAPP project were in fact: 1) to promote the integration of students in the new reality by providing them with a tool easy to be used; 2) to boost communication thanks to contents and situational experiences useful for everyday life; 3) to develop a tool aimed at the removal of cultural barriers thus improving social and behavioural competences and fostering integration and intercultural dialogue.
ILOCALAPP was carried out by a transnational consortium composed of 4 partners: the University of Bologna (from Bologna, Italy), the Adam Mickiewicz University (from Poznan, Poland), the University of Lapland (from Rovaniemi, Finland) and the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra (from Coimbra, Portugal).
After a preparation phase, the project was articulated in 3 macro-phases: 1) a methodological phase which included the methodological discussion, a wide end-users’ consultation and the production of a framework of contents to be developed in the app; 2) a production phase which included both the content development as well as its technological implementation; 3) a testing and revision phase which included the selection of pilot users, their testing of the app, the collection and analysis of their feedback, the revision of both learning materials and technical aspects, and which led to the delivery of the final product: the 4 versions of the UniOn! app.
The ILOCALAPP project addressed the needs of mobility students who were the main target group. They were involved in the activities at various stages throughout the project, starting from the initial consultation on their expectations and continuing with the testing of the different app prototypes, in accordance with a participatory approach. The culmination of the students’ involvement was represented by the piloting phase of the app, when they provided crucial feedback for the delivery of the finalised versions of the UniOn! app.
The results of the ILOCALAPP are being exploited at all possible levels, from the local level to the international one. The contents of the UniOn! app are geo-localised in the 4 university cities of the project: this allows the users to live a better mobility experience by integrating in the new environment; and the local realities are valorised by the UniOn! app. UniOn! is in fact used by mobility students coming from all over Europe and form all over the world; moreover it turned out to be interesting also for students of the same country but coming from different cities and also for high school students of the same city/region. In addition, also the methodological framework proved to be relevant at all levels and represents a document for further exploitation in relation to other languages, cultures and contexts too.
If the short-term impact of ILOCALAPP is mainly linked to the project participants, the main actors engaged in the long-term impact of the project results are the International and the Erasmus Offices of the participating institutions and of all institutions reached by dissemination activities. These offices have the opportunity to propose the UniOn! app to incoming and outgoing students also in the long term, after the end of the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 436372,35 Eur

Project Coordinator

ALMA MATER STUDIORUM – UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA & Country: IT

Project Partners

• LAPIN YLIOPISTO
• CENTRO DE ESTUDOS SOCIAIS
• UNIWERSYTET IM. ADAMA MICKIEWICZA W POZNANIU