Promoting professionalism, innovation and transnational collaboration in foreign and second language learning and teaching – integrating research-orientation and mobile technologies in teacher education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Promoting professionalism, innovation and transnational collaboration in foreign and second language learning and teaching – integrating research-orientation and mobile technologies in teacher education

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 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The proPIC Project aims at empowering both, prospective teachers and teacher educators to actively engage in lifelong learning processes and to cooperatively establish a culture of self-reflection, innovation and interculturality in foreign and second language learning and teaching. It is determined by the interplay between research-orientation, transnational collaboration and the creative use of mobile-technologies:

Research-orientation
The nature of the study programme is highly research-oriented. In the context of CPD in foreign language learning and teaching the prospective teachers are given a variety of problem-oriented assignments that comprise different issues from the field of CPD and will be connected to a study abroad experience. Having developed their own research framework, either individually or in cooperation with others, the participants work on their research questions and thus linking theory and personal experience. During this research process they constantly document, reflect and share their progress, experiences and findings by using mobile technologies. The prospective teachers are accompanied by the teacher educators during their research process either in face-2-face meetings, through online sessions or interactive tutorials. In order to promote further professional experience in the field of academic research, a number of best-practice examples are published at a final conference bringing together researchers, practitioners and students. All prospective teachers get the chance to disseminate their findings and research products after having submitted a proposal.

Transnational collaboration
As a key element of becoming and remaining professionals in their fields educators must remain creative, flexible and innovative. They need to be enabled to think ‘out of the box’ in order to support the individual potentials and talents of their own students at school. By gaining experience in the wider field of transnational collaboration such attitudes can be fostered. Thus, the project will include short study weeks abroad as one of the key parts of this project. During the course of the study programme we will take 3 different groups of up to 16 students (containing pre-service foreign language students of each partner country) to a partner country where they will work together with other international students and teacher educators on small research projects, exchange their traditions and methodologies of teaching and learning a foreign language and build intercultural and transnational networks.

Mobile technologies
Mobile technologies, another key component of the project, shall serve as a tool which will be used to creatively develop and apply the theory to practice. The project partners, which consist of researchers and practitioners in the field of foreign language teaching will thereby link their distinct expertise and experience in mobile learning and teaching. Next to providing a theoretical basis of CPD in foreign language teaching and learning, they will develop and offer a variety of innovative teaching and learning architectures (e.g. interactive eBooks, video papers, individual and collaborative ePortfolios, film productions or best-practice examples of educational apps and innovative tools).

Based on these elements, the proPIC Project will generate a framework for a study programme that promotes professionalism, innovation and transnational collaboration in foreign language learning and teaching using mobile technologies which can be integrated in different curricular. Along with this framework, we will produce validated criteria for assessing and evaluating the outcomes by the participants of this study programme. Neither of these currently exists.

Project Website

http://www.propiceuropa.com/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 355604 Eur

Project Coordinator

PAEDAGOGISCHE HOCHSCHULE KARLSRUHE & Country: DE

Project Partners

• HÖGSKOLAN I BORÅS
• UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
• CHRISTIAN-ALBRECHTS-UNIVERSITAET ZU KIEL
• UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA