Strengthening Global Competencies Through Advanced Internationalisation at Home Practices

Our target group was initially students who followed English language classes in vocational college. The objective was to enrich students’ education with an international perspective, grow experie...

Our target group was initially students who followed English language classes in vocational college. The objective was to enrich students’ education with an international perspective, grow experience and learn about do’s and don’ts and foster meaningful communication among students and teachers without need of travelling. The participants had possibility to learn about each other’s cultures and different professional topics while practicing their English skills. Also teachers had a great opportunity to network and collaborate virtually. Communication between the English teachers and Steering group members was active, effective and constructive.

Globe@Home project linked VET students from three countries doing online activities across the borders for two years. The original plan was for all the students to participate in a course in Marketing English in a way that would allow different field students to employ their skills. Furthermore the plan was that the students would do their work in their free time and do the planning and exercises in Teams together with their own schedules. For this purpose, a Moodle course was built, as well as a Teams room for participation. Quickly it was found out that there are several obstacles. Despite careful planning there were some technical difficulties that could not all be sorted out. In addition students faced obstacles like lack of time, lack of organizational skills and expertise required for contacting new people or to schedule joint ventures with students from different country. Teachers also outlined the scheduling challenges with the students not attending school simultaneously due to work placement periods, etc. The solution was developing videos as an asynchronic exchange with ’mystery pen pals’. A Globe@Home manual for video assignment containing instruction for students and teachers has been produced.

The concrete outputs and results of the project were: • Several English teachers and students from three countries were involved in this project. • The students had the opportunity to practice their English and intercultural skills. • The students learned how to make a video and how to show their own cultural experiences. • The project gave the English teachers the opportunity to interact with colleagues in other countries. • The teachers experienced first hand what the difficulties are with online communication between different schools and were creative in finding ways around it. • The Globe@Home manual was created based on the experiences and evaluations collected from this project. • Four dissemination articles were written and disseminated to various online platforms. • One article about the Globe@Home project has been submitted to an international journal and is currently awaiting approval and publication.