12-01, 10:00–10:30 (Europe/Berlin), Stage 3 (Lovelace), WiFo
The annual blended learning seminar International Research Project, gives students from currently five countries the opportunity to gain experience in virtual collaboration. The learning journals kept during the course reflect the opportunities and challenges of such a format as perceived by the students. The presentation offers solutions in the form of recommendations for action and shows why collaboration is worthwhile.
Building on 10 years expertise in virtual cross-country collaboration settings between Austria and Germany, we successfully won and included universities in North Macedonia, Slovakia and South Africa as cooperation partners within the framework of the IVAC program of the DAAD. Get an insight into our further development of the "International Research Project", in which we have integrated interactive supports into the course for overcoming difficulties and challenges of virtual international collaboration based on our previous literature review. After the first run of the expanded and revised course, we used students' learning journals on the international collaboration, kept over the course of the project, to analyze in more detail students' experiences in this context. We aim to provide insights into the ongoing difficulties, but also the great opportunities and benefits of such a course format. While difficulties arose mainly in the areas of technology, getting to know each other, communication, and different conceptions of the project, the international collaboration was perceived as very valuable and enriching, especially in terms of personal and professional development. Despite a preference for in person meetings, the purely virtual format was perceived as exciting due to the good organization and used collaboration tools. Based on our experience, we provide recommendations for ongoing difficulties and offer possible solutions for the realization of international collaboration opportunities. Let's discuss together the challenges presented and see why international collaboration is worthwhile!
Dr Elke Mählitz-Galler is a research associate in the field of Service Learning and virtual learning scenarios at the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, Germany. She received her PhD in Egyptology from Georg August University, Göttingen in 2017. Since October 2021 she works in the h2d2-Project (didactically and digitally competent teaching and learning).
Amelie Ries works as research assistant at the University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal. She supports the International Research Project and the communication as well as the organization with partner universities, is available as contact for the students and takes care of the adaption of the course. She studied journalism in Magdeburg in her bachelor’s degree and is currently in her master’s degree in journalism at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.
Michael A. Herzog is a full professor of Information Systems Engineering at Magdeburg-Stendal UAS and the head of the SPiRIT research group. His research focuses on Educational Technologies, Human-Computer Interaction, Self-adaptive Information Systems, and IT-supported Sustainability. Michael received a Ph.D. in information systems and an MSc in computer science from Technical University Berlin.