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Fakultät für Erziehungswissenschaft
Fakultätfür Erziehungswissenschaft

Foto: Dr. Christian Helmchen

IN OTHERS' SHOES: BUT HOW?

In others’ shoes: But how? International virtual collaboration in initial teacher education for sustainable intercultural and multilingual education

Research team

Organisations

  • Faculty of Education, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg
  • Faculty of Arts, School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney

Funding programme: IVAC - International Virtual Academic Collaboration

Funding institution: DAAD

Project number: 57563713

Period of execution: 01.09.2020 - 31.10.2021

Description

Inscribed the scope of the long-term collaboration between the University of Hamburg and the Macquarie University, the project “In others’ shoes: but how?” builds upon the past project “Visual Narratives in initial teacher training” and the on-going project “In others’ shoes: pre-service teachers’ cross-comparison of multilingual and multicultural experiences in Hamburg and Sydney” (from March to December 2020).

The aim of the project is to understand how student teachers see each other and their linguistic and cultural repertoires in multicultural and multilingual cities, and how they plan to engage with multilingualism and multiculturalism in their teaching practices. The extension project “In others’ shoes: but how?” plans to improve internationalization and the sustainability of its outcomes, by: promoting direct interaction on being and becoming multilingual between student teachers in Sydney and Hamburg; collaborative on-line planning of resources to teach a growing multilingual and multicultural student population, in Sydney and Hamburg; experimenting planned resources in both sites and sharing of outcomes, challenges and potentialities; engaging in on-line discussions about the educational policies intended to support (or hinder) multilingual and intercultural education in both sites; and involving students in the international dissemination of the results of their work.

This international virtual collaboration implements a research-based approach to initial (language) teacher education, inducing students to reflexively engage in the description of learning and teaching contexts, the diagnostic of learning and teaching needs in multilingual and intercultural contexts, the collaborative construction of resources to face the diagnosed needs, the critical reflexion on the outcomes through planed qualitative and quantitative assessment; and the redesign of activities and resources based on a SWOT-analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) in both contexts. This means that “In others’ shoes: but how?” develops an international intercultural approach to teacher education, by means of design, implementation and assessment of international collaborative action research projects

Project aims

  • develop a blended-learning initial teacher education approach, including the use of a virtual collaboration platform (OpenOlat), supporting synchronous and asynchronous interaction among students in Sydney and Hamburg;
  • develop teaching and learning materials, trough virtual collaboration, on intercultural and multilingual education, designed to be implemented in the two multilingual cities;
  • quantitatively and qualitatively assess the outcomes of the international virtual collaboration and research-based approach in the professional development of student teachers, by means of online inquiries, face-to-face focus group interviews/discussion, and production of a collaborative paper by students;
  • develop a sustainable and collaborative approach to the course development, implementation, and evaluation cycle.