Students studying remotely to become English teachers at the University of Gävle have had a few online meetings with students at a higher education institute in Belgium which the University has been cooperating with for several years. They connect through the online tool Adobe Connect, and then they can see and talk to each other via their computer screens.
“The students find it interesting and they’ve discussed topics like Brexit, what European identity means, and differences and commonalities between different countries when it comes to the field of teaching. For example, what salaries are like, teachers’ status, workloads and how you work with students needing special support,” says Lisa Johansson.
She also sees advantages in using this type of online exchange studies for students studying remotely.
“There are various reasons for why students studying remotely are perhaps unable to leave home and go out into the world. This is a way for them to still have contact with people in other countries. In the long-term, we hope that it will promote their interest in working with internationalisation in their future teaching careers.”
Text and photo: Anna Sällberg