Resources:
Partners:
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden & Cambridge University, UK & IMT Mines Albi, France & University of Pavia, Italy & Volga State University of Technology, Russia
Goal: Develop, test & disseminate important language-neutral learning activities for e-communication
Rationale: E-communication is an increasingly important mode of communication for engineers, and a major tool for supporting sustainable internationalisation in general, linking people from different locations with a minimum of the emission produced by travel. Yet it is seldom in focus in language classes, whether these be on-campus or online, although the inefficiency of more than the most fundamental e-communications, such as information dissemination through email, is widely attested to. Thus the mapping of e-communication skills and learning activities for use in language courses is an innovative approach to sustainable internationalisation, and transferable from the context of engineering education to general language and communication training in HEIs, companies and society at large. The material, although focusing on use in foreign language courses, is also relevant for, and transferable to, native speakers’ training activities.
The transnational cooperation will ensure a natural setting in which we can develop and test learning activities with the help of students with different backgrounds. The competence is highly relevant for university faculty and staff and the result can also be used for in-house training at HEIs, by companies, authorities, and other organisations and groups.
Intellectual Output Description: An electronic guidebook with language-neutral (i.e., not tied to any particular language) learning activities for vital e-communication skills, focusing on new and innovative practices for the technical university and organized in line with the GELS grid. The guidebook will include a set of recommendations and guidelines, where applicable linked to professional standards such as, e.g., ABET and CDIO, and will serve as a road-map for improving practices strengthening transversal competencies, thus increasing capacity and professionalism of students and practitioners to work at EU/international level.