Projekty Unii Europejskiej w których uczestniczy Wyższa Szkoła Bankowości i Finansów (WSBiF)

Grundtvig

L.I.T.E.R.A.L.I.A.

L.I.T.E.R.A.L.I.A.
Learning in tandem to encourage reciprocal autonomous learning in adults
(pl. Nauczanie w parach metodą wzajemnego zachęcania do samodzielnej nauki osób dorosłych)

Partnerzy w projekcie:

Volkshochschule Ostkreis Hannover - Niemcy
Bielsko-Biała School of Banking and Finance (pl. Wyższa Szkoła Bankowości i Finansów w Bielsku-Bialej) - Polska
Bildungszentrum Wolfsburg gGmbH - Niemcy
Centro Territoriale Permanente per l'Educazione degli Adulti di Pontedera - Włochy

Languages used in the LITERALIA project

English
German
Polish
Itlian

Abstract of the LITERALIA project

The project partners of the project L.I.T.E.R.A.L.I.A. will explore the opportunities of tandem learning for their organisations, exchange ideas on how tandem learning can support adult learners in their self-directed learning processes and actively help disseminate this method. Furthermore the project partners will evaluate how tandem learning can support adult learners in the acquisition of the 8 key competences for lifelong learning identified by the European Parliament and Council, especially the key competences of communicating in the mother tongue and foreign languages, digital competence and learning to learn, as well as interpersonal and intercultural competences.

The project partners will establish a web-based opportunity for adult learners of the participating organisations to work together on topics of mutual interest and to support each other in the acquisition of intercultural, social and learning competence. In addition the project partners are going to set up guidelines for adult learners which should help them to work successfully in a tandem team. The project partners are going to organise teaching staff trainings on the method of tandem learning and on the use of computers to support tandem learning. Furthermore there will be exchange visits of learning facilitators and learners between the participating organizations.

Aims and objectives of the project L.I.T.E.R.A.L.I.A.

The aims of the project L.I.T.E.R.A.L.I.A. are to explore the opportunities of tandem learning for the learners and the learning facilitators in our organisations, to exchange ideas on how tandem learning can support adult learners in their self-directed learning processes and to actively help disseminate this method. One aim of the project is to explore how tandem learning can contribute to the acquisition of the 8 key competences for lifelong learning identified by the European Parliament and the Council.
Tandem learning was initially developed as a method for language learning. For our project we have taken the idea of reciprocal learning support of - mainly - autonomous learners and applied it to a much wider range of learning contents. Thus, in our context, we take "tandem learning" to mean that two adult learners from different countries support each other in the acquisition of intercultural, social and learning competence while working on a common project. The project themes chosen by the tandem partners can be from a wide range of topics in the area of continuing and / or vocational education.
The objectives of the project are to establish a web-based opportunity for adult learners of the participating organisations to work together on topics of mutual interest, to set up guidelines for adult learners which should help them to work successfully in a tandem team and to enable the staff of the participating organisations to become learning facilitators for tandem learning. Project structure
The method of tandem learning will be an integral part of the Grundtvig 2 project cooperation itself. This means that the project partners will be working in teams of two on the pedagogical aspects (learner guidelines, questionnaires), the organisational aspects (pairing up learners from the different partner organisations) and on technical aspects (workspace, audio-conferencing) of the projects (for details see activity plan). This means that Uschi Stickler and Luca Pierini are primarily responsible for didactic and methodological aspects, Jacek Binda for organising virtual meetings, Silke Gausche for all matters concerning e-learning and Martina Emke for all matters regarding project management.
Each organisation has the responsibility to promote the joint project within their organisations but they can choose how they would like to do this. Within the project, every partner institution will contribute according to their expertise. Every organisation will host at least one transnational meeting, either virtually or face-to-face at the participating organisations. For details of task distribution please consult the Activity Plan below. Overall responsibility for co-ordinating task distribution and completion lies with the VHS Ostkreis Hannover.

How the program works
Adult learners will be involved in all stages of the project. In the initial phases of the project, adult learners who would like to take part in tandem learning will be paired up by the project partner organisations on the basis of questionnaire responses and interviews. As one of the project activities, we will set up a common website which will then enable adult learners to find suitable tandem partners independently and to express and exchange their views, e.g. by using blogs. Due to the geographical distance of our participants, computer-assisted learning will play an important role in the project: most of the adult learner exchanges will be conducted via email, but the project partners will also encourage audio-conferencing, telephone or internet phone contact and occasional face-to-face meetings. Adult learners will also be actively involved in the evaluation of the project via the project workspace and attendance at transnational meetings where they will report on their experience with tandem learning. In addition, adult learners will be asked to help promoting the tandem method within the partner organisations, e.g. by talking about their experience in general education courses.

How the learners will be evaluated
To support reflection on the learning process, diary pages or reflective questionnaires will be designed and made available for participants. In order to find out what the tandem learners have learned and how, the project partners will administer self-reporting questionnaires at the end of each L.I.T.E.R.A.L.I.A. exchange and will encourage learners to log the results of their learning in portfolios.
New technologies implemented in LITERALIA project
The project is based on the use of ICT, both on the level of project organisation and management and on the level of learning exchanges. Preparation of this application form and the preliminary project work has been undertaken with the use of these technologies, particularly email, instant messaging, an exchange folder on the internet, and audio conferencing. At the first stage, email and internet phone, shared internet workspaces are integral parts of the project proposal. In later developments, the use of synchronous text chat, and of audio-video conferencing will be explored.
Due to the nature of this project, up-to-date and reliable computer technology is of vital importance for its success. Since none of the project partners can guarantee the necessary technical resources onsite for the duration of the project, it was agreed that the server that is needed to run the workspace on, will be managed by a private company in Germany. The partner organisations further agreed that these costs will be jointly financed and they have made provisions for these costs in their respective budgets.