Academic mobility within a department What happens when French and German specialists work on an Italian distance course

Elodie Vialleton & Dr Uwe Baumann,

Department of Languages, The Open University

Context

• UK Higher Education sector: resource constraints

• The Department of Languages at the Open University

The challenge: widening the curriculum with limited new resources.

The approach: cross-language teams to develop new modules in Welsh, Chinese and Italian

This paper

• is based on feedback from colleagues• describes our Department and how we work• presents a case study: L150 Intermediate Italian• examines outcomes: challenges and benefits

• Founded in 1991• Modules in Chinese, English for

Academic Purposes, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Welsh

• from beginners’ to graduate level in French, German, Spanish

• Various qualifications, including BA Modern Language Studies

• over 11 000 students in 2012• about 70 members of staff in the

Department• about 40 academic staff

The Department of Languages

Distance learning materials• Course website as the hub• Use of VLE

Distance learning materials• Course books• Audio-visual materials, DVD-ROMs

Distance learning materials• Materials for e-tutorials (virtual whiteboards)

microphone

chat

participants

whiteboard

• in-house design and production (all stages, from syllabus design to activities on the VLE and assessment materials)

• in teams• traditionally: up to 4 years development time

Module production

• L150 Vivace• Standard model: mix of media, in-house design

Case study: intermediate Italian

• 2 academics specialists of Italian (one experienced in Open Distance Learning or ODL, one novice)

• 4 non-specialist academics: 2 specialists of French, 1 specialist of German, 1 specialist responsible for student and tutor support (all experienced in designing and writing language courses for ODL audiences)

• 1 administrator• Some consultants

The team

• Planning the module structure and distribution of materials across different media

• Overall syllabus design and design of unit outlines• Planning cultural content and overall focus of videos• Designing the principles of assessment

The input from non-specialists

• Yes…• writing up content taught in English based on outlines or

items provided by specialists

• …but• The bulk of the writing had to be done by specialists

Did it go as far as materials creation?

• Details of the syllabus (linguistic progression, vocabulary, etc.)

• Writing all the content in Italian (designing language and culture activities)…

• … and a lot of the content in English (e.g. feedback, grammar teaching points)

• Supervision of video production (e.g. what questions to ask to elicit particular language content) and audio recordings

• Writing of assessment tasks

The input from specialists

• The combination of the knowledge, skills and experience of the specialists with the transferable skills and previous knowledge and experience of the non-specialists

• All team members developed a sense of ownership of the project

• Flexibility, open-mindedness, pragmatism, perseverance• Role of administrative support

What worked well in cross-language teams

• Focus of Italian specialist on writing, less involvement in other tasks and discussions

• Negotiating different perspectives and approaches to teaching of language and culture, and different approaches to ODL

• Issues due to roles being interpreted differently at the outset (e.g. blurred boundary between generic / specific content)

• Dealing with different personalities • Experience of and expectations about team work

What were the challenges in cross-language teams?

• Higher focus on reflection on cultural differences reflected in the development of intercultural competence in the module

• A different angle to critical reading, closer to a student’s perspective

• Higher standardisation across the module due to writing being shared

• Comparability with modules at the same level in different languages

The benefits? Content

• Confrontation of cultures and teaching cultures• Stronger focus on teaching practices, opportunity for

self-reflection on pedagogy and teaching methods• New skills and different experience gained• Redefining of identity (professional and individual)• Intercultural communication ‘live’

The benefits? Personal development

• Cost effectiveness. HR management, deployment of resources and opportunity for more rapid response to market demand

• Sharing of practice and expertise • Widening the skills base of staff• Development of a more collaborative approach• Breaking down of ivory towers• Stronger harmonisation across language teams• Stronger sense of community, better integration of

members of smaller teams.

The benefits? For the Department

• Fostering collaboration and dialogue outside of individuals’ subject specialism

• Exchange of knowledge and practice (embedded staff development)

• More integration across related disciplines• Greater comparability of student experience which is a

ever greater concern in the sector • Developing a different sense of identity, for individuals

and for subject communities

Internal academic mobilityBeyond distance teaching

uwe.baumann@open.ac.ukelodie.vialleton@open.ac.uk

Department of LanguagesThe Open UniversityWalton HallMilton KeynesMK7 6AA

www.open.ac.uk