TRAC – Teaching and Learning Research Across Countries

Expansion and Implementation of a digital-collaborative teaching-learning offer on an international level.

Globalization is steadily increasing in educations and science, so that intercultural and international experience is already becoming essential in teaching. Digitization offers the opportunity for a variety of access and cooperation options, which the international research project “TRAC – Teaching and Learning Research Across Countries” makes optimal use of. Based on a 10-year research and teaching cooperation of the cross-teaching courses with the Johannes Kepler University Linz and the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, a blended learning course on research learning at master’s level is being further developed within the framework of the project. In the future, this course will be further developed in terms of content and technology in cooperation with other partner universities in Austria, Slovakia, Northern Macedonia and Jordan and will be integrated into the teaching program of the cooperation partners.

Digital Teaching and Learning in International Exchange

The long-proven blended learning, a combination of virtual learning settings and methods, enables cross-university exchange and is intended above all to strengthen the digital skills of the students. A digital preparation of the seminar contents opens the possibility for the students to deal with the technical contents and scientific methods deeply and intensively beyond classical lecture situations. In addition to the technical and scientific knowledge, the courses are primarily intended to strengthen the digital skills of the students. Through interactive exchange, the learn how to deal with media in a technical way and how to move confidently in these media in order to be optimally prepared for future careers in business and administration. In addition, the cooperation courses particularly promote intercultural skills and the ability to work in a team. Two important aspects for this, peer learning and peer feedback, are used in all phases of the learning setting and support as methods the interaction of the students and independent learning in various work phases.

Development

So far, interdisciplinary student teams from the University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Johannes Kepler University Linz and University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria have collaborated virtually on the research projects. In the TRAC project, the course will now be further developed technically and organizationally, with the goal of broader internationalization of the cooperation. The digitally supported part of the teaching can be adapted to international conditions through English-language and intercultural adaptions and enables new teaching-learning arrangements. Collaborative work is brought into focus regardless of spatial and temporal boundaries. In addition, the TRAC projects deals with the organizational and technical challenges of the international learning scenario.

Project Team

  • Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael A. Herzog
  • Leonore Franz, M.A.
  • Dr. Elke Mählitz-Galler
  • E-Mail: spirit@h2.de

Collaboration Partner

  • Johannes Kepler University Linz
  • University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria

Duration and Funding

The project is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service. The funds come from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the program “IVAC – International Virtual Academic Collaboration”.

  • Funding amount: 111.123
  • Duration: 01.12.2020-31.12.2021