In times of the corona-induced lockdown, lecturers at all European universities are mainly involved in online teaching. The 26 participants in the latest edition of the "Teaching in English" course at the University of Graz have shown that, in addition to this intensive form of teaching, there can be enough time for further training. Between 8 and 21 April 2020, they followed the online training from their home offices in Graz, Bergen, Granada and Leipzig by, thus, representing four of the seven Arqus partner universities. Ten lecturers of the teaching staff of the University of Graz as hosting institution of this online training attended the Certificate Course (8) and the Refresher Course (2).
„In the current situation, the Arqus European University Alliance remains committed to promoting a multicultural, multilingual and inclusive Europe which is open to the world. Therefore, we had opened this training to our Arqus partners as part of the Action Line 4 ‘Multilingual and Multicultural University’”, explains Daniela Unger-Ullmann, responsible for Action Line 4 at Graz University and head of treffpunkt sprachen. The "Teaching in English" courses are organised by the Human Resources Development of the University of Graz together with the Office of International Relations and treffpunkt sprachen - Centre for Language, Plurilingualism and Didactics.
The free training is part of the initiative to increase the number of courses offered in English at the University of Graz and aims to support teachers in implementing English-language teaching. The Refresher course was intended for university teachers who were already familiar with the basics of English Medium Instruction (EMI). Participants learnt how to keep their students interested and motivated by making online teaching interactive, entertaining, supportive and with lots of opportunities for students to participate actively.
The Certificate “Teaching in English” course was intended for university teachers who were interested in learning how to teach their subjects through English. The first objective of the course was to familiarize participants with a variety of teaching strategies and scaffolding techniques suitable for teaching through English in university classrooms. The second objective was to reflect on the different issues and challenges related to teaching groups of international learners. All participants received a certificate at the end of the courses. They were full of praise for the smooth organisation, the complex content and the inspiring lecturer Robert O'Dowd from the University of León, Spain.
With the aim that this article also increases competence in the English language, the original feedback provided (with the consent of the participants) is reproduced here in extracts:
“It’s been a long time since I enjoyed a course like this one that much! It’s not only that Robert has been really an amazing teacher, it is also the usefulness of contents and tools and how he has shown us. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve seen a lot of possibilities to use them in my classes.”
“I really enjoyed the course and believe that, given the circumstances, you organized everything in the best possible way – including the celebration.”
"I indeed enjoyed much the course and learnt plenty of useful things. I am very glad that I had participated and would like to thank you again for giving me the opportunity to join the workshop.”
“Arqus is a great collaboration network. I'd like to participate more often.”
“It was already my second course with Robert as instructor, he is doing this in an excellent way and he should feel celebrated, as well.”
“I very much enjoyed the course and I am already putting it into practice. “
Together with the universities of Granada (Spain), Bergen (Norway), Leipzig (Germany), Lyon (France), Padua (Italy) and Vilnius (Lithuania), the University of Graz has established the European University Alliance "Arqus" in order to foster its cooperation in research, teaching, administration and social commitment and, thus, to contribute to the excellence and attractiveness of the European higher education area. The seven partner universities bring together nearly 310.000 students and 40.000 staff members. Each university has not only a leading role in European projects and internationalisation processes, but also an important part in the regional development at the respective locations.