GC Completed activities 2016

October

• 19/10: Webinar on Open Badges.
• 17/10: Inspirational workshop for teachers and program-coordinator about the Global Classroom project. Kalmar and Växjö.

September

29/9: Virtual Mobility Webinar. Click here to listen to the recorded webinar

May:

Corina Löwe and Judy Chow represented GC in a meeting with the internationalisation Peer Review group that visited Lnu 10 May.

April:

Webinar with professor Ilona Buchem, Beuth University Berlin, about their use of open badges for recognising soft skills. The webinar involved management and staff from Lnu discussed the following:

• How did you get started?
• What obstacles did you face in "selling" the concept to traditional staff and management?
• How do you ensure that the badges you offer are really worth something, not just a token gesture?
• Examples of use in courses and for staff development?
• How you use badges with refugee academics?
• Information about Open Badges: Ilona’s slideshow: http://www.slideshare.net/ibuchem/open-badges-a-beuth-university-in-berlin
  Recorded webinar on open badges.

What are open badges?
Open Badges can be described as digital micro-credentials that are awarded to a person who has demonstrated skills of a desired level, passed a test or fulfilled a number of requirements. Today there is a growing interest from universities and other educational institutions to recognise skills and experience that are hard to test in traditional examinations. These are often described as soft skills such as teamwork, leadership, initiative, administrative ability and the ability to work in international teams. These skills are highly valuable for employers and should be documented and rewarded, for example as badges. Behaviour and attitudes that are important for work can now be recognised and rewarded. Many companies and organisations have started using badges to recognise both staff and customers. The advantage of badges is that they are digital certificates and can be saved by the individual on social media or on career networks like LinkedIn.

A badge contains:

• Name and description of the awarding organisation
• Description of the knowledge, skills and experience required to receive the badge
• Information on the context for the awardment of the badge, eg part of a course or participation in an activity
• Information on the validity of the badge

April:

Presentation of GC: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

March:

• Presentation of GC: Faculty of Technology
• A new round of ClassPal with students from University of Missouri and Lnu (teacher training) who meet in a closed Facebook group, get to know each other, discuss culture, child care and education in the USA and Sweden (teachers Joyce Chang and Corina Löwe)
• Alastair Creelman represented Lnu at an internationalisation conference at the University of Stavanger in Norway with a lecture entitled ”Internationalisering på hemmaplan: virtuell mobilitet för lärare och studenter” as well as a workshop. See presentation (in Swedish) below or at http://www.slideshare.net/alacre/virtuell-mobilitet

• Erasmus+ application MOONLITE project (Massive Open Online courses eNhancing LInguistic and Transversal skills for social inclusion and Employability). Alastair Creelman and Corina Löwe from the GC project represent Lnu together with the other project partners: University of Wolverhampton, ESCP Europe Berlin Campus, UNED, EADTU, Web2Learn , Knowledge Innovation Centre.
  March: STINT- Strategic Grants for internationalization. Application submitted for financing in the following areas:
  1. workshops with programme managers
  2. Development of an open online course where Lnu students act as mentors for international students
  3. Development of a database where we can gather best practice, make it easily accessible and develop a community of practice.

February

19 February, workshop with programme managers from three faculties: Patrik Ahlm, Percy Bergman (FKH), Judy Chow (FHL), Martin Nilsson (FSV)
From GC project: Alastair Creelman, Peter Diedrichs, Corina Löwe, Camilla Andersson Lundqvist, Yael Tågerud. Follow-up meeting on an individual basis were then arranged.

January:

Students from our nursing and international administration programmes visited Williams College in the USA, and participated in online seminars to help them get to know each other in advance. Corina Löwe from GC organised the seminars.