Rituals in Theory and Practice was one of the projects of ENVOIE (University of Groningen, Netherlands)
Summary
– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange
Rituals in Theory and Practice enabled students to explain and identify anthropological, psychological and sociological approaches to the study of ritual. They learned how to apply some aspects of theoretical frameworks to the selected case study on consolation rituals and shared their insights with students from the partner university.
– Targeted learning outcomes
The project targeted the following learning outcomes: the ability to cooperate with peers from another culture using intercultural communication skill; the improvement of the students’ intercultural competences; the ability to collaborate with peers abroad using digital tools; students are motivated to study a semester abroad; the improvement of the students’ English language skills (specifically for Groningen students).
– Global task description
Throughout the course of the project, the students met twice in their respective groups. In the first week, a short meeting for groups to get to know each other was organized. At the home universities, students then watched the Introduction to Consolation vignettes by Christoph Jedan in preparation for the inter-university group discussion. They read the chapter ‘A Conceptual Framework of Consolation: Introducing the Four-Axis Model and watched the Conclusion to Consolation vignettes by Christoph Jedan. At the Inter-university meeting, the students shared their reflections on Jedan’s introduction video, chapter and conclusion video. The students then retreated to the home university to complete the assignment of the project as required by the teachers at the home university.
Partners
| Partner / department | Course | Language of instruction | Number of students |
| University of Groningen Department of the Comparative Study of Religion |
Rituals in Theory and Practice | ENglsih | 36 |
| Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, USA Department of Religious Studies |
Dying and Death: Religious and Ethical Perspectives | English | 58 |
Start and end date
September 2018
Duration
7 weeks
Discipline
- Religion and theology
Integration and assessment
1) The ENVOIE project was one of the tasks the students needed to successfully complete in order to pass the course. They were asked to apply insights from the different weeks in the inter-university meetings.
2) The OIE tasks were assessed in an evaluation session with the students as well as the staff involved in the coordination of the project.
Technology tools used
– Learning environment
For the Groningen students, Blackboard was used as the main learning environment. The vignettes by Christopher Jedan were made available via Google Drive.
– Collaboration tools
Slack, Skype and E-Mail.
– Reflection tool
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