World literature, genres, and cultural transfer was one of the projects of ENVOIE (University of Groningen, Netherlands)
Summary
– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange
The main objectives of the project were to bring together the different expertise fields of the three partners, which is translation theory for Sichuan University, world literature for Uppsala University and cultural transfer for the University of Groningen in such a way that both teachers and students would be able to learn from each other.
– Targeted learning outcomes
This project is particularly interesting because it provides the students with different perspectives on world literature, which is sometimes viewed differently in different cultures. Besides that, the students would also get insight in other academic environments and get a better understanding of the cultures in which they and the other students find themselves. Finally, an important objective was for the students to improve their intercultural communication skills.
– Global task description
The online international exchange part (OIE) of the course consisted of two brief introductory tasks and three more extensive collaborative assignments. The two tasks preceding the assignments were meant for the students (and teachers) to get to know each other and to get familiar with the tools. The three other assignments were based on readings selected by the three teachers. The students discussed these texts based on several questions and created joint products based on these.
Partners
| Partner / department | Course | Language of instruction | Number of students |
| Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Translation Studies |
Translation History | English | 14 |
| University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands European Languages and Cultures |
Nordic genres conquer Europe | Swedish and English | 7 |
| Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Department of Literature |
World Literature | Swedish and English | 5 |
Start and end date
April, 2018 – June, 2018
Duration
7 weeks
Discipline
Literature and linguistics
Integration and assessment
The OIE has proven to be a helpful tool for practicing the foreign language skills in an authentic context. The integration of the OIE worked well. It offered added value through providing an authentic setting for course work, active learning and online collaboration skills. Both the online learning environment as well as the collaboration and communication tools (self-selected) were suitable for the assignments and they were easy to work with. The OIE assignments linked very well to the course in terms of content.
The OIE tasks had to be completed in order to archive the final mark for the course and the final essay’s topic had to be related to OIE content.
The assignments were introduced in classroom and after every OIE-task the outcomes were evaluated in classroom.
Technology tools used
– Learning environment
Blackboard
– Collaboration tools
Padlet, Easyclass, Skype, WeChat, Email
– Reflection tool
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