International Teaching Week

Study Abroad Event

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Report Staff Days on the 8th and 9th of June 2021

“Meeting friends for 15 years” was this year’s motto of the International Teaching Week which was held 100% virtual for the first time. Last year, the week had to be cancelled due to the corona situation, but this year, the faculties and organisation team had more preparation time so that they were able to come up with an online programme for the whole week.

In addition to numerous teaching events, the International Teaching Week included two “Staff Days” for employees of higher education institutions. The project team “FHWS 3IN” organised the two days and chose two main topics for the events: “Intercultural Competence Training” and “Social Media Connection”. Most of the participants were members of partner universities of the 3IN Alliance of which FHWS is also a member.

Intercultural Competence Training

“Which situations require intercultural competence?” – This question was the kick-off for the event on the 8^th of June 2021. 17 participants joined the workshop on the topic of “Intercultural Competence Training” and received valuable information on how to organise a training within the own education network.

The fact that the meeting had to be held online did not affect the participants from Germany, Norway, Finland and Romania in any way. In the beginning, little presentations were held about already existing offers at the different universities. These served as a basis for the development of a joined concept for similar offers.

Participants were divided into groups where they were able to exchange and brainstorm ideas and had the chance to come up with a first concept for a cross-university intercultural workshop. In the end, all ideas were shared and written down in a joint plan of action.

All participants were very happy with the result and the workshop itself. Everyone is looking forward to another meeting where a more detailed plan for the cooperation will be developed.

Social Media Connection

On the 9^th of June 2021, the second workshop took place around the topic of “Social Media Connection”. Again, members of the 3IN Alliance came together but this time, they worked towards a cross-university social media concept. Two colleagues from Finland briefly presented the already existing social media toolkits and the corporate-design-guidelines of the 3IN Alliance. Then, everyone was well prepared for a productive day.

In small groups, participants discussed advantages and disadvantages of already existing structures and joint accounts. One specific opportunity that involves all Alliance members was discussed afterwards: an Instagram-takeover. This idea was developed based on another takeover that took place in February on the accounts of Diak and FHWS. This takeover served as an example and possible content ideas were discussed in groups and in the plenum later.

At the end of the workshops, all ideas were gathered, and a plan of action and timeline were established. Moreover, a working group for the social media work of all member universities was put into place. It was a successful day for all participants and in addition to the acquired knowledge, the 3IN Alliance now has basic guidelines for social media cooperation.