Abstract
For more than 30 years, the Erasmus programme has given thousands of higher education students throughout Europe the chance to live and study abroad. For many, this sojourn in a foreign country is an extraordinary learning experience which enriches their language and (inter)cultural learning process. However, for others, this opportunity is undermined by cultural shock or lack of preparation...
Highlights
For more than 30 years, the Erasmus programme has given thousands of higher education students throughout Europe the chance to live and study abroad
The original objectives of the project have been achieved, as student feedback shows that it has enhanced student learning on both cognitive and affective levels in terms ofcultural awareness, digital literacy, linguistic proficiency, and key preparation for mobility. It has grown in terms of student numbers, range of languages, and external partners – as announced in the video, a partnership with Germany is included – and in some instances has been successfully integrated in the mainstream curriculum
It is worthy of note that a number of students involved in virtual exchanges will not spend their mobility period in the target country of their partners
Summary
For more than 30 years, the Erasmus programme has given thousands of higher education students throughout Europe the chance to live and study abroad. The better prepared they are before their placement, the better their experience will be (Byram & Dervin, 2008; Coleman, 1997) To this end, an interdisciplinary team in the School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics at the University of Limerick (UL) has set up multifaceted telecollaborative initiatives to equip students in advance of their period abroad. There has been a significant increase in such initiatives (Borghetti, Beaven, & Pugliese, 2015; Giralt & Jeanneau, 2016; Gutiérrez, Durán, & Beltrán, 2015; Holmes, Bavieri, & Ganassin, 2015) This new trend of programmes brings to the fore a more formative than informative type of preparation (Gutiérrez et al, 2015), and pays special attention to the development of students’ intercultural communicative competence (Borghetti et al, 2015). The Ready, Mobility, Go! initiative was developed and implemented with the collaboration of our colleagues from the Universities of León (Spain) and Louvain (Belgium)
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