Online Meeting via Skype
Due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, the representatives of our teams met online via Skype. The meeting’s main objectives were to set the new action plan and to present the outputs completed and in progress.
It has been agreed upon that in the present situation the online component has gained in importance. Therefore, online learning and teaching are the priority. The use of information technology, development of virtual collaboration through online training and peer observation have to been enhanced. The conformity of the project activities with the project objectives have been discussed and the contentious issues have been resolved.
The New Action Plan
1. Short-Term Joint Staff Online Event in Prague C2 30th March – 3rd April 2020
The partners have agreed on online training sessions, peer observations of online classes via Skype/Messenger and on the Moodle Platform. Participants will provide examples of mediation lessons and other teaching materials.
2. The Schedule of Peer Observation Online has to be prepared by the 1st of April.
3. Online Peer Observation (Skype). Work Organization:
It has been agreed upon and recommended that Peer Observation Forms (quantitative data: languages, levels, mediation scales) will be completed by the observer and Task Description Forms (qualitative data: examples and descriptions) will be completed by the teacher observed before the observation. The observer is also allowed to complete two Forms. Peer Observations will be followed by participants’ discussions concerning the classes observed. The conclusions and collected teaching materials for both traditional and online courses will be located in the project folder on Google Drive and will be made accessible to everybody by the 1st April. The participants of the project from all partner universities will provide teaching materials and locate them on Google Drive. The partners do not have to contribute equally.
4. Dissemination. Promoting the project on various social media is viewed as a priority.
The participants have decided to adjust the dissemination strategy to the current situation by enhancing the use of social media such as Facebook and joining other sites such as Linked in, EPALE.
MiLLaT website – the information about partner universities, the list of participants, links to departments are to be completed by the end of the month. The link to the website should be available on all the partner institutions official websites.
To disseminate the MiLLaT project the Prague Team submitted an abstract of a poster session on the subject: What Is Mediation in Language Learning and How Does It Manifest? to the organizers of the 10th September 2020 Cercles Conference, Masaryk University.
The first issue of the Newsletter in English has almost been completed. It has to be translated into Polish, Lithuanian and Czech and disseminated among various educational institutions.
5. The Output Teams’ Short Presentations of the completed Outputs or Outputs in progress.
Output 1. Peer-observation Form has been completed and it is available on Google Drive. The rules, procedures and schedules how to use it have been established.
The participants discussed the dates, procedures and strategies of work concerning the remaining Outputs. They have been adapted to the current situation.
6. The next online meeting of all participants will be held between 11th and 15th May 2020. The teams can meet earlier if necessary and possible.