NETT DEVISE

Net(t)work for the Development and Exchange of Virtual and Inclusive Sustainability Education

Background

The project NETT DEVISE is the result of a long-term cooperation between the project partners as part of ERASMUS+ KA 131. The fact that in this KA 2 project we focus on virtual forms of cooperation is based on the intention to make our cooperation more sustainable, but also more inclusive. We want to offer our students international experiences that take into account the need to make our lifestyles "greener". Environmental impact, climate change and pollution of our environment make no halt at national borders. This is why collaborating with international partners in this field is of the utmost importance.

Project Results

We focus on Education for Sustainable Development. A curriculum of lectures and seminars is being developed that will address issues connected with ESD. The target audience are students of primary and secondary teacher education, in which all the partner institutions are specialised. It is our belief that future teachers are ideal multipliers for the important task of spreading the idea of a more eco-friendly and inclusive way of life. Not only the ESD content, also the application of sustainable and inclusive intercultural collaboration will be transported by our students to their future school classes: their experience of virtual exchange will be the basis for their own implementation in schools.

Opening classes for virtual mobility also brings up the question of recognition. The development towards virtual mobility is not well represented in previous recognition processes at HEIs. There is currently no possibility of enrolling or recognising virtual mobilities. This needs to be addressed in the project, and put into relation to the Erasmus without paper (EWP) process to which we all committed ourselves.

Having in mind that intercultural exchange does not always lead to intercultural learning and growth – not even a semester abroad guarantees growth in intercultural competence –, we develop a systematic material collection for pre-trained faculty (see PR 4) on virtual intercultural mentoring with a focus on our "green" context.

Despite the fact that our faculty is familiar with online teaching, the format of Virtual Exchange is still new to most. This is why we will develop a staff training framework (based on the “Online Training Co-laboratory” (OTC) by the EVOLVE project, see evolve-erasmus.eu/training/), addressing both the general aspects of design and implementation of Virtual Exchange in our context of ESD, but also adding a new component of how to mentor students in a virtual environment, enabling them to open up for the intercultural experience and for behavioral change, developing the attitude of a teacher as change agent.

Virtual forms of mobility have the advantage of being both eco-friendly and inclusive, but as international educators, our interest is on students to gain intercultural competence. Project Result 5 will be the evaluation of the impact on the gain of intercultural competence in participating students of A) physical mobility (traditional form / semester abroad) B) virtual mobility (students participate in lectures at partner universities) C) blended mobility (prepared online with a visit at the partner university – our two summer schools included in this project) and D) Virtual Exchange cooperations.

As we realise the need for certified professional development of in-service teachers, we decided to provide micro credentials as a way of certifying the participation of in-service teachers in our ESD curriculum, strengthening the role of our institutions in lifelong learning.

Project Consortium

Freiburg University of Education (PHFR)
Germany (Coordinator)

Ludwigsburg University of Education (PHL)
Germany

University of the National Education Commission, Krakow (PUK) 
Poland

HAN University of Applied Sciences (HAN)
The Netherlands  

Viaa, Christian University of Applied Sciences (VIAA)
The Netherlands  

Contact

Project lead
Dr. Verena Bodenbender
+49 761/682-565
✉ verena.bodenbender(at)ph-freiburg.de

Project management
Selina Lederer
+49 761/682-374
✉ selina.lederer(at)ph-freiburg.de

VIRTUAL EXCHANGE. NETT DEVISE Training for academic teachers

As one result of the project, we have developed a training course on the design and implementation of Virtual Exchange. All faculty of our NETT DEVISE partner universities are welcome to join!

The first training course has been completed. The date for the second training course will be announced in June 2023.

For all questions and registration please contact the course facilitator Anna Turula, anna.turula(at)up.krakow.pl

Green intercultural mentoring tool kit - a systematic material collection for faculty

As part of the NETT DEVISE Training for academic teachers, another project result of the first project year will be introduced:

The Green intercultural mentoring tool kit - a systematic material collection for faculty.

The tool kit promotes the acquisition of intercultural and ESD-related skills and competences by students in Virtual Exchange.


 

Events

Start of the virtual exchange course in February 2024

Our virtual exchange course "ESD for primary and secondary school teachers" will take place from February 1st to March 31st, 2024, with a subsequent attendance week at the VIAA Christian University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands from 21.-26.04.24. There will be a virtual intercultural preparation workshop for the Moodle course in January 2024. The exchange course includes the modules Basics of ESD, World Citizenship and Globalitation as well as project work in (small) international groups with students from the Netherlands, Poland and Germany.

Kick-off Meeting in Freiburg, April 2022

For the project kick-off, representatives of all project partners met at PH Freiburg on April 12th and 13th 2022. It was great to be able to meet mostly in person! Our new rector Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Kotthoff greeted the partners, after which all partners gave presentations on their universities, their existing offers in ESD and teacher education in the national contexts. This resulted, together with the following sessions and workshops, in a lively and fruitful exchange on the current Project Results. Interested faculty of PH Freiburg also joined the curriculum session and networking lunches and the meeting formed a great basis for further cooperation.

Project materials