News

Hook up!, the Campus Europae Language Learning Gateway funded under the 2008 call for proposals of the EU Lifelong Learning Programme, will end its pilot phase in October 2010,. The foreign language teaching experts and the language module coordinators will meet near Milan on the 15th of October to discuss the results of the evaluation which has accompanied the project and to discuss how to exploit the platform in the future.

Although victim of the 2 year duration rule now revised by the EACE Agency realising that a 2 year implementation period is too short for transnational implementation, Hook up! has managed to meet most of its objectives: Level A1 of the CEFR in all 12 languages is available online and level A2 will also be online by the end of the pilot phase. Many languages are also offering a course at B1 level. In addition to this self-study offer, there have been interactive synchronous distance sessions in most languages and the material created has also been used for presential courses. Some 500 users are enrolled in the platform, 60 of which were contributors to its development in one way or another. Not all users are active some remain uninterested in this type of learning. Nonetheless, those who have surmounted the initial obstacles linked to learning how to employ technology for learning purposes, generally appreciate the combination of self-study and virtual classroom offered in Hook Up!

The first beneficiaries of this platform are Campus Europae students, who were registered, contacted via email and asked to complete various surveys. But they are not the only ones: ERASMUS students were also encouraged to use the platform before arriving at their host universities. Amongst the students, there are also students not going abroad, members of staff from the member universities and students from non member universities who took interest in this opportunity offered by Campus Europae. From the point of view of those involved in the delivery of the courses, in these 2 years, the project has functioned as an external drive for development of teacher skills with regard to e-learning and intercultural communication. Moodle, simple video production and conferencing and online transnational collaboration have become part of the life of the staff involved in the project and of the students who took the specific role to provide authentic audio visual material during their year abroad.

The results of the final evaluation which includes quantitative and qualitative data will be make known after October, but students and staff are convinced that it would be a pity to shelf this project and that efforts should be made so that it becomes part of the universities' language policy and provision, not only as an instrument to promote Campus Europae mobility, but also to bring language learning opportunities to non mobile students and staff, and to promote the lifelong learning skills necessary to 21st century students in a world where technology underlies learning.