Coaching connected learning across borders

The VITAE project in which a European partnership developed and piloted teacher training to implement mentoring of vocational teachers to integrate ICT in their teaching is almost over. A few weeks ago we project partners got handsome paper copies of the book that we have put together which brings together various aspects of the project.…

Virtually free (max $100) university degree. How does that sound? With a rising world population and an increasingly high tech environment the demand for graduates is rising exponentially. However higher education is expensive and getting more expensive by the day. I happen to live in one of the few remaining countries where higher education is still…

It was very interesting that the official Danish Tourist organisation Visit Denmark decided to promote visits to Denmark through a viral video which was meant to sweep the Internet. But what happens when that plan backfires and you don’t want the video to go viral anymore? Can you suddenly shout ‘Copyright!’? Viral marketing campaigns are…

Back from Lithuania where we held the final meeting of the VITAE project. We had planned to run the VITAE online mini-conference on one of the meeting days but really it was a shame to be stuck indoors while the weather was so sunny and spring-like. The project has been about developing a train the…

Earlier in the year Laurent Borgmann and I were invited to participate in an intercultural dialogue blogger event arranged by the Anna Lindh Foundation. In the end Laurent was the one who could attend and I very much regret that I was unable to go as it seems to have been a great gathering of bloggers…

Often it is the simplest and least planned ideas which are the best. Ideas such as Nellie Deutsch’s Storytelling and cultures; an ongoing invitation to learners of English to practice the language by preparing and presenting their culture. Nellie and her colleagues support would-be presenters in preparing their slides and provide the technical support to…

Mentoring teachers who are learning to integrate ICT in the vocational training classroom was the aim of the VITAE project under the banner of ‘It’s all about learning – the rest is technology’. The project is now drawing to a close and as part of the wrapping up we are offering a free mini-online conference…

I don’t usually devote a whole podcast to one conversation but in the show which came out almost two weeks ago that is exactly what I did. The Invisible Elephant is Tom Verghese’s way of describing the issue of intercultural communication and is also the title of his latest book which is a short guide…

Ever since I heard about the Culture Shock game about a year and a half ago I have been curious about it. C-shock has been developed to help foreign students coming to Portsmouth University settle in more quickly than they might otherwise. It is meant to act as an introduction to British life with some…

My younger daughter came home from school in tears today. One of her main class teachers is leaving which means the class won’t see her after next week when the summer holiday begins. The reason she is leaving is because she has found a job nearer home but one can’t help feeling that the news…