The International Project IPC - A project to internationalize teacher-training
A few years ago we started a test run of courses with a new didactic concept at the Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt. The use of web 2.0 tools enabled students to work together on a topic in the context of their studies. Right from the start international partner universities were involved. Therefore the international aspect of our concept gained importance: we wanted to boost the international aspect of teacher-training.
We are not the only ones to notice a shortcoming in the internationalization of teacher-training. In the context of the Large Scale Assessments, which collected and analyzed data about students` performance and competencies at an international level in the last years, a lot of countries started to ask for an enhancement of the international component of teacher-training (cf. Cordeiro 2007). For example the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers in North Carolina (ISTE, 2008) claim a “cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools”. Global awareness and inter-cultural competencies should be trained through participation in local and especially in global learning groups.
To look beyond one’s own nose allows the protagonists of the national education systems and future teachers to get aware that problems and solutions often are similar in different countries. Simultaneously the awareness of different perspectives increases, which is fertile on one’s own professional development. The evaluation and feedback we got from the students participating in the “International Project” in the last years is very encouraging. Spending a term abroad, for example with the Erasmus program, isn’t an option for a lot of students. With our project we want to enable students to get international experience in a different way.
Another motivating factor for us is the “IPC-Network” started with the professors of Sofia (Bulgaria), Charlotte (USA) and Granada (Spain). The network engages in refining the conception and it’s integration in national curricula. We give ourselves high credit for the integration of the program at the syllabus at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte (UNCC). The dean of the College of Education at the decided to integrate the IPC-Project in the internationalization program of UNCC.
The IPC-Project has been tested and evaluated for several turns now. It provides a course structure using web 2.0 tools to internationalize teacher studies. International teams of students work together on specific, self-developed questions and projects. The program is supposed to be a training of competencies, but it also has a person centered orientation. Particularly for teacher students it provides the opportunity to plan and carry out concrete projects independently and get international experience.