Recent Projects

New EU-funded project at Italian Studies, NUI, Galway: MOVE-ME

MOVE-ME: MOOCs for university students on the move in Europe

2015-2017: MOVE-ME EU funded Erasmus+ project (total grant: €296,831) with six partner institutions.

Leader: Università per Stranieri di Siena (Italy). Partners: National University of Ireland, Galway, The Open Unviersity (UK), Federazione Nazionale Insegnanti Centro di iniziativa per l'Europa (Italy); Computer Technology Institute & Press Diophantus (Greece) and Institutul De Stiinte Ale Educatiei (Romania).

The NUIG team members are: Dr Laura McLoughlin (School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures); Dr Francesca Magnoni ((School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures); Ms Aoife Fitzsimon (Adult Education).

European third level education is characterized by the huge phenomenon of student mobility, which is bound to increase exponentially as market globalization and internationalization of education become more and more established.

The main objective of the project is to facilitate the integration of students in academic mobility enhancing their ability to function in academic and specialized contexts and developing their ability of learning to learn. The MOVE-ME project will create a learning path specifically designed for students in mobility programmes, supporting learners in the acquisition of the competences and skills necessary for understanding academic texts, written and oral, relating to specific disciplines, developing the ability to understand and produce academic writing of various genres.

MOVE-ME will create and deliver two MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course), one in English and one in Italian, implemented on the platform Iversity. Each MOOC consists of 6 modules, focused on communication and academic skills as well as language structures. Learners will engage with interactive, collaborative and peer teaching activities via forum and other communication tools.

Objectives

The primary objective of the project is to facilitate the integration of international students studying at a European university using a second language and in an unfamiliar culture. In particular the project aims to:

Increase students’ awareness of the language learning process and knowing how to use effective learning strategies;
Increase students’ understanding of written and oral expository texts relating to academic disciplines;
Improve the quality of oral and written expository texts produced by students and relating to academic disciplines;
Improve students’ performance at oral and written exams in L2;
Support students in learning to learn;
Provide guidelines and a syllabus for the creation of MOOCs for languages for academic purposes;
Provide specific guidelines for the evaluation of language MOOCs;
Create OERs which support autonomous and independent learning; and
Develop a website hosting all OERs created during the project.