"Borrowed Identities"
on the Internet and in real life in Ireland
Select a day
"What - you mean we are really going to meet the Spanish, the Hungarians, the Swedish, and the English in real life in February? " My German students did not believe me at first because they had enrolled for an "International Business Simulation Class" and had assumed that everything was just simulated.
But no, after working together with the students from the other stations through the Internet for four months during the winter semester 2006 these students were actually going to meet each other during an excursion in February 2007, an "Intensive Programme" sponsored by the European Commission under the Socrates ERASMUS program.
During the virtual phase the students worked in their home universities in Umea (Sweden), Leon (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Brighton (England), and Koblenz (Germany) on a project which was called "Borrowed Identities". They met the other groups on the Internet and questioned them about their national customs and what it means to be a student in that country. They exchanged photo stories which depict life in the different participating countries. All this happened on a digital learning platform called "moodle".
For the second part of this experience everybody went "from virtual to real" and met in Ireland. Students and coordinators all travelled from their different countries on the same day to meet face to face in Ireland and experience two weeks filled with intensive workshops and academic lectures in the area of intercultural communication and "borrowed identities".
The main action happened on Achill Island, a beautiful island on the west coast of Ireland.
For your information and enjoyment the students have documented their various experiences on Achill Island and in DublinLaurent Borgmann
(Project Leader)
