EUTOPIA Connected Learning Communities

The EUTOPIA Learning Community, ‘Global Connections: A Transdisciplinary Approach’ is inspired by the IATL module (similarly titled) IL014/IL114, and offers an intercultural, transdisciplinary learning experience each term for students based at EUTOPIA partner universities. Over the past 2 years, this internationalisation initiative has developed into two concrete Learning Community events per year, through which students work together on a transdisciplinary, globally-relevant theme to produce a small ‘Student-Devised Project’, which then is presented to an international panel of interdisciplinary experts on global issues. To create this project, students are encouraged to integrate their own disciplinary knowledge, personal experiences and reflections as they examine the complexities of Global Connections.

In 2021, the IATL module ‘Global Connections: A Transdisicplinary Approach’ became the conduit and official learning unit of the Eutopia Learning Community scheme – a cross-university network of partners from partner European universities who collaboratively create international learning experiences for students.

This is an ever-growing and developing Learning Community which focuses on the facilitation of student-centred and student-guided online learning experiences on complex, transdisciplinary global problems.

Current EUTOPIA partner universities:

Pompeu Fabra University

University of Ljubljana

CY Cergy Paris University

University of Warwick

The delegates from partner universities are:

• Dr Sílvia Morgades Gil, Department of Law, Pompeu Fabra University (Partner)
• Prof. Andreja Žgajnar Gotvajn, Department of Chemistry, University of Ljubljana (Partner)
• Dr Marie-Pierre Arizzabalaga, Department of History, CY Cergy Paris University (Partner)
• Dr Heather Meyer, IATL, University of Warwick (Lead)

This EUTOPIA Global Connections Learning Community has so far run three events since its establishment – with each event building on questionnaire feedback provided by students to enhance the provision. In so doing, the Global Connections Learning Community continues to develop the learning experiences in exciting ways, attracting an ever-growing number of participants, and fostering an environment in which student voice thrives and alternative research formats are valued.

So far, each event has involved students from different universities, disciplinary backgrounds, academic levels and cultural settings working together online to create an artefact which conveys their group research on a large, global theme. Students are asked to contextualise the theme to suit their group interests, and work to demonstrate the following criteria in the creation of their artefact:

These criteria have been inspired by the Assessment programme co-created by Dr Heather Meyer (Director of Studies, IATL) and Pula Prakash (Former IATL Co-Creation Officer) for the IATL module, Global Connections: A Transdisciplinary Approach (IL014/IL114).

Participating students in the EUTOPIA Global Connections events so far have received a detailed Task Brief and Evaluation Criteria grid, which illustrate the expectations of the project, and guide students towards transdisciplinary learning. The panel of academics use the evaluation grid to provide feedback.

PAST EVENTS

Case Study: Global Connections Migration Project 2022 (14-28 November 2022)

The Learning Community’s most recent event focused on the theme of ‘Migration’. For this iteration, Partners at CY Cergy Paris University, Pompeu Fabra University and the University of Ljubljana trialled the event as a formally-assessed component on MA courses:

University of Warwick students were not officially assessed during this project week. Due to timetabling and inclusivity concerns, students registered on the IATL Global Connections module (IL014/IL114) were only strongly encouraged to participate, and this event did not form a part of the module’s assessment programme. Thus, students would not be affected if they were unable to do so (co-curricular). Moreover, all students at the University of Warwick were invited to participate in this event, while the aforementioned Learning Community Partners closed their representation to students registered on particular modules, for purposes of this trial. Previous events have been open to all students across all partner universities of this learning community.

A key outcome with this approach is that the event illuminated how assessed work can indeed be harmonised across borders, and ‘translated’ back into the home institution’s administrative systems. Moreover, it highlights how ‘strategically ambiguous’ assignment tasks like the ‘Student-Devised Project’ conducted by students here across borders, can arguably be easily ‘translatable’ as a valid and robust form of transdisciplinary research. Finally, it highlights how the Project Week’s evaluation criteria scheme, informed by the co-created Marking Scheme for IATL’s IL014/IL114, successfully guides and assesses alternative modes of transdisciplinary assessment, without being prescriptive (e.g. set titles, set topics, set conventions for academic writing, etc).

Student Work (November 2022)

For all of this EUTOPIA Learning Community’s Projects, participating students use Padlet as the central information hub and space to which they ultimately post their work. To explore this, please see this past event’s Padlet which includes the most recent student projects which were formally presented by each group online (MS Teams) on 28. November 2022.

(Formal consent to share this content has been obtained.)

Testimonials from this event

Summary and Impact at University of Warwick

This EUTOPIA initiative adds to the strategic direction of IATL’s student research, ID teaching and learning, and internationalisation.

The events hosted by this Learning Community uniquely offer participating University of Warwick students enrolled on the IATL Global Connections module (IL014/IL114) the opportunity to trial a ‘mini Student-Devised Project’ as a pre-assessment and assessment literacy activity that would inform the culminating Student Devised Assessment of the Global Connections module. The Project Brief and accompanying criteria align with the Global Connections module, and therefore, the experience going through a miniature version of this assignment helps students gain confidence in this new form of assessment, without being formally evaluated.

Cross-University Project Week (March 2022)

This activity ran from 7 to 14 March 2022 and saw 18 students from UoL, CY, UPF, UoW, and VUB come together to reflect on environmental issues in a transdisciplinary way. In cross-university and cross-disciplinary teams, students were asked to choose a topic related to the environment/climate and to produce an artefact of their choice to reflect their views on the topic. On the last day, students presented their projects to the community. Most teams chose to focus on ecotourism or sustainability. Participants were free to choose the medium they wanted for their project. This resulted in some very creative and interactive artefacts: a mini theatre scene, a yearly planner, a crossword puzzle, and a poster.(Formal consent to share this content has been obtained.)

Cross-University Migration Discussion (October 2021) - Pilot

On Thursday 28 October 2021, this pilot online event brought together 40 students from the University of Ljubljana, Pompeu Fabra University, CY Cergy Paris University, and the University of Warwick to discuss video prompts on the theme of migration through the lens of their different disciplines.