StudyATHome Internationally – virtual, cross-border teaching and learning

As part of the “StudyATHome Internationally” project, a team at the FH Technikum Wien has set itself the goal of developing an international teaching program for students, including in the field of smart homes and assistive technologies. The program is primarily designed for people who are less mobile due to work, family or disability and who are unable to spend a longer period of time abroad. The project, funded by MA 23 (grant no. 22-07), was first implemented in the winter semester of 2020 and has now successfully completed its first full run.

Three international partner universities

In addition to the FH Technikum Wien, the partner universities Waterford Institute of Technologies (WIT), Czech Technical University Prague (CTU Prague), SS. Cyril and Methodius University Skopje (UKIM) are also involved. As part of the project’s eLearning sharing program, students from the four universities were able to undertake what is known as virtual mobility. The courses offered were regular courses (LVA), each of which was offered in distance learning or in a hybrid form. The StudyATHome hub serves as the central web platform. It serves as a starting point for course registration, offers detailed descriptions and contains information about the course content as well as the universities and lecturers. In this way, the hub serves not only as an intermediary hub, but also as an advertising platform for the participating universities, with the aim of promoting physical mobility of students after they have completed a virtual course.

Interaction and digital skills

In contrast to typical “Massive Open Online Courses” (MOOCs), students had the opportunity to interact with lecturers and colleagues during the teaching units. This also enabled them to acquire new technical, linguistic and digital skills. Students who successfully complete the course can transfer the credits earned to their home universities.

In the past academic year, the program was run in both semesters. In the winter semester of 2020, the courses “Embedded Systems: VHDL I” (FHTW), “User interface design patterns” (UKIM) and “Artificial Intelligence” (CTU) were offered. In the summer semester of 2021, there were six LVA, namely: “Assistive Technologies Basics” (UAS Technikum Wien), “Data Ethics and Open Data” (UAS Technikum Wien), “Digital Image Processing” (UKIM), “Human-computer interaction design” (UKIM), “IoT standards protocols” (WIT) and “The Connected Car” (WIT).

Continuation in the current academic year

This alternative program to a traditional mobility were very well received by the students. 26 people applied for the courses listed in the StudyATHome hub. After a selection process, 8 FHTW students were able to become virtually “mobile”. During the same period, only three students faculty-wide completed a physical mobility. This is due to the fact that in the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, the Bachelor’s degree courses are mainly offered on a part-time basis and these students are generally less mobile.

Accompanying the implementation of the eLearning sharing program, an evaluation was conducted before the virtual mobility (“Pre Exchange”) and afterwards (“Post Exchange”). Among other things, the students emphasized the personal interaction with the international colleagues as well as the lecturers in a particularly positive way.

The program will be offered again in the current academic year, both in the winter and summer semesters. Especially in uncertain times, virtual teaching and learning offers an important alternative to traditional mobility.