The work on the project “Studybridge Ukraine-Saar” started in 2022. The digitization of courses for the Faculty of Philology at Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University involved the cooperation of colleagues who are still in Mykolaiv, other places in Ukraine, as well as the ones who have fled. All participants took part in regular online meetings during the semester to set the aims, discuss the progress of the project, and evaluate the preliminary and final results. The integration of faculty from partner universities has created a new culture of team teaching that innovates former teaching methods using new digital formats. At the very beginning of the project all the participants evaluated the existing study programs at the Philology Department at PMBSNU, the teaching situation and determined specific digitization needs as well as the technical capacities. 

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Hybrid workshop “Studybridge Ukraine-Saar. Best-Practice Examples of Blended Learning in a Global Classroom” (October 2022)

In October Prof. Fellner organized a hybrid workshop for the English and German groups which provided useful online tools and instructions on how to integrate activities in a virtual classroom environment. The experience in digital teaching of German colleagues at Saarland University is of great importance as it introduced best practices of digital foreign language teaching and was a unique opportunity to listen and participate in the discussion of the following presentations: Past? Tense! Future? Perfect! A Moodle-based introduction to the English tense and aspect system (Daniel Honert), Setting up and running a listening course (Dr. Henry John Rademacher), Introducing the ‘Cooped-up-clips’. Teaching videos as the backbone for multi-modal learning” (Martin Kopf-Giammanco), How to make lecture videos that your students will actually watch (Dr. Carrie Ankerstein), etc. A one-day didactic Workshop for the Spanish group was held on the 17th of October.

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The best practices of USAAR colleagues were an excellent help for Ukrainian teachers at the beginning of the project. They used the acquired knowledge to prepare their courses and combine different educational digital tools (video lectures, quizzes, interactive tests, etc.), to create interactive platforms that provide an effective self-paced learning environment for Ukrainian students. 

During the first phase, the English team successfully digitalized main courses for the students of English Philology at the BA and MA levels and they are available on the Moodle platform of PMBSNU: 

• Digital Learning and Pedagogy (Part 1)
• Listening Comprehension via Videos 
• Practical Grammar Course 
• Stylistics of the English Language 

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The English group successfully continued to work on the digitalization of the main courses for the students of English Philology at the BA and MA levels during the second phase of the project. An important achievement of the first and second phases of the project was establishing the structural framework and providing materials that enabled lecturers to digitalize their courses. These resources (e.g. how to create a teaching video, how to create a Moodle class, etc.) remain available for future semesters. The lecturers that are involved in the project have gained experience in creating digital content which enables them not only to create new teaching materials in the future but also to disseminate the acquired knowledge. The teams which consisted of teachers and students proved to be very successful as the process of teaching and learning in collaboration gained good results. Regular meetings helped to discuss the progress of the course development, share and discuss ideas, innovative tools, and assess the results of the completed work.

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In the second phase of the project, the English group focused on the following courses for BA students: 

• Digital Learning and Pedagogy (Part 2)
• Introduction to Rhetoric and Public Speaking
• Lexicology of the English Language
• Linguo-Country Studies: USA
• Outline of British and American Literatures

The courses are aimed at students, who already have a good command of English (level B1+) and want to deepen their professional knowledge of the language, literature, and culture of the English-speaking countries as well as to get practical skills in future professions. Lecturers of the Chair of North American Literary and Cultural Studies at Saarland University (Department head Prof. Dr. Astrid Fellner) actively collaborated in the creation of the courses and offered their expertise for the courses. 

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The German group integrated the scholarship holders from Mykolaiv (3 students) into the new online certificate „InterDiDaF.” It is a program of blended learning and blended mobility with partly new content in intercultural communication and multilingualism at the workplace and the university (including differences in academic cultures).

The Spanish group focused on the following courses about Hispanic literary and cultural studies at BA and MA levels in the second phase: Cultural History of Spain, Spanish Literature and Film, Contemporary Latin American Literature. A lecture on Contemporary Women Writers from Spain is not only a completely new topic for Ukraine, but is also a new format, as it is planned to include interviews with women writers in the online teaching (initial commitments were obtained at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2022). All courses include video contributions by international researchers to offer information and knowledge about the broad, intercontinental spectrum and forward-looking perspectives of Hispanic/Latin American Studies.

In the second phase of the project, we aimed to establish and run visibility of the project among target groups and a wide audience, provide useful information on project results, and raise awareness about the existence of those results. Members of the project actively participated in conferences in Germany, Ukraine, Luxembourg, the US, and France to disseminate the results of the project.

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In the current situation at the beginning of 2024 further courses are needed, because many lecturers as well as students are still in different places. Even for those physically in Mykolaiv, the uncertainty of the situation and location of the university close to the battlefront does not allow for “regular” teaching, most courses are taught online.

To overcome the challenges that Ukrainian higher education has, the English group continues working on the digitalization of main courses for the students in English Philology as well as on the revision and extension of already prepared theoretical courses in the first and second phases. The previously developed courses are taught, the course materials are expanded, i.e. further interactive activities and videos are added to the ones already available. In this phase we aim to expand the audience for some of the courses: develop courses for PhD students, continue working on important courses for the BA and MA level in English Philology. The planned courses to be digitalized during the third period are:

• Business English (BA program) 
• English as a First Foreign Language (B2+ C1)
• Introduction to Border Studies from a Cultural Studies Perspective (MA program)
• Pedagogy of Higher Education and Project Management (MA program)
• Scientific Communication in English (PhD program) 

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Work Meetings at Saarland University

During the war in Ukraine, it is more important than ever to maintain the existing contacts and establish new ones, enrich the cooperation between the scholars who are currently located in Ukraine, the displaced scholars, and colleagues abroad.  That is why working meetings are planned to enhance and expand the existing collaboration. Such working meetings conducted in offline and hybrid formats are fundamental for the success of the project. As onsite meetings cannot be conducted in Mykolaiv the meetings onsite at Saarland University will provide an opportunity to conduct the necessary project activities. 

During the visit, the Ukrainian participants will have a short training. The training will be organized in a hybrid format as not all members of the Studybridge team from Mykolaiv may come, and possibly (due to the work schedule) not all can come at the same time.

July 2024

Hybrid workshops, onsite working meetings, and individual consultations of Ukrainian participants were organized in July at Saarland University. The Ukrainian lecturers were given individual possibility to observe the classes, discuss the curricula of the English Department and methods of teaching foreign languages and literature with experts from Saarland University. The participants could also present their courses and receive first-hand expertise and recommendations for improving and implementing their work. The expertise and training workshop for the professionalization of digital teaching was provided by two experts from Saarland University in a hybrid format. Graduate Translator Eva Nossem conducted the workshop on Digital Teaching at Saarland University and Dr. Elisabeth Venohr presented Best Practices in Digital Learning Settings. The experts discussed con texts and factors that influence digital teaching, introduced different learning apps, educational escape rooms and provided examples of their usage in foreign language digital teaching and learning settings. Besides that, the Ukrainian guests visited the University of Luxembourg (Belval Campus) and had a tour of the Learning Center. 

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The  feedback from the students at PMBSNU has been overwhelmingly positive. They profit from online courses because they can embark on their studies independent of their location at the moment and have constant access to the course materials. The teaching models dedicated to foreign language studies developed jointly by all project participants will contribute to the networking of Ukrainian and German scholars and students. The ongoing project can strengthen cohesion despite great geographical distances and is also excellently suited to facilitate a long-term study and work perspective on a European level.