The ARC-Team carried out two official training and activity events organised by Ana Kanareva-Dimitrovska, University of Aarhus in Denmark, and Nijolė Čiučiulkiene, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas in Lithuania. We were also able to run bonus sessions organised by Tita Mihaiu, Institute for CPD for German Teachers, Sibiu/Hermannstadt, Romania.
Despite initial scepticism that online-only would not be possible, in the end, in the situation we managed to run all sessions online.
Denmark
9 November 2020: Pre-workshop session
7-8 December 2020: Main workshop
March/early April 2021: Follow-up session
Lithuania
8 June 2020, 15:15 - 16:45: Taster
28 September 2020, 15:15-16:45: Preparatory workshop
5 November 2020, 15:15-16:00: Q&A session
10-11 December 2020, 16:00-18:00 on both days: Main workshop
28 January 2021, 16:00-16:40: Voluntary Q&A session
4 February 2021, 16:00-17:45: Follow-up session with participant presentations
Contact & support by e-mail throughout the process
Additional ARC-based sessions for German teachers in Romania
2 parallel groups
Session 1, beginning of October: Introduction to action research
Session 2, second week of October: Content pack - Moving in the (online) language classroom
Project phase supported by local organiser Tita Mihaiu
Session 3, mid-November: Reflection
Session 4, end of November: Evaluation of action research process
https://www.zfl.ro/veranstaltungen.php?tip=3&ans=2020_2021
Through the process that required a lot of replanning and rethinking we learnt about adjusting pedagogical approaches that online sessions require trainers to work in a strictly focused way and to be very clear about aims. Very precise planning is extremely important, and it is essential to do everything possible to understand the concerns of participants and to react in a flexible way.
We valued co-operation with local organisers who helped clarify who does what, coordinated with participants and explained expectations and concerns to trainers, taking on responsibility for the group and ensuring that participants received CPD recognition.
And we found out how important it is to exploit all online facilities available not only communicating through a learning platform, but also using resources such as Padlet and Google docs as a back-up for materials.
In the end we were surprised how everything fitted together, for example the way online discussions in breakout rooms were much easier than anticipated.
For the future we will be aiming towards blended approaches. It is very much hoped that 2021 will provide opportunities to hold face-to-face workshops, but these will be backed-up by online pre-workshops and follow-up sessions as online support throughout the process.
Project developments presented at conferences and published from late 2019 to early 2021: