What is the motivation of this project?

The motivation of this project has a broad background. Let us make a starting point with the fact that we live on the border. The border is a diverse area with great dynamics. It is worth taking advantage of this and collaborate with partners from our neighbourhood. We can learn from each other, inspire each other. It is extremely important for students to look at borders not as a barrier, but as an opportunity for individual, social and cultural development. Inviting students, teachers, and university staff to join this project, we’re bringing together different perspectives and expertise on education and create a new inspiring working space, strengthen the democratic structures of our societies and support cross-border collaborations to ensure high quality education in the 21st century.

The circumstances related to COVID-19, including forced isolation and online education, provoke reflection on how we deal with the crisis, what we can do to cope better with the current situation and how to handle future related challenges. If we are talking about future teachers and those who educate them some other questions arise, especially about the competences necessary to implement online education and to support others in crisis situations. It is interesting and exciting to exchange experiences and search for new solutions with project partners. If we are talking about researchers, this new situation provokes questions about the needs of students, about the ways they cope with the challenge, and about their expectations of universities and teachers. All of these make the motivation for this project strong.

What is the aim of the project?

We aim to:

• support students in coping with the crisis caused by the pandemic, including undertaking different cognitive and artistic activities
• support students - our future teachers - in acquiring competences to help others in a crisis situation and to implement online education
• bring students from the universities of Greifswald and Szczecin closer to each other
• develop and strengthen cooperation between neighbouring universities in the field of teacher training.

What questions are being addressed in this project?

• How do I cope with social isolation, limitation of activity, anxiety, stress and online education?
• What are my personal resources?
• What kind of support do I need and how can I get it?
• Who needs my support and how can I help?
• Do creative activities in a team help to overcome the difficulties caused by the pandemic?

What will happen during the project?

Participants will engage in creative activities as a way of coping with stress and overcoming the crisis, acquiring and developing skills of self-reflection, intercultural communication, and producing art.

What do we expect from this project?

By scientifically accompanying this project, we will learn about the experiences of students related to the pandemic and online education, as well as their needs and expectations of universities in terms of acquiring competences to implement online education and supporting school students in a crisis situation in the future. The research results will be used to develop new proposals for teacher education

Duration: 09/2020–09/2021

Funded by Interreg, European Union

Poject homepage: http://www.inter-uni.eu/

Fellow employee: Dr. Olga Steinberg

Student assistants: Melina Lorke, Paula Finsterbusch

Cooperation partners:

Prof. Anna Murawska (University of Szczecin)

Matthias Schönijahn (Artist and Moderator)

Anna Linka (University of Szczecin)

Monika Zięciak (University of Szczecin)

Hubert Kupiec (University of Szczecin)

April 10, 2021   Program