Abstract:

The arrival of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the Knowledge Society demand new competences and challenges for our students and universities. As the European Commission (2010) states, “higher education plays an essential role in society, creating new knowledge, transferring it to students and fostering innovation”. With the implementation of the EHEA in the Faculty of Humanities and Education in Mondragon Unibertsitatea (HUHEZI - MU) all the subjects have been redesigned in order to fulfill the standards agreed in the Bologna process. Those former subjects have been reorganized into interdisciplinary modules, whereby different subjects are worked on in an integrated way, and they are part of the new degrees in Primary/Infant Teacher Training.
This paper presents the development of one of the above mentioned modules, called “Education in Europe and the global world. Good practice”, as an example. The aim of this module is to help students gain a global view and understanding of different Education systems throughout the world and important aspects influencing them, such as multilingualism, multiculturalism and quality.
The module tries to teach the above mentioned content through English, which is the students’ L3. Taking this into account, the module has been designed using a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach, an innovation in language learning.
Another innovative aspect of this module is the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), which has been developed through different tools, such as wikis and the Moodle platform. The wikis have been used as a way of working on some of the cross-curricular competences specified in the degree, such as group work and effective communication. The Moodle platform has been applied as an asynchronous communication tool. Through the platform the students have been able to follow the tutors’ plans, on a daily basis, and communicate with each other as required.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the process followed in the planning and implementation of the experience from the tutors’ perspective. We also tend to analyze the students’ feelings towards the whole module.

Keywords:

Language Learning Innovations, European Higher Education Area, The Bologna Declaration and ECTS Experiences, Information and Communication Technologies, Cross-curricular competences, Teacher Training Degree, Content and Language Integrated Learning.