Abstract:

Digitalisation has rapidly developed into one of the main drivers of change in higher education (HE) and language learning in Finland. Finnish government seeks to support this development by funding multiple development projects that focus on digital pedagogy and online materials. One of them is DIGIJOUJOU, the main aim of which is develop online materials for teaching Finnish and Swedish (both official national languages in Finland) both in universities and universities of applied sciences. More specifically, the project aims to make language learning more flexible for academic students: DIGIJOUJOU divides into multiple sub-projects that focus either on flexible study modules or additional digital tools to support independent learning or studying in institutional contexts. With Finnish as a foreign language, a particular challenge is to address advanced learners who often have already landed jobs and lack sufficient skills in Finnish for professional needs.

In this oral presentation, we will report preliminary results of a particular DIGIJOUJOU subproject Työelämän Suomi (‘Finnish for working life’). The subproject has developed online study modules (totaling 8 ECTS) for independent learning that focus on linguistic and communicative skills specific to work-related situations and job seeking. The beta-versions of the modules have been finalized in the beginning of 2019 and are being piloted during the spring 2019. In Aalto University, we have piloted the material in 3 ECTS online course Finnish for professional needs. In this presentation, we will outline the pedagogical development process in the larger Työelämän Suomi sub-project and then analyze the experiences from the pilot course in Aalto vis-à-vis our pedagogical aims.

The central motivation for Työelämän suomi subproject stems from the target audience. This audience typically comprises of advanced learners who are in the last part of their studies and working at least part-time. In this situation, the foreign students often realise that they are lacking both in professional communicative skills and requisite time to devote for formal language studies. Hence, the pedagogical idea of Työelämän suomi is to provide maximally flexible means for independent learning irrespective of university boundaries or the particular situation of the student. We approach this idea by providing a surplus of materials, i.e. a structured inventory of modules that can be selected and combined freely, in chunks of 1 credit, depending on the needs of the schools and students. For instance, the 3 ECTS pilot course in Aalto provides the student a selection of materials worth 6 ECTS in total.

In our presentation we will discuss the development and selection of online materials in the subproject and pilot course. In particular, we will focus on how the selected digital solutions and our aim to provide flexibility by the means of material surplus worked in the light of the pilot course. Finally, we will discuss the received student feedback as well as the observed learning results.

Keywords:

Digital literacy, digitalisation, language learning, higher education.