Abstract:

Now, more than ever, teaching and learning foreign languages at the university level should be applied to students’ professional future, by ensuring early contact with the effective communication needs of the marketplace. On the other hand, it is also paramount to articulate the improvement of language skills with the field of computer applications to guarantee the concomitant development of digital skills. With this premise in mind, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are encouraged to create learning contexts that, based on motivating problems, allow students to further develop important skills such as i) the effective command of another language, ii) technical skills necessary to produce current and functional communicative media, and iii) soft skills, which are indispensable to graduates’ professional (and personal) performance.

Thus, this article aims to describe an experimental project developed at the Águeda School of Technology and Management of the University of Aveiro (ESTGA-UA), over the last two academic years, within the first cycle degree in Office Management and Business Communication (OMBC). Besides explaining the options in terms of methodologies and technologies selected for this project, some perceptions of the students and teachers involved are also presented.

This activity, which was implemented in the 1st semester of academic years 2018/2019 and 2019/2020, emerged from a need of the surrounding local community. Located in Águeda, a city with a growing touristic sector, ESTGA-UA felt challenged to propose improved solutions for the dissemination of the municipality touristic offer. To present answers to this initial challenge, a hybrid approach to Project-Based Learning and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) was followed and an experimental, interdisciplinary project was designed. The carried out activities, which involved 72 students and 4 teachers (3 from the language department and 1 from the IT department), were developed within the 2nd-year courses German Reception and Attendance and French Reception and Attendance in articulation with the1st-year course Electronic Office Applications I.

Students were challenged to create a short promotional video for the municipality of Águeda in groups made up of students from the two classes involved: whilst 1st-year students worked on the conception and production of the video, 2nd-year students were responsible not only for subtitling it in German or French but also for supporting 1st-year colleagues in the accomplishment of their task. Students used the Powtoon tool and complemented the work with other free content production solutions; 2nd-year students developed selection and adaptation of technical vocabulary skills.

According to students and teachers involved, this joint project i) strengthened the relationship with the surrounding community; ii) demonstrated how HEIs can respond to the needs and challenges of organisational partners with innovative solutions; iii) contributed to the development of technical skills in the field of design and production of audio-visual solutions; iv) helped students consolidate selection and adaptation of technical vocabulary skills; iv) contributed to the consolidation of group membership, and v) led to the development of important soft skills.

Keywords:

higher education, cross-curricular projects, office management, business communication, foreign languages competences