Abstract:

The Finnish Government has set as a goal to increase the number of international experts who study and work in Finland. Kielibuusti (Language Boost) is one of the projects supporting this goal by promoting learning either of the two official languages of Finland – Finnish and Swedish. Swedish is a minority language which about 5% of the population speak as their first language. It is spoken mostly in big coastal cities and in the surrounding countryside as well as in the archipelago. Very few international experts are aware of the possibility to integrate into the Finnish society in Swedish. The Swedish team in the Kielibuusti project wants to raise awareness of this possibility by educating about the Swedish speaking culture and society in Finland with the help of a MOOC called Sidu!

The Sidu! MOOC is based on personal stories of international experts who have integrated in Swedish. Different Swedish regions are presented in 360 learning environments with a lot of visual material. The idea is to get a good all over picture of life in Swedish in Finland.

Sidu! consists of several modules where different aspects of the Finland-Swedish areas, culture, and society are presented. We tell about the linguistic rights of every citizen as well as what services one can expect to get in Swedish, such as education, health care, and social services. Other modules give information about different Swedish-speaking and bilingual cities and municipalities, Finland’s history, working in Finland, Swedish speaking culture (e.g. literature, theatre and film), and different possibilities to spend your leisure time in Swedish.

Keywords:

MOOC, 360 Learning Environments, Finland-Swedish culture and society, integration, linguistic minorities.