Virtual University of the Baltic Sea Region

Virtuelle Hochschule Ostseeraum is an international, cross-institutional and interdisciplinary project that aims to establish a new virtual learning environment at the University of Greifswald and promote collaboration between the universities in the Baltic Sea region.

Aims

• improvement and specialisation of courses for master students and advanced teacher programs;

• qualification of academic teachers for the purpose of English virtual learning environments;

• international connection of virtual learning courses and therefore specialisation of courses for the research emphasis on the Baltic Sea Area;

• transferable application for all academic fields at the University of Greifswald.

International virtual learning environment

The teaching and learning activities take place in the shared digital space. Lecture and seminar formats are designed jointly by an international team of teachers from partner universities. Students can engage themselves in self-study with units accessible online (asynchronous teaching), online sessions with all students and teachers (synchronous teaching) as well as self-planned group work in international working groups. The students are accompanied by the teachers in cooperative projects, research-based learning is a central component of the courses. If the travel situation allows, the course is rounded off by a one-week excursion.

Since the working groups consist of participants from different countries, international networking of the students is made possible in addition to the internationalization of teaching. A virtual learning environment is also enabling students with social or personal issues (i.e. parenting, relocation, sickness, caring for a family member) to finish courses, which would otherwise be impossible for them.

The project is part of the internationalization strategy of the University of Greifswald. The cooperation between the lecturers also flows into the Greifswald research focus “Cultures of the Baltic Sea Region”.

University of Greifswald

Stockholm University

Tampere University

St. Petersburg University*
*The cooperation with St. Petersburg State University is suspended in this project until further notice.