The UniCollaboration Platform is an interactive online platform for telecollaboration and online intercultural exchange in higher education. It provides resources for teachers, coordinators, administrators and students, including sample projects and tasks, practitioner profiles, and training materials. Users can create tasks and describe classes to connect with other classes. It also includes social features like forums and messaging. The platform was developed by the Open University and University of Groningen, launched in February 2013, and will continue to be improved. It aims to support practitioners in setting up online exchanges between classes and students to track their development of telecollaboration skills.

1. UNICollaboration Platform
Sake Jager
University of Groningen
INTENT Partner
INTENT Workshop, 21 March 2013 Padua, Italy

2. UniCollaboration Platform
Main functions:
• Interactive platform for Telecollaboration/OIE in HE
• Information resource for teachers, mobility coordinators,
administrators, students:
– Sample Projects
– Tasks, Task sequences
– Practitioners, Institutions, Classes
– Training and ‘how to’ materials
• Tools for practitioners: create tasks, describe classes, search
for classes, use ePortfolio
• Social functions: forum, messaging, blogs
• Announcements and site activities on home page

3. Development
• Design, programming and hosting: OU,
Knowledge Media Institute (Chris Valentine)
• Functional specs: Lead Groningen (Jager,
Thorne), contributions from all partners
• Site designed in Drupal
• Released to the public: February 2013, still
being improved and extended
• Full version: End 2013

8. • Case Studies

11. Practitioner profile
• Personal details:
– Info section
– Contact form
– FB and Skype user name
• Institutional details
– Access to other practitioners in the same institution
• List of classes available for telecollaboration
• List of tasks created
• Function to establish new partnerships

14. Structure of the task databank
• Stand-alone tasks – the smallest possible units of interaction
between partcipants
• Task sequences –examples how long-term exchanges can be
structured, consist of stand-alone tasks.

15. Criteria for task description

16. Criteria for task description

21. Class search tool
• Tool for finding classes to work with
• Searchable fields include (not finalized yet):
– Target language
– Target level
– Host country
– Dominant language production
– Period
• Possibly map searches in the future

23. Eportfolio for Telecollaborative Language Learning
• Set of competences to identify the “Telecollaboratively Competent
Person” (TEP)
• Help individuals keep track of their development during an online
exchange
• 3 parts:
– descriptors (also goals for self- and other-directed learning)
– template for Personal Reflection Diary (to link descriptors with
events before, during and after an online exchange)
– sample rubric (criteria based on descriptors for self-progress
reports, peer evaluation/s, formative assessment)

24. Part 1: Descriptors of Telecollaborative Effective Person
• 4 main areas:
– Online Language Competences (not to be confused with general
language learning levels!)
– Social Competences
– Technical Competences
– Cross-Cultural Competences
• Main areas divided into 3 'macro' KSAs (Knowledge, Skills,
Attitudes)
• 'Macros'devided into 'micro' KSAs (to pinpoint specific actions that
can reflect development →assessment of competences)

28. Afternoon workshop
• Set up personal profile
• Browse sample projects and tasks
• Design your own task
• Put the task on the platform

29. Questions and discussion!

30. Thank you for your attention!
Sake Jager: s.jager@rug.nl