• Summer school programme (*.pdf file)
• Participant list
• Participant diary
• Summer school gallery

Gavin Dudeney, DoS

gavin.dudeney@theconsultants-e.com

1.      Background and Objectives

This course follows on from a number of previous courses, all of which have explored a theme in great depth, with participants working towards the production of web-based materials for their own use after the summer course, and for the use of the general public. Each year a theme is chosen, and a venue which has some relevance to the theme is selected, making the gathering of data and fieldwork possible, and thus enhancing the finished product.

This year’s course was entitled “Intercultural Communications and the Web: Europe” and aimed to focus on a deeper understanding of ICC issues around Europe, but with a special emphasis on members from the new accession countries.

As with previous years, it was divided into two one-week sections, with the first week involving input sessions from the tutoring team and the second week moving into the production of teaching materials around the theme. The work programme was supplemented by a series of field trips and social visits to places of interest or relevance to the course itself.

The objectives were based on the experiences of previous years, namely to produce a set of teaching materials - web-based - which would be of relevance not only to the participants, but also to teachers from other countries, and drop-by visitors to the eventual site.

2.      Pre-course Planning and Lead-in to School

With most of the team already in place (and with a good, strong history of working together on previous summer schools and other BC web projects), it was my job to organise the course content and session planning. It had been envisaged that I might fly over from Spain to meet the team and do this face-to-face prior to the course, but this proved impossible due to logistical reasons. Instead, a great deal of negotiation took place by email in the lead-up to the course, and we were able to work up a strong timetable in this fashion. We took as the model timetables from previous courses and adapted them to the new venue and theme.

It cannot be emphasised too much that my main contact, Wojciech Drajerczak, was the height of efficiency, professionalism and personal charm and I really do feel that this course would not have been such a great success had he not been involved at the highest level. I understand since my return that Wojciech is leaving the Council to pursue a career at Warsaw university and would wish him every success, whilst also commenting that replacing him will, I feel, be a very difficult job indeed. His patience, understanding and initial help made the planning and lead-in to the school as smooth as it could possibly be.

As previously mentioned, the timetable was worked up by email, with all the tutors and technical staff participating actively to make my job as Director of Studies as easy as possible, and there were few problems in this process. The team arrived at the venue three days in advance and we took this time to get to know each other and to finalise the program, as well as make last-minute arrangements for the arrival of the participants.

The venue itself (Gniezno) was a charming town, and the facilities at our disposal were excellent and of the highest quality. The staff were also a delight to work with and I would thoroughly recommend a return to the venue, should it be deemed useful for a future summer school.

3.      Participants

The 31 course participants came from a selection of new accession countries (16 from Poland, the rest from countries as diverse as Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, etc.) . Every effort was made to make their journeys and their stay comfortable and I think we did an excellent job of looking after them and of making their stay of long-term professional benefit to them. Most of the participants were working in secondary or private education, and few of them had experience of ICT in the classroom. It is a testament to the team and of the success of previous summer schools that some participants were on their second or third such event in as many years.

4.      Tutor team

One of the best teams I have ever had the good fortune to work with. Although they all had experience of working together as a team, they did their utmost to make me feel welcome and to make my position as an ‘outsider’ comfortable. I found them to be highly professional experienced and always ready to lend a hand whenever they could. Their language skills and past experience were a great help to me, and I feel they should all be congratulated for the hard work, dedication and support.

Wojciech Drajerczak

TUTORS

Malgorzata Zdybiewska

Anna Tomczak

Simon Pounder

TECHNICAL SUPPORT TUTORS

Wojciech Korput

Mariusz Marczak

I cannot praise their work too highly and would have no hesitation in working with them again, nor recommending that the Council in Poland work with them whenever a relevant opportunity arises.

5.      Course Content and Development

The course content closely followed that of previous years, as the model which had been developed and used in previous courses had been shown to work well. The first week of the two-week course is given over to input sessions (both pedagogical and technical), with participants acquiring the skills and knowledge they would need to develop the web-based materials in the second week.

Tutors were asked to propose the sessions they thought they would like to give in the input week, and my job was to fit them into the schedule and to negotiate any changes deemed necessary by me in order for the programme to be rounded and complete. This was achieved with a minimum of fuss on the part of all involved, and the final timetable was extremely busy, and of a very high quality.

Input sessions were given on all aspects of ICC, and were of an extremely high quality. Indeed, the school was fortunate enough to have Polish experts in the field as tutors, and their help with developing the program was invaluable.

6.      Outcomes and the Future

The outcomes are still (at time of writing) an unknown quantity as the main bulk of the programming and web design work is currently underway thanks to the technical team. A closer examination of the materials, once produced, will give a better feel for the overall success of the school in these terms, although my overall impression of the materials that I saw prior to the end of the school is that they will be both very high quality and immensely practical.

7.      Successes for Hornby Trust and British Council

Apart from the obvious goodwill and opportunities for spreading the Council name more widely around these exciting countries, the success of the summer school will ultimately hinge on the quality of the materials produced by the technical team and the extent to which they can be advertised and used by the participants and members of the general public.

The feedback for the course was truly excellent and, combined with the personalised quality treatment the participants had, can only enhance the image of the Council. Indeed, I would say that we sent 31 contented and professionally fulfilled ambassadors back to their homes, and that the long-term effect that sensation will produce can only be of benefit to the organisation.

8.      Recommendations for the future

I would say that it is vital for external directors or tutors (should they be involved in the future) to have some kind of training or informational session prior to the course in order to understand how what is to be done relates to, and fits in with, what has been done before. There is an excellent core team involved in these schools, but they all know each other very well, and most of them work as a team on regular BC web-based projects all round, and this closeness within the team results in an (unconscious) assumption that everyone has the same knowledge. Aside form this, I can see no reason not to continue with the same team, the same core idea and to work towards the same goals as in previous years.

9.     Conclusion

An excellent experience for myself, and – I think – for everyone else involved. I would be very interested in following up this experience in Poland or any of the other countries which sent participants and wish the Council good luck in any future developments of this nature.

Gavin Dudeney

Barcelona, Spain

September 2004