Telecollaboration insights: learning from exchanges that fail

Abstract

The article describes action research into a telecollaborative exchange between the Pädagogische Hochschule in Freiburg, Germany and the Pedagogical University in Krakow, Poland, which took place between October 2014 and January 2015. Both groups followed CALL teacher training study programmes and consisted of 16 students. The study aimed at evaluating the telecollaboration with regard to its effectiveness in the attainment of the planned objective which was training the students in designing CALL tasks with focus on intercultural communicative competence (the German group) or "politische Bildung" (the Polish group). The article presents the exchange itself (the tasks, the timeline) and, as well discusses the research data collected by means of surveys and observation in the course of the telecollaboration and upon its completion.