In mid-May, the PADMICA project’s General Board held a productive face-to-face meeting in Versailles, offering a valuable opportunity to review the project’s current progress and discuss next steps in depth.
It is crucial that both the preparation before mobility and the reflective processing after return are led by authentic, credible trainers. A key focus of the meeting was how to best prepare them: they must understand the concept behind the modules and be able to activate students and handle situations that arise. They need to be confident and competent enough to train the next generation of trainers.
The preparation module is now nearly complete, with only final adjustments remaining. It is scheduled for release at the start of the new academic year.
With the preparation module nearing completion, the team turned its attention to the post-return module. Discussions centered on how to deepen students’ intercultural learning and transform their acquired intercultural competences into lasting abilities. One area of interest is whether students’ initial motivation for participating in mobility changes retrospectively after they return home. Exercises tried by the project team during the meeting included practices focused on listening for understanding, key elements in the upcoming debriefing module. This module will be available in both online and in-person formats. Test courses will begin over the summer and run through to the end of October.
In addition to content development, the meeting also addressed reporting responsibilities, communication strategies, and how best to engage students.
The next in-person project meeting is scheduled for November, when the team will pilot the train-the-trainers module.