Working in a Group before Meeting Face-to-Face - A Case of International Student Online Project
This paper describes a case of an international student online project. The project was a part of cooperation between two European educational institutions, 0stfold University College in Norway and University of Wismar in Germany. An international student group consisting of three German students and five Norwegian students joined this project. Technically, the project was testing of an open source based online platform, LearnLoop (http://www.learnloop.org/). Organizationally, the project was used as a preparing phase for German visiting students, as well as international openings for Norwegian students. The project topic was focused on international communication and environment issues. As a result, the German students were able to getting familiar with Norway and Norwegian education system, and working methods. The Norwegian students also acquired international experiences by working this project with their German costudents. This paper describes the process of this joint international student project, and presents the detailed analysis of online activities, as well as offline student activities throughout the project phases.