Karelia.fi - International Edition 2016

A bright world.

KARELIA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES NEWSLETTER | International Edition 2016

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Karelia International Week one floor for joint discussions and initiatives!

Quality in student exchanges HOW DO WE ENSURE IT?

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NEW PROJECT BUILDS ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILLS

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17th al Internation Week of Karelia UAS

A bright world.

KARELIA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES NEWSLETTER

| International Edition 2016

Editorial-in-chief Liisa Timonen, Head of International Affairs Sub-editors Eija Piiparinen, Communications Officer Layout Salla Anttila, Graphic Designer Photos Teija Heikkilä, Noora Suviola, Miika Puurunen, Salla Anttila Cover photo Tuukka Pakarinen Translations Laura Väistö Publisher Karelia University of Applied Sciences, Tikkarinne 9, 80200 Joensuu Contact information international@karelia.fi, info@karelia.fi, www.karelia.fi Circulation 1500 ISSN 2323-8453 (Printed), ISSN 2323-8461 (Online Publication)

KareliaAmmattikorkeakoulu

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KareliaUAS

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Karelia University of Applied Sciences

For Karelia quality means good planning, professional performance in implementation, iterative creation of knowledge and skills, regular reflection and development of processes, result follow ups, and responsibility.

» EDITORIAL

SUSTAINABILITY, QUALITY AND IMPACTS OF INTERNATIONALISATION

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nternationalisation of higher education has already for quite a while been one of the development aims of higher education institutes in Finland, Europe and around the world. A lot of emphasis has been put on creating international networks, increasing student and teacher mobility, planning research and development projects and fostering businesses. Yet the questions regarding the sustainability, quality and impacts of internationalisation have remained somewhat open until lately. In fact, this is the area of internationalisation needing the most strategic discussion among universities of applied sciences to ensure meaningful actions in the future.

Performance-based funding and decreasing resources make it inevitable also for Karelia University of Applied Sciences to really consider what benefits internationalisation brings to the organisation, its staff and students and how the actions support achieving the strategic goals and the high-level results the organisation is aiming at. Besides Karelia our international partners also need to find a clear advantage of the joint ventures, as good and eventually strategic partnerships grow from mutual benefit, trust and results which support the organisational development in the long run.

At Karelia sustainability is considered already in the strategic planning of internationalisation and carried out throughout the actions. The development of mobility programmes is based on increasing student counselling and guidance services to foster study performance as well as by creating programmes, where studies strongly support the students’ professional development and learning goals both at home and host universities. This requires open discussion and action plans shared among the partners and also a strong commitment to the goals. In research and development projects sustainability is one of the guiding principles

already while planning the project – a project is a tool which helps to achieve results that remain after the project time span. The strategic establishment of the project results in organisational practises already during and after the implementation brings added value increasing organisational capacity and ensuring high level results.

Quality and impacts go hand in hand. When internationalisation really has qualitative dimensions it also has long term impacts on the organisation, its staff, students, partners and even regions. For Karelia quality means good planning, professional performance in implementation, iterative creation of knowledge and skills, regular reflection and development of processes, result follow ups, and responsibility. The key words are team play, openness and sharing: Karelia strongly believes in team work both internally and internationally – the professional community of practise is built with shared expertise where specialists from different fields, backgrounds, organisations and countries really rely on each other and work for a jointly recognised goal.

Karelia aims for a bright world. It has set sustainable, high quality and impact rich internationalisation to be one of its strategic goals for 2016 – 2020. Internationalisation will be a solid part of Karelia community in education, RDI (research, development and innovation actions) and in global education. Besides internationalisation, also digitalisation and entrepreneurship are strategic goals for this era. At its best internationalisation promotes all these three pillars bringing benefits to whole network. The goals are achieved in well designed and strategic actions together with Karelia’s international partners; therefore, we put a lot of emphasis on developing our partnerships and building strategic relationships with you. Let’s shape the bright world together!

Liisa Timonen, Head of Internvwational Affairs

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Our Bright World Student satisfaction rate

81% (satisfied or very satisfied students)

Students

Awarded degrees in 2015

3696 728 Staff

300

Employability

82% (average rate)

Our Bright World’s International Students

100 140 100

DEGREE STUDENTS

74,168

OUTGOING EXCHANGE STUDENTS /YEAR

INHABITANTS

INCOMING EXCHANGE STUDENTS /YEAR

30%

Target countries for exchanges, e.g. EU countries, Canada, China, Brazil, South Korea, Russia, Zambia

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Joensuu is the home town of Our Bright World

OF THE INHABITANTS ARE STUDENTS

KARELIA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES NEWSLETTER | International Edition 2016

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» P EDAGOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN COOPERATION WITH FINLAND AND CHINA

» R ELAX A BIT

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Editorial: Sustainability, quality and impacts of internationalisation

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Relax a bit

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Karelia International Week - one floor for joint discussions and initiatives!

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Karelia International Week off-duty

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Quality in student exchanges how do we ensure it?

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Sustainable development in international education

Respect, patience and care Top tips for teachers in international classrooms

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Pedagogical development in cooperation with Finland and China

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Seeking common interests in international research, development and innovation (RDI)

New project builds entrepreneurship skills Networking and Communicating Cross-Culturally over the Web

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Karelia International Week one floor for joint discussions and initiatives!

Karelia organised its highly popular and already traditional International Week for the 17th time in February 2016.

The event brought together colleagues from many partner organisations in Europe, Russia and China to spend a week exploring up-to-date issues of internationalisation and sharing professional expertise in different workshops and lectures. In addition to the work itself, enjoying the Finnish winter and culture is a crucial part of the week.

TEXT Liisa Timonen | PHOTOS Noora Suviola, Teija Heikkinen

T

he international week offers a good floor for administrative staff mainly from international offices and teachers from different fields not only to meet colleagues from Karelia, share ideas, develop joint practises and create new initiatives but also to have the opportunity to get to know new international colleagues.

The theme of the international week 2016 was the high quality of internationalisation. The ways to promote high quality and impacts of internationalisation were explored in several ways. The opening session was an interactive session involving all guests and many Karelia staff members. The quality of internationalisation was discussed from different perspectives in six interactive workshops: quality in student mobility, multicultural working with participatory pedagogical practises, RDI actions, student entrepreneurship,

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and importance of leadership in enabling internationalisation. Besides these directly professional themes, one of the workshops was devoted to relaxation to remind us all about the importance of well-being in our lives.

The working methods were very participatory and partly digital to foster open and easily shareable discussions.

One of the aims was to share the results and the highlights among the colleagues but also to share them with a wider audience by using different social media channels. The audience could follow the event through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The opening event was fruitful providing a lot of ideas for elaborating further discussions and development. This Karelia.fi issue includes four articles from the opening event sharing some of the highlights with you.

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QUALITY IN student exchanges HOW DO WE ENSURE IT? TEXT Minna Halonen & Sanna Jeskanen

T

his workshop concentrated on the quality of student mobility. The main task was to find major factors that affect the quality. In the beginning, every group had a discussion, and afterwards each participant chose the two most important matters in student mobility.

It was up to the individual member to consider the quality either from the university’s or a student’s perspective.

All participants’ answers were typed into a cloud program that moderated a visual picture of the most significant issues in quality of student mobility. Finally, all the groups’ pictures were merged into one joint picture.

Participants were active and enthusiastic, and a lot of interesting discussions were heard. As a result of the workshop the following issues were considered as the most important matters: »» Content of studies and quality of education »» Good partnerships (mutual trust, familiarity) »» Good planning and orientation both in home and host university

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Matching courses and similarities in curricula ensure credit acknowledgement and benefit students’ progress in his/her studies. Confidential partnerships guarantee both smooth co-operation and safe and well-organised exchange periods. Preparation at home university includes a student’s own motivation, realistic expectations and getting to know the culture of the host country and university. The welcoming university should provide good orientation days, hospitality and support services.

The level of language skills caused vivid debates and different opinions. Some thought it is necessary to have a good command of English prior to the exchange period, and others considered that the exchange period particularly offers a good possibility to develop and improve language skills.

Lecturers’ English skills seemed to be crucial when talking about quality in mobility. The groups concentrated on discussing mainly English competences, since it is the most common language of student exchanges.

In conclusion the workshop brought up numerous fresh ideas that will be taken into consideration in future development work. At Karelia UAS we will put more effort on student counselling and matters regarding safety and security. Also deeper knowledge and connection with partner universities will be in focus. There is a need to continue and strengthen communication on these quality issues and share experiences among partners in order to improve student mobility.

As a result of a qualitative exchange period a student will gain professional skills, cultural awareness and personal growth that will have a strong impact on one’s career and future.

At Karelia UAS we will put more effort on student counselling and matters regarding safety and security.

Also deeper knowledge and connection with partner universities will be in focus.

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RESPECT, PATIENCE AND CARE Top Tips for Teachers in International Classrooms

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TEXT Marjo Nenonen & Liisa Timonen | PHOTO Noora Suviola

Universities all over the world face quite similar challenges in the internationalisation of teaching.

The benefits are globally understood. Students need skills in internationalisation, and universities as well as societies can no longer survive and develop without outside influence. Challenges are often linked to adequate and meaningful offering of courses taught in English, student and teacher skills as well as motivating departments and lecturers in offering English-mediated courses that often require more resources.

O

ur workshop concentrated on discussing and finding practical solutions to these problems. In addition, we discussed ways to promote classroom interaction between international and local students.

Ensuring adequate and meaningful offering of courses taught in English is regarded as a problem in many universities. The challenges universities face are e.g. lacking motivation, tradition, language problems, inflexible curricula, competition and class management skills. As solutions, the participants proposed e.g. language and teacher training and paying attention to language and internationalisation skills when recruiting new teachers. Teachers could be motivated to teach in English e.g. by encouraging them to go on teacher exchanges, giving them incentives (preferably in form of extra time for planning teaching in a foreign language), encouraging team teaching and the systematic use of guest lecturers.

Ensuring effective learning requires good classroom interaction and a positive attitude towards learning. Good interaction between foreign and local students can sometimes require a bit more work. Using mixed groups assigned by teachers, having practical assignments, presenting clear rules for cooperation and paying attention to team-building activities in the beginning were mentioned as tools for supporting student interaction. Offering students opportunities for spending time together outside the classroom was also regarded as important.

The skills students and professors in international classrooms need are quite similar in many aspects. They all should have adequate knowledge of English, motivation, social interaction skills, flexibility and learning skills.

When teachers are concerned, the participants emphasized respect, patience and care. There needs to be a balance between teaching skills and competence in one’s own subject area: being a good teacher and a good professor/ expert in one’s own subject field are not always the same thing.

Discussion topics in the Peda Workshop: 1. How to ensure adequate and meaningful offering of courses taught in English?

2. How to promote classroom interaction between international and local students?

3. What kinds of skills do teachers need in international classrooms?

4. What could the HEI do to motivate staff members to develop international courses?

5. How does the HEI benefit from integrating internationalisation and teaching?

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Seeking common interests in

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION (RDI) TEXT Helena Puhakka-Tarvainen, Harri Mikkonen

T

he Karelia Global & RDI workshop aimed to find out the shared interests in research, development and innovation work among professionals from different organisations taking part in the Karelia UAS International Week 2016. The workshop contents were linked in the Karelia UAS’s strategic focus areas Sustainable Energy and Materials and Modern Welfare Services, as well as the cross-sectional themes Internationalization, Digitalization and Entrepreneurship. Several common interests were found in all six intercultural working groups.

Notes of the discussions were shared through a joint virtual noticeboard (Figure), and thus potential common interests were documented for future networking, both for Karelia’s and our visitors’ use.

Internationalization with blue notes (Figure) evoked the most common interests, which is not surprising in an internationalisation week of a Higher Educational Institute.

Mutual interest concerned e.g. developing more creative exchange and study programmes, activating student and staff circulation among international partner universities, and combining research and mobility activities within the international partnerships. The development of digital

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study and teaching tools and entrepreneurial skills also was collectively accepted.

Matches among the top research goals and expertise in the different universities were the most interesting aspects to investigate from the viewpoint of international RDI cooperation. Based on the workshop results, the joint development efforts could take place e.g. in the fields of renewable energy production, rehabilitation and palliative care, and in the development of digital services in rural areas. In addition, energy efficiency related to IT, digital welfare solutions, gamification in sciences and social entrepreneurship were mentioned in many notes.

Using open virtual methods for sharing workshop results has several advantages compared to traditional work with paper, although the use requires a certain level of equipment.

Results can be co-created during the workshop and thus ease the workload of the facilitator. Virtual tools also enable updating afterwards and make it easier for participants to come back to the notes when a relevant project or other development ideas actualize and international partners for collaboration would be in need. Based on this trial, using virtual workshop tools and shared space is warmly recommended.

Matches among the top research goals and expertise in the different universities were the most interesting aspects to investigate from the viewpoint of international RDI cooperation. karelia.fi | 13

Relax a bit As part of the experimental opening session of the Karelia International Week 2016, the participants were exposed to quite a different workshop from all the others – a relaxation workshop. The idea behind the short workshop was to pay attention to the importance and ways of relaxing to recover from the often stressful and hectic work that most colleagues in the field of higher education and internationalisation experiences.

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TEXT Katriina Korhonen & Pia Rajasuo | PHOTOS Noora Suviola

T

he workshop highlighted the importance of small effective breaks during the working day. Instead of continuous rush from thing to another, having short intensive relaxation moments every now and then greatly contributes to work efficiency and one’s ability to concentrate.

Physiotherapy and music students who were carrying out their practical training or a part of it in Voimala, a learning and service environment for social services and health care at Karelia UAS, planned and organised the workshop.

Voimala serves as a multi-professional training environment for students and at the same time offers activities and services for clients of different ages – the elderly, families with children or patients with a specific illness, just to mention a few.

To start with, the International Week guests were welcomed to sit comfortably on huge beanbags. They were introduced the physical and psychological effects of relaxation which include things such as decreased blood pressure and relief from muscle tension. Relaxation also decreases levels of lactic acid and cholesterol in the system. Moreover, it has positive effects on the quality of sleep, creativity, concentration, memory and motivation. What more could you ask for!

Different personal tips for relaxation were discussed and shared, and the participants were able to try different objects to fiddle with such as a Rubik’s cube, stress ball and playing cards. A big recent hit, the adult colouring book, was also introduced. Finally, the participants were offered the possibility to close their eyes and take a break from reality with the help of a relaxation story and kantele music, played by a music student.

Guests of the International Week, with various backgrounds and from different cultures, seemed to find the workshop rewarding and of course relaxing, and were pleased have a refreshing break in the middle of the hassle of meeting new people in this faraway northern town called Joensuu. And if a beanbag seller would have been around, he would surely had made some deals.

Instead of continuous rush from thing to another, having short intensive relaxation moments every now and then greatly contributes to work efficiency and one’s ability to concentrate.

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PHOTOS Teija Heikkilä, Miika Puurunen

Karelia International Week off-duty

Relaxing, music and dining

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Fresh air and fun on ice

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Sustainable Development in International Education TEXT Riitta Hyttinen & Tarja Kupiainen PHOTO Tuukka Pakarinen

S

t. Petersburg Forest Technical University (former Academy) has been a long-time partner of forestry education in Karelia UAS. In 2011, the co-operation started to expand to other fields of education as well. Vice Dean in international relations Svetlana Tereshchenko has been very active in developing new forms of joint work with Karelia UAS staff. Her meeting with lecturer Pertti Laitinen during the 2011 International Week marked the beginning of co-operation in business education. As a result, the first 5-credit joint intensive study programme was organised already in 2012. 150 degree and exchange students in total from both our universities have participated in the programme’s five implementations. This five-year period has been very rewarding for the teaching staff as well as for the students. The programme consists of preliminary tasks in national and mixed groups and intensive study weeks in St. Petersburg and in Joensuu. During the intensive weeks, students are involved in group work and presentations and they participate in lectures, discussions, company visits, cultural program, and get-togethers.

The Russia Intensive Study Programme in Economics and Business has been constantly developed based on student and teacher feedback. The most interesting events, e.g. company visits to the Finnish Russian Chamber of Commerce and Ponsse in St. Petersburg and John Deere

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and UPM in Joensuu, have become a permanent part of the excursion programmes. Since 2015, the intensive programme belongs to the complementary studies in Karelia UAS’s curriculum. Both Karelia UAS and Forest University teachers believe including intensive programmes in study plans makes it easier to promote them. It also enhances students’ motivation and devotion to complete the course.

Based on the experience gained from the Russia Intensive Programmes in Business and Forestry, the cooperation is now expanding to other fields of education.

During the academic year 2015 - 2016, a new type of a joint course was piloted. The five-credit course called Business Models and Service Design in Multiple Use of Forests was implemented with students from five fields of study in both countries. The universities have agreed to develop the course further. More emphasis will be placed on studying online between the excursions. To make the module more interesting and challenging for the students, commissions from local tourism enterprises and organisations will be introduced to the programme.

For the teachers in charge, working on intensive programmes together with Russian partners has been a valuable learning experience. To ensure the quality of shortterm exchange programmes, it is essential to learn to know your partners and their institutional culture, each other’s needs and possibilities. This can be gained only with an opportunity to plan and organise joint courses regularly.

For students, such multidisciplinary international studies provide a genuine opportunity to build networks for future co-operation. Authentic hosting tasks with real guests in the home city seem to develop students’ organisational skills and a sense of responsibility. According to our experience, participating in short intensive courses with excursions abroad has encouraged students to consider applying for long-term exchange. Getting an opportunity to have a glimpse of the concrete study environment beforehand naturally helps to lower the threshold. In addition, for teachers, the possibility to travel on their first exchange together with intensive course groups can be a comfortable option.

This year our colleague Svetlana participated in the Karelia UAS International Week together with Yuri Belenky, the new Rector of Forest Technical University. During the visit, Mr Belenky and President Petri Raivo signed a new agreement for future cooperation. The two joint intensive study programmes are an already established part of work and will be continued. Promising ideas for new activities in two more areas of focus at Karelia, wood construction and bio-energy, were also discussed with our staff.

According to our experience, participating in short intensive courses with excursions abroad has encouraged students to consider applying for long-term exchange.

Getting an opportunity to have a glimpse of the concrete study environment beforehand naturally helps to lower the threshold. karelia.fi | 19

PEDAGOGICAL DEVELOPMENT in Cooperation with Finland and China

TEXT Mikko Häkkinen & Jarmo Mäkelä | PHOTOS morguefile.com

Karelia University of Applied Sciences has received funding from the Asia programme of the Centre for International Mobility (CIMO) for a continuing education project for Finnish and Chinese teachers. The aim of the project is to promote the internationalisation of higher education and increase higher education teachers’ international expertise. The project enables an increased amount of teacher and student exchanges between partner institutions. Karelia UAS has the responsibility for coordinating the project and two Chinese institutions of higher educations are involved in the project; Heilongjang Institute of Technology and Heilongjang University of Chinese Medicine.

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China is currently undergoing an extensive higher education reform, and a process in which hundreds of universities will be transformed into universities of applied sciences is about to start.

D

uring the project, two PedaCamp training sessions will be organised; one in China and one in Finland. The first training session will be held in China next autumn and it is aimed at Chinese nursing, rehabilitation and energy and environmental technology teachers. A four-member training team and 2-4 expert teachers from Finland will also be participating in the training in China. Then, based on the gained experiences from the first PedaCamp, the training session will be further developed and the following session will be organised in in Finland in spring 2017. Between these two sessions, support material for pedagogical development will be created and added in a mutual online environment.

The planning team in the project includes the following participants from Karelia University of Applied Sciences: Liisa Timonen, Head of International Affairs and project’s coordinatvvor; Marjo Nenonen, Head of Student and Academic Affairs; Jarmo Mäkelä, Head of Education; and Mikko Häkkinen, Senior Lecturer. The team organised the first project workshop in China in cooperation with local higher education institutions in spring 2016. It appeared during the negotiations that the development challenges regarding teachers’ competence are very much alike both in Finland and in China. Although the operational environment is different in both countries, the nature of teaching and being a teacher is pretty similar in both countries.

Consequently, the actors from two different continents are linked with each other in this respect. Increasing system-

atic, result-oriented teacher and student mobility and international career contacts, in particular, were seen as mutual objectives during the project.

It was discovered after the first workshop that successful implementation of student exchange requires knowledge of incoming exchange students’ study-related background and educational environment. Teachers benefit from being able to familiarise themselves with partner institutions’ current curricula and pedagogical practices. However, the project does not content itself only with becoming familiar with current practices but rather aims at developing new, better practices for international teacher and student exchange and career cooperation together with the partners. In addition, experimenting with new pedagogical methods is an important part of the project.

China is currently undergoing an extensive higher education reform, and a process in which hundreds of universities will be transformed into universities of applied sciences is about to start. An integral part of the reform is the development of higher education pedagogy. The PedaCamp training product developed within the ProPeda project may be used by Chinese higher education institutes in the future as a tool for pedagogical development. This can provide Karelia UAS opportunities for exporting chargeable services to China. Competence in intercultural communication is strategically important human capital the development of which is worth investing in.

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New Project BUILDS ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILLS 22 | karelia.fi

TEXT Kirsi Taskinen & Marja-Liisa Ruotsalainen PHOTO Salla Anttila

T

he Karelia UAS and the North Karelia Municipal Education and Training Consortium have started a new project together at the beginning of 2016. The aim of the project is to develop the entrepreneurship skills of students and in this way to promote entrepreneurship, which is significant for the economic prosperity of the North Karelia region. The core of the project is the concept of competence-based entrepreneurship, which makes it possible to select appropriate measures according to the needs of the target group.

The target groups are students, teachers, research, development and innovation staff as well as the unemployed with higher education. The project strengthens their entrepreneurial competences and it aims to move each participant at least one category up in the hierarchy of entrepreneurial competences as a result of the development activities during the project. For example, the project provides those with no experience of entrepreneurship with practical experience of small-scale entrepreneurship (self-employment). This means that they will be provided with new employment opportunities in an already existing company, or they will have better possibilities to aim at establishing a company of their own.

The project develops new forms of entrepreneurship and competence which are based on new high-speed and low-threshold experiments. The entrepreneurial experiments will become a natural part of studies. They can be, for example, combined with study projects, internships and thesis processes or even with post-graduation work with unemployment benefit.

A new kind of entrepreneurial pedagogy will be developed and better scaled in such a way that the level of entrepreneurial competences will increase as much as possible.

This increases the possibility of new success stories and work opportunities.

The project will result in the creation of a new module for promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities, which will be integrated into basic educational activities.

The increased competence will be displayed in the number of permanently employed entrepreneurially oriented people, in the number of established companies, and in the number of people employed by other companies. In the long term, project activities will reform and contribute to the possibility of young, highly educated people considering a career as internationally oriented entrepreneurs.

The project develops new forms of entrepreneurship and competence which are based on new high-speed and lowthreshold experiments.

The entrepreneurial experiments will become a natural part of studies.

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THE BUILDING ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILLS PROJECT (KYKY) The Building Entrepreneurship skills project is funded by the EU/European Social Fund, the ELY Centre South Savo, the Joensuu Regional Development Company JOSEK, the Karelia University of Applied Sciences as well as the North Karelia Municipal Education and Training Consortium. The duration of the project is three years (January 2016 – December 2018).

Additional information: Marja-Liisa Ruotsalainen, Project Manager, marja-liisa.ruotsalainen@karelia.fi, +358 50 5970 882 or Mervi Leminen, mervi.leminen@karelia.fi, +358 5040 91697

2

The project consists of five themes divided into modules:

1 Module 1: Defining competence requirements for new entrepreneurship.

4 Module 4: A model for conducting one’s thesis alongside with entrepreneurial activities.

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Module 2: A scalable competence-based model for entrepreneurial training.

3

Module 3: A model for entrepreneurship-based internships.

5 Module 5: Model for utilising microfinance and educational resources.

Networking and Communicating CrossCulturally over the Web In spring 2015, 42 international degree and exchange students of Karelia UAS took a five-credit course on Intercultural Communication. In addition to theoretical input, the students collaborated online with 16 students of UniversitĂŠ Jean Monnet (UJM). The task included gathering and sharing information on business and communication cultures in Finland, France and one non-EU country. The groups were asked to assume the role of intercultural consultants and prepare a 15-minute presentation for a nonEU company on the cultural aspects of the two European markets.

TEXT Kirsi-Marja Toivanen, Karelia UAS & Evelyne Downs, UniversitĂŠ Jean Monet

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irst, five multicultural groups were created each consisting of about twelve students in three smaller teams. The groups were made as diverse as possible in terms of nationality, language, gender, intercultural experiences, team roles and learning styles.

It was assumed that diversity would challenge the cooperation and communication between the members, but also help them avoid groupthink. Heterogeneous groups were also thought to be more creative because the individuals would bring in different perspectives, opinions, ideas and information (Phillips 2014). Although diversity has been shown to correlate with better performance, large-scale organisational studies have not been able to support the view that diversity is the cause for it. Yet, Phillips (2014) states that the causal relation has been suggested by some smaller-scope studies on teams. The purpose of the assignment was to simulate real-life situations where people from varying backgrounds work together for a common goal and

simultaneously develop communication and management skills necessary for international business.

First, the groups had to resolve some practical time management issues. Different academic calendars and daily schedules caused initial frustration within groups.

Although teachers had set certain parameters and criteria for the assignment, each group was allowed to decide when and how they would like to work. They also needed to choose the best online tools for their task management and group communication. The UJM students prepared videos to introduce themselves to their Karelia colleagues, while some Karelia students formed Facebook groups immediately when the assignment was introduced. The groups that relied mostly on email correspondence were the least satisfied, as responses were delayed and timetables had to be rearranged. Still, all groups were able to initiate communication and produce their first progress report on time for Milestone 1.

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Trust and the sense of togetherness are important prerequisites for group work and communication. On the other hand, effective communication can create trust and strengthen the members’ commitment to each other and the task at hand (Blomqvist 2002). It is generally assumed that trust develops more slowly in online communication.

Meyerson, Weick and Kramer (1996), however, state that short-term virtual teams often start with the assumption that the members are trustworthy. This initial swift trust exists already at the outset, but it is tested as the team progresses. In our experiment, some students had already worked together before and had some prior experiences in the trustworthiness of their teammates. Prejudiced opinions, suspicion or mistrust were not expressed in written reports or feedback, but they were quite noticeable during the consultation hours when the teams or individuals came to talk to the teachers. Among others, Jarvenpaa and Leidner (1999) and Heines (2014) have proposed that assumptions based on earlier experiences, categorization and stereotyping are more common online than in face-to-face interaction. It can be caused by the fact that network environments offer less tools to convey nonverbal, prosodic and paralinguistic social and emotional cues that would enable the members to create closer interpersonal relationships.

Although all groups in our case were able to work together and produce a joint presentation, some groups were quite clearly split into two camps, “we” and “they”. “They” did not seem refer to those who came from different national or ethnic backgrounds, but to those who the other members had not been able to meet face-to-face. When giving appraisal or expressing critique towards the group mates, the peers on the same site were considered more as individuals, while the distant members were rather regarded as a group.

Virtual teams and especially virtual student teams have been claimed to be very pragmatic and more task than relationship focused (Dubé and Robey 2009, Fransen et al. 2011 and Munkvold and Zigurs 2007). Such groups and teams try to minimize effort and often ignore conflicts and disagreements that do not directly relate to or affect the task. After the groups had been able to resolve the initial timetable conflicts, their collaboration looked quite smooth and effective. However, the final evaluation and feedback revealed that below the surface there were suppressed negative feelings and conflicts. For example, tasks had not been distributed evenly or some members had been either too passive or too dominant. However, the problems were mostly swept under the rug until the task was accomplished. Sometimes the students had not really

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worked together as a group. Yet, every group had enough students who were committed to the task and who made sure that the presentation was put together.

All five groups and we teachers were satisfied with the outcome, i.e. the live-streamed presentations. Some students even commented that they were very surprised how well their group performed. However, the students were less content with their group process and communication.

In hindsight, most of the groups said that they should have communicated synchronously and more regularly. Realtime interaction would have made the decision-making processes faster, more open and participative. There were very few comments on the lack of language or IT skills, which shows that in general students have the technical competence for online work. Still, their soft skills, such as interpersonal communication and intrapersonal knowledge, seem to require further development.

A similar, just slightly modified online assignment is currently being carried out by around 90 students from Karelia UAS and UJM. There is a plan to make the assignment an integral part of the IB curriculum.

REFERENCES Blomqvist K. 2002. Partnering in the Dynamic Environment: The Role of Trust in Asymmetric Technology Partnership Formation, Acta Universitatis Lappeenrantaensis 122.

Dubé, L., & Robey, D. 2009. Surviving the Paradoxes of Virtual Teamwork. Information Systems Journal, 19 (1), pp.

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A bright world.

How will you shape the world?

Study l Internationa Business in English!

10.-25.1.2017 JOINT APPLICATION, DEGREE PROGRAMMES IN ENGLISH Bachelor of Business Administration, Degree Programme in International Business The path to a great future is paved with skills and expertise.

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