Within the project Promotion and development of intercultural education in the initial training of teachers, implemented by C.E. PRO DIDACTICA, with the support of the Pestalozzi Foundation from Switzerland, continues the collaboration with the partner universities, among which is the “Alecu Russo” State University from Bălţi.

Thus, during the quarantine period, when the study process takes place online, until April 10, the EIC dimension was capitalized on the following disciplines:

• Communication culture, Cultural communication styles module, meet.google.com platform, for 65 students (59 girls and 6 boys), first year, Faculty of Letters, prof. Lilia TRINCA. The topics taught, including from an intercultural perspective, were: Communication, culture and language, Word communication vs. intercultural aspects, Another kind of communication vs. intercultural aspects. Also, Ms. TRINCA coordinates the drafting of 2 undergraduate theses with the topic: Intercultural competence in Romanian language classes and Contents in the Romanian language discipline vs development of intercultural approaches, including a master’s thesis: Communication: dimensions of intercultural education. The problems that arose along the way were related to the fact that working in a video conferencing system is extremely complicated with an impressive number of students (especially when it comes to laboratory hours).
• Leadership, Google classroom platform (classroom.google.com) and Privesc.eu, at the Faculties: Education Sciences, Psychology and Arts; Letters; Law and Social Sciences, to a number of 69 students (62 girls and 7 boys), prof. Aurelia BEŢIVU. Thus, on the topic Intercultural environment in the class of students, the content units were developed: Cultures in contact, Values ​​of intercultural education promoted in the class of students, Intercultural communication and mediation for conflict resolution, Profile of intercultural personality. The individual works carried out by the students on the dimension of EIC were: the composition of an abc of the values ​​of intercultural education; setting 7-8 basic rules in order to define a safe and civilized dialogue space; completing the graphic organizer to determine the constituent elements of intercultural competence; choosing a software tool to complete a quiz on this topic; making a product (postcard, banner, commercial, leaflet, business card, video, etc.), through which intercultural values ​​are promoted. Ms. BEȚIVU considers that the visible successes aimed at the full integration of students in the proposed activities, the increased interest of students in the topics addressed, the opportunity to constructively confront the opinions of students of various ethnicities, but also creative and original products. Among the problems that arose, there were deficiencies in virtual communication, which slightly eroded the emotional load of the subjects and the impossibility of performing tasks initially designed, due to the remote connection.
• Inclusive education, online platform classroom.google.com, at the same 3 faculties mentioned above, with a similar number of students, Prof. Veronica RUSOV. Topic taught – Awareness and acceptance of diversity, with topics – Majority-minority relationship. Exclusion and equality, Acceptance of diversity at the classroom / school level and Awareness and involvement of the community in promoting diversity. The individual work done by students on the EIC dimension included a list of causes of educational exclusion of different categories of students, another list of needs and barriers of excluded children, but also a set of arguments for: meeting the educational needs of all community members; for adapting the personality to the conditions of life and its integration in society; in order to prevent and combat exclusion and / or marginalization in education and to focus the education process on the child / student, for the approach based on the child’s interests, the development of self-respect, tolerance and acceptance, etc. The teacher identified the following successes: the replacement of planned group learning activities with the “question” task on the Classroom platform, which allowed the mutual analysis of students’ opinions on various aspects of intercultural education. The students not only clearly expressed their attitude, but also contributed with completions, clarification questions for colleagues. Finally, in the context of the quarantine situation, it was necessary to adapt the tasks in the “Methodological guide and course support for Intercultural Education for future teachers” to the specifics of distance learning through the Classroom platform.
• Ethics and professional culture, online platform Facebook Grup private live + Screenshare option, for 27 students (21 girls and 6 boys) from the Faculties: Educational Sciences, Psychology and Arts; Real, Economic and Environmental Sciences, prof. Eugenia FOCA. La tema Codul de etică al cadrului didactic din perspectiva respectării diversității culturale s-au abordat criteriile deontologice în raport cu instrucția, educația și relația „profesor-elev”, profesor-colegi”, „profesor-părinţi”, reflectate în Codul de etică al cadrului didactic din diferite țări. În acest sens, la ora de curs transmisă live și distribuită pe Facebook Grup privat live + opțiunea Screenshare https://www.facebook.com/groups/209861770104431/?epa=SEARCH_BOX, s-a reușit parcurgerea analitică a PPT-ul tematic și a fragmentelor rezumative relevante din prevederile legale promovate de Codurile de etică din Republica Moldova și alte țări în domeniul educației interculturale (în baza documentelor afișate/enunțate). La tema Argumente de natură interculturală pentru o etică şi o deontologie a profesiei didactice, studenții au adus dovezi pentru edificarea unei viziuni etice asupra procesului de predare-învăţare-evaluare, prin identificarea argumentelor de natură interculturală. Studenții au reușit să realizeze și câteva sondaje on-line privind educația interculturală, aplicate cu instrumentele de învățare ale paginii de Facebook. În rezultatul analizei sarcinilor aplicative pe dimensiunea EIC, profesoara și studenții au ajuns la cоncluzia că diversitatea culturală a modelelor cadrelor didactice, barierele interculturale (de a fi și de a acționa), dar şi nevоia de interacţiune au cоnfirmat necesitatea dezvоltării cоntinue a cоmpetenţei interculturale. Studenții s-au cоnfruntat cu o problemă datоrită diferenţelоr lingvistice (au fost 8 vorbitori de limba rusă), aceasta le-a influenţat implicarea deplină în timpul discuțiilor, fiind nevoie de traducere simultană. 

Notes: Tatiana Șova and Viorica Goraș-Postică