ACHIEVEMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES OF EXTRACURRICULAR (ONLINE) WORK IN THE MULTICULTURAL STUDENT COMMUNITY
Ivana Đorđev
Preschool Teacher Training College “Mihailo Palov”, Vršac,
Republic of Serbia
Ljiljana Kelemen Milojević
Preschool Teacher Training College “Mihailo Palov”, Vršac,
Republic of Serbia
Abstract
This paper first presents the achievements of the Language Club of the Preschool Teacher Training College “Mihailo Palov”, Vršac, Republic of Serbia, which celebrated the tenth anniversary of its existence in 2021. This organisation, under the mentorship of professors of the college and in cooperation with other institutions and associations, supports children and future educators of different nationalities (Serbs, Romanians and Roma) via extracurricular and volunteer work in various programmes, such as plays for children and inclusive workshops. The Club aims to improve the necessary skills for successful communication in the multicultural Vojvodina environment, and to respect and nurture people’s mother tongues (Serbian / Romanian / Roma), as well as their cultures of speech and dialogue, to develop the skills of reflective practitioners, to encourage creativity, and to promote continuous personal and professional development and life-long learning. Special attention is paid to the description of the ways in which the Club operated during the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of the Covid-19 virus which, unfortunately, still has a strong effect on all aspects of life and work. The multidimensional environment of learning, education and socialising, which undoubtedly affects the achievement of the Club’s goals, particularly with regard to strengthening communicative competencies, was replaced by a virtual environment during the pandemic. Accordingly, this paper presents the results of research that was undertaken in order to identify and evaluate achievements, to identify the challenges that members of the Club encountered in online work during the pandemic period, to compare activities and the implementation thereof, and to outline possible perspectives and amendments to further extracurricular activities. The anonymous online questionnaire was completed by all the active members of the Club, their mentors, others involved in the implementation of activities, and alumni. A descriptive and analytical method with simple statistical processing was used. The preliminary results showed that there was a significant difference in the number of activities in the periods before and during the pandemic. During the pandemic, the Club’s activities in the traditional form were minimal but, although they were reduced, the respondents valued the activities that were realised in a virtual context (such as the design of video materials, audio dramas for children and the use of mobile applications for the exchange of materials) highly. Amongst other things, the respondents, pointed out that their digital competency had improved significantly due to online work, as had the organisation of the work itself due to the speed and comfort of the transfer of information. Concluding remarks based on the research results indicated it is certain that the traditional form of work will be combined with online work in the future. At the centre of this approach is the belief that the path to progress is only possible if there is no polarisation between the traditional and the modern, and that intensive communication with tradition is needed. Creative dialogue between the traditional form of work and the virtual form should be seen as a developmental continuity; in this regard, e-learning and online activities can be used to construct and create post-epidemic intercultural education.
Keywords: Multicultural student community; Extracurricular activities; Traditional and online forms of work; Achievements, challenges and perspectives; Developmental continuity.
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How to cite this paper: Đorđev, I., & Kelemen Milojević, L. (2022). Achievements, challenges and perspectives of extracurricular (online) work in the multicultural student community. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 15(1), 7–24. https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2022.15.1.1
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