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VIDEOBASED PEER PRACTICE AMONG LANGUAGE TEACHERS
The project Erasmus+ project “Videobased Peer Practice among Language Teachers”
(V-Pal) initiated 2019-20 a digital platform that aimed to strengthen digital profession-
al sparring between language teachers, including during shutdowns. The idea has been
for language teachers to upload short videos on the portal, describing in a brief and
precise form examples of practical teaching methodologies and materials that are
transferable to other language colleagues.
In practice, this has been done by each teacher carefully reflecting on what he/she
wants to convey. A storyboard was then prepared, allowing teachers to follow a com-
mon and uniform template for the video. The template includes a section describing
the target group of learners and a section where the teacher facilitates the methodol-
ogy to a group of learners. In addition, there are attention points in relation to the
23
concrete application .
One of the key conclusions from the project is precisely that V-Pal does not need to
limit itself to language teaching. The methodology can certainly be applied to other
types of adult education - as well as teaching contexts including children and youth.

In summary, it can be stated that digital teaching and learning methods and tools can
be used in a purely instrumental way, complementing the traditional methods with
online-based exercises only. But digital teaching and learning methodologies can also
open doors to new educational settings, where the digital technologies help to define
the pedagogical-didactic approach itself. The latter approach is at the heart of digital
pedagogy.

4.6.2 TRANSVERSAL COMPETENCES TO SUPPORT DIGITAL EDUCATIONAL
SETTINGS
Differentiating teaching is a pedagogical-didactic approach which is also relevant for
digital teaching. Differentiation may even be easier in digital teaching, where the
teacher has the opportunity to switch between individual instructions and group in-
structions, etc. Generally, various types of differentiation and collaborative learning
processes are used in adult training and likewise relevant for digital education, for in-
stance:

 In participant and group differentiation, the learners work in level-divided groups,
thus to ensure all learners to be involved in the task solving process. The whole
team thereby contributes visibly and successfully to the solution of the joint team
task.

 In depth differentiation, the learners in a team are given level-divided tasks of
different degrees of difficulty, thus to make learners at the highest level of compe-

23 Cf Petersen Anne Charlotte (2021): ”Film yourself and strengthen your teaching”. A review in “Digital
opportunities in Erasmus+”, op.cit. The project was based on the Peer Practice methodology, as devel-
oped by Nicolai Seest, see the English version: Petersen, Seest, Cone and Heesen: “V-Pal. Videobased
Peer Learning among Language Teachers”.