Collaborative learning in international teams on Technologies to Reduce the Access Barrier in Human Computer Interaction (TrabHCI) Erasmus Intensive Programme

Abstract

Nowadays, international collaboration and teamwork are fundamental skills in modern project development. Therefore, it is important to prepare university students to handle this working approach and to have this mindset. However, these skills are neglected in the curricula of most universities. The aim of the Erasmus Intensive Programme TrabHCI (Technologies to Reduce the Access Barrier in Human Computer Interaction) is to train international computer science and engineering students in team skills and in human computer interaction technologies. As a motivation, technological challenges for disabled people were presented to the students, followed by a series of lectures on novel human computer interaction technologies including gesture, speech and handwriting recognition as well as language understanding. Instead of conventional ex-cathedral teaching, a learning-by-doing approach was used in teaching. This paper describes our experience along many years in the Erasmus Intensive Programmes and, more specifically, in our last Erasmus IP project.