INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING: THE CASE OF THE EUROPEAN PROJECT QUILL

In our day and age, collaborative work is of the utmost importance for the development of research projects as well as the establishment of solid networks in a myriad of knowledge areas. It was in this context that the European project QuILL – Quality in Language Learning – saw its first light. Written and coordinated by Pixel-Italy in cooperation with the project applicant and scientific coordinator, the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal), it is funded by the Erasmus+ programme, KA2 – Strategic Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness. The partner institutions in the project are as follows: Vilnius University, Faculty of Philology, (Lithuania); Cuza University of Iaşi, Department of Language Learning, (Romania); University of Bologna (Italy); Károli Gáspár University (Hungary); and Universidad de Cordoba (Spain). The first intellectual output (IO) of our international project was achieved, that is the collection of online open educational resources, which enabled us already to put an open-access database together in 18 European languages. This IO followed a collaborative approach, through the interaction among the partners, but also through their multilingual and multicultural teams that oversaw the assessment and validation of these resources by means of case studies, the analysis of the type of resources, the methods suggested, and their application in real learning-teaching contexts. Guided by the same collaboration input, the second IO for QuILL consists in the creation an on-line training package for the identification, use and creation of digital based language teaching and learning sources for teaching languages at higher education level. Regarding the third IO, we intend to publish a document that seeks to highlight and analyse the technological potential for language learning in European higher education systems. Our aim with this paper is not only to reflect on the outputs already achieved or under development and their added value for an increasingly technological education, but also on the strengths and shortcomings of international collaboration, of which QuILL will be a case in point.


INTRODUCTION
In recent decades, collaborative work has undoubtedly become a new buzzword in the business world. Technological advances also fostered this approach, linking people and companies in a faster and increasingly more productive way. The academic world has also accompanied the pace of technological progress adopting new and more innovative methodologies in the workspace and learning context. However, the desire by leaders or "change leaders" of "seeking ways to make organizations more effective, adaptive and relevant" (p. 1), as Beyerlein et al. [1] put it, is not enough as collaborative work systems need to be sustained by "intentional efforts to create structures, cultures, forum, and practices that reinforce collaboration" [1].
Employees of a company/institution, or of any work team, must feel their contribution to the work developed is important and, therefore, they must be given the right tools to work and to learn, feeling valued and integrated in their workspace or team. Every person is singular and knowing how to tackle possible misunderstandings and deal with different personalities is key to the success of work of a project. According to David and Mary Sherwin [2]: "Great teams aren't built person by person. They're built behavior by behavior. Leaders know that the improved teamwork -and the behaviors that surround it -is a critical factor in employee engagement, retention, inclusion and empowerment." (p. 1). In fact, leadership represents another paramount aspect to success. Without good leadership team members will not feel guided and supported. In our viewpoint, a good leader should be not only a good listener, a promoter of dialogue and cooperative, but also assertive and clear. Additionally, as people are distinctive and behave or react differently, good diplomatic skills also reveal crucial to avoid misunderstandings or hurt someone's feelings. In this regard, Lorraine Walsh [3] contends that collaborative working in higher education is essentially social in nature as it requires energy, commitment, human and financial resources, enthusiasm and "a good dollop of sheer doggedness to see them through to a successful conclusion." (p. 3) In the higher education (HE) context, collaborative work has been increasingly strategic to the plans of a HE institution for its scientific and financial improvement. Expanding at both national and international levels will mean higher success prospects. Seeking international consortia meets the demands of a highly complex networked 21 st century society, where constant and immediate connection and cooperation imposes new patterns of working, forcing thus HE institutions to engage "in collaborative working and partnerships in a variety of arenas." (p. 3) [3]. The gains of these partnerships can be immense. If one takes the example of the projects within the Erasmus+ programme, institutions profit financially from integrating consortia [3]. However, at the educational level, collaborative and cooperative work extends "the possibilities for research, opening up new avenues for learning and furthering a multiplicity of aims within the academy." (p. 5) as Lorraine Walsh argues.
In this framework, QuILL project was submitted to the call "Strategic Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness" in 2020 and was approved in February 2021, with a 24-month duration. Apart from the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), the partner institutions in the project are Vilnius University, Faculty of Philology, (Lithuania); Cuza University of Iaşi, Department of Language Learning, (Romania); University of Bologna (Italy); Károli Gáspár University (Hungary), Universidad de Cordoba (Spain), and Pixel (Italy). The latter is also co-coordinating the project together with the IPB that is responsible for supervising the scientific output of QuILL. Most of the partner members are higher education language lecturers.
As its name anticipates -Quality in language learning -QuILL's main goals are to provide language lecturers, focusing mainly on languages for specific purposes (LSP), with the skills to identify, assess and create digital and ICT-based language teaching resources. All IO meet this very specific first objective. In addition, the project partners also aim to enhance the implementation of digital and ICTbased language teaching resources and methods in the European HE systems by providing decision makers and policy makers with the information and skills to facilitate the accomplishment of this goal. Being language skills of the utmost importance in 21 st century society [4], it is therefore urgent to tackle language proficiency difficulties across the European Union. That is why this project put forward the idea of associating technology-enhanced tools and resources with the teaching and learning process in languages for specific purposes. Both lecturers in LSP and language students will be able to enhance their digital literacy and improve their language teaching for LSP. Students can learn LSP in a more autonomous way.

METHODOLOGY
This article proposes a descriptive and reflective study on the importance of collaborative work in the context of Erasmus+ projects developed by European partner universities. Using QuILL as a paradigmatic example of such work system, we shall explain the procedures of teamwork management and problem resolution, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses associated with it. As scientific coordinating institution of the project, we are responsible for making sure all the partners discuss and reach concerted positions in a relaxing, positive, and cooperative environment. Additionally, we need to verify if all partners comply with deadlines and content regarding previously discussed and assorted tasks. We shall now describe the intellectual outputs (IO) designed and how we succeeded in carrying out and managing the work regarding the first and second IO, which are now concluded or in the process of completion, namely IO2.

Intellectual outputs organisation and management
QuILL underlies three IO. The first one, the construction of a database of online language teaching resources for language teaching and learning of 18 European languages, was carried out from March 2021 until October 2021. This IO consisted in the collection of 360 digital open educational resources for LSP. Each partner was responsible for collecting and assessing 60 resources for 3 assigned languages, 20 per language (Fig. 1). The partners also had to create a workgroup of 10 lecturers who applied these resources in real teaching scenarios, thus providing a real-life context and feedback. This experience was then described in the case study area of the IO1 template (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) discussed and agreed by all the partners.  Despite the advantageous and exciting features of the first IO, it was also demanding and somewhat daring. It was difficult to find OER resources related the less spoken languages for specific purposes. Due to these constraints, the consortia decided to select resources for more general purposes or for languages taught as foreign languages. The whole discussion was done in online meetings and also in the first in-person transnational meeting in early October 2021, in Cordoba. Everyone addressed this and other issues, related for example to the improvement of the IO1 template, in a cooperative way as different positions were discussed, and a final decision was reached among all the partner members.
About the deadlines, everyone complied with the established time limits, even though there has always been flexibility in managing some justified delays. What is important is to make sure all partners are communicating effectively, and they all understand their tasks and are aware of their responsibilities.
The same procedure was followed as regards IO2 -the online training package for the identification, use and creation of digital and ICT-based language teaching resources for teaching LSP at higher education level. This time, the partners worked in pairs, each overseeing one of the three modules composing the training package. It covered the period of October 2021 and May 31, 2022. The partners all agreed on following a set template (Fig. 4) and on pre-defined contents to be addressed and developed in each module. Coordination of work consisted mainly of reminding them of deadlines and clearing out doubts that arose while carrying out the work. This was done via email or online meetings. IO3 -Publication on the Implementation of Digital and ICT based Language Learning Opportunities in the Higher Education Systems -will be the last product to be developed from July 2022 to February 2023. Because of that, we are only able to show results of IO1 and IO2.

RESULTS
All the work done so far has been uploaded to the QuILL portal (Fig. 5). Anyone can register and become a user of the portal where it is already possible to find the database of more than 360 digital teaching and learning resources and other useful information related to the project.

Intellectual output 1: database of open educational resources for languages for specific purposes
The OER resources database for LSP is now available and the resources can be selected bearing in mind the target group, the target language, the language of instruction and the CEFR level, demonstrated in Fig. 6. As abovementioned, it was somehow difficult to find OER resources for LSP concerning the less spoken languages, such as Swedish, Norwegian or the Baltic languages Latvian or Lithuanian, only to name some examples. In some cases, the partners struggled to find the 20 resources due to this constraint. However, the problem was overcome by including resources for languages as a foreign language, being the CERF levels addressed mainly A1 or A2.
Nonetheless, the results are outstanding as the database provides both the language lecturers and students with a wide array of resources for specific purposes that will assist them in the learning and teaching process. Language lecturers have available a countless number of resources already validated by language experts, being also given some useful guidelines on how to use the resource, as Fig. 7 illustrates. The description summarises briefly the content of the resource, referring to its overall display and usage. The case study is a clearly pedagogical approach, through which the lecture can perceive how the resource was really implemented, how it was received by students, and which were the main results. The guidelines provide an idea of how this resource can be used, whether inside or outside classroom, presenting a clear didactical proposal which lecturers can replicate in a similar context.

Intellectual output 2: e-learning based training package
The contents of the e-learning based training package are structured in 3 modules: 1 IDENTIFICATION of quality digital based OER language teaching sources 2 USE of quality digital based language teaching sources as an integration or alternative to classroom teaching approaches 3 CREATION of quality digital based language teaching sources Each module must display 2 operative tools/check lists, 2 case studies and an interactive selfassessment test composed of 15 multiple choice questions and to be taken by the trainee at the end of each module. The aim of this IO is precisely to guide language lectures in innovating their language teaching methodologies through the effective use of quality digital-based OER teaching resources.
The modules and the digital resources and tools presented in each were also tested by language lecturers. The case studies demonstrate the usefulness of the information provided and of the operative tools in guiding them to identify, use or create digital materials, such as apps.
The following testimony of a lecturer who tested module 3 is representative of the efficacy and practicality of the modules: "It shows a panoply of tools that might be used for different purposes and with different levels of expertise. It was also good to get to know about tools I didn't know of and that can give another input to classes". Lecturers tested the resource they created and the over 80 students who tested it all felt interested and motivated to carry out the activities suggested.
This e-training package will be tested in a training activity to be held on 18-22 July at IPB. The main purpose is to follow the different goals of the modules step by step, namely to follow guidelines for identifying sound language sources towards identification of the quality digital based OER language teaching sources. These sources shall then be used effectively in order to incorporate them in the several teaching approaches. The creation of the sources is an issue on its own, since many lecturers have an interest in doing so, but lack the necessary skills to proceed with this time consuming, but rather challenging task.

CONCLUSIONS
The Erasmus+ projects underlie the core idea of collaboration and cooperation. Higher education institutions have a lot to gain from the establishment of these consortia stemming from these types of projects. Not only do the partners get familiar with different university contexts, but also consolidate social and cultural links between the different people that integrate the projects.
QuILL project is no exception. Aware of the responsibilities such projects entail, and of the difficulties of managing different contexts and diverse people, the coordinating partners must facilitate communication and create a pleasant, relaxing atmosphere, making sure all tasks are discussed in a democratic way and clearing out all doubts that may still persist.
So far, there is a very cooperative attitude among all partners, and the expected outcomes are in line with deadlines and the quality expected for the different IO.