Online Learning Environments as Spaces for Inter-Institutional Dialogue and Interaction: A Best Practice between University Students and Second Chance School Learners

Abstract

This article presents a best practice implemented in an online course during the winter semester of the 2020–2021 academic year at the School of Early Childhood Education (TEPAE) in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. As part of the course Education and Lifelong Learning, available online communication and collaboration tools were utilized to foster connection and interaction between university students enrolled in the course and four adult learners from the Second Chance School (SDE) of Chania, Crete. The screening of a documentary in the undergraduate course—featuring the motivations and experiences of four female learners attending the SDE—served as a trigger for initiating a meaningful exchange of thoughts and emotions between the learners of the two educational institutions. The primary experiences of the SDE learners depicted in the video, and the secondary experience of the university students watching it, led to written communication and interaction between the two groups, that cultivated mutual understanding and critical reflection. The data, analyzed through thematic analysis, were drawn from the e-learning platform used by TEPAE and the written texts sent by the four SDE learners to the university students. Findings show that well-designed online learning environments can foster emotional engagement, empathy, critical reflection, and meaningful learner interaction within higher education learning communities as well as beyond institutional boundaries.