MTA: An online platform for cross-border student collaboration and learning

Innovative project idea

How do mountain regions respond to climate change or out-migration? Such questions guide a transnational research seminar at the Department of Geography at UZH and Tbilisi State University starting in 2022. This project aims to integrate a novel smartphone app into the course to facilitate cross-country student collaboration and students' fieldwork projects in Georgia and Switzerland. MountainTogetherApp (MTA - Georgian for “mountain”) enables student interaction by allowing them to engage with each other's research outputs and collaborate on public blog entries showcasing their work.

Benefit for students and teaching

MTA provides a creative connection between students and lecturers by linking innovation in digital qualitative research with teaching. It enables students to gain hands-on skills by applying different methods and engaging with each other's outputs from go-along interviews, researcher-generated photos, and other collaborative efforts (e.g., field diary and public blog entries). MTA will break down barriers by offering students an interactive way to cooperate with their foreign peers. This setting assists students in improving transferable skills such as intercultural and science communication.