Academic Communication or Why Pokemon Go is Sport

A videoconference with students from the California University of Pennsylvania has been held as part of the English minor ‘Language and Communication’.

The event was organized by Tatyana Permyakova, Professor at the School of Foreign Languages, and Sean Madden, Professor at the California University of Pennsylvania, who delivered a continuing education course for lecturers at HSE Perm in 2013. Prof Madden suggested that students on his in ‘The Evolution of Globalization’ and ‘World History’ courses discuss academic communication from the point of view of internationalizing education.

The videoconference was held in a Q&A format: the participants discussed how lecturers and students communicate with each other, how much time students spend on their studies, what students do in their free time, the extent to which their education correlates with their future job prospects, the three words that best describe the idea of Russia and the United States, and topical issues among the general public in Russia and America.

The discussion was dynamic. Despite some typical and common responses (‘Think about it. We have the Internet in Russia and we have access to different information sources’), the participants noted a difference in the perception of education in different countries. For example, answering the question ‘Do American students choose a healthy lifestyle?’ one student proved that catching pokemons is actually a sport, because you have to force yourself to get up off the couch and move about a lot.

Anastasia Polovnikova, economics student, shared her impressions of the event: ‘The videoconference gave us a unique opportunity to overcome the considerable distance between us, and to discuss topics relevant to both sides. Communication with international students is a very valuable experience for us, because no one else is better placed to discuss the culture, life, interests, and challenges of a country better than its residents. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to interact with people from another part of the world, and I hope that there will be more conferences of this type’.