Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in SPORTS ETHICS AND INTEGRITY - MAISI, focused on the development of ethical sports cultures and structures, and the development of tools for sports integrity education and compliance. MAiSI is delivered by KULeuven University, Swansea University, Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, University of Peloponnese and Univerzita Karlova.
Author: Prashant Kumar Burle, EMJMD EMLE alumni and EMJMD MAISI student. See contributors page
Being one of the very few second time EMJMD Students that exist in the world, I can safely say that I have had the Erasmus Mundus experience, both pre-covid and during covid times. There is no doubt that covid has heavily affected, or if I may say, spoiled the Erasmus Mundus experience. But at the same time, thanks to the technology and innovative techniques employed by the professors and universities to combat the unique circumstances, a different form of EMJMD experience has been created for us.
In my case, we did have about 2 months of regular classes, albeit with masks and never with 100% class strength (thanks to travel restrictions, covid protocols, quarantine requirements etc.). However, after the said first weeks, the entire masters, till the 3rd semester was online for us. As against my experience during EMLE (my first EMJMD), during MAISI, we were forced to not only attend the classes online, but also the presentations and evaluations were done online. While it was surely a missed opportunity to work in person with the true international atmosphere offered by EMJMD, the online opportunities came with their own benefits, like flexibility, ease of access, easy online collaboration etc. More so, most professors also modified the rote lectures and examinations into creative and productive evaluation methods like online open-book exams, kahoot and other such fun yet involving activities. One of the biggest advantages of online learning is saving time (of commuting, organizing etc.), which though, does not offset the associated disadvantages like disinterest due to absence of human interaction, lack of monitoring capabilities, leading to wrong or misuse of the freedom granted by online learning. These issues can be observed more with increase in the period of online learning, and thus it becomes the task of the professors to keep the classes exciting and of interest.