A Community of Practice for Interpreting: the missing link

COVID19 brought its own online teaching challenges. But that was the easy part. Wait until you hear about the summative assessment challenges! Here is how we did it. That could perhaps help you with your own online final exam approach. Traditionally, assessing conference interpreting is done in so many ways, but always face to face. Some universities assess their students as they interpret live speeches whilst others prefer their students to use recorded speeches. Some universities organise a final panel to assess candidates, others assess recorded exams. This post is not about the format of interpreting exams, but rather about the approach to online exams at a time of crisis. At London Metropolitan University, the format of our interpreting exams is as follows: each module is individually assessed. It could combine one or more of the following formats: practical interpreting exams (consecutive and simultaneous), presentations, essays, and portfolios of practice.  I would like to focus

For our interpreting students on the MA Conference Interpreting at  London Metropolitan University it is our second week of online teaching. We actually went online even before the University suggested we should. This was a collaborative decision made with students and staff together during a Zoom consultation meeting. Our students come from many countries including Italy, Spain, China and Japan where their families were already in quarantine or isolation. They were worried and did not feel comfortable to travel to University. We then collectively decided that teaching would adapt to integrate the students' concerns. MA Conference Interpreting students and tutors closing a mock conference online. We are proud to say that we have not missed a single class since the Coronavirus crisis.  From our mock conferences, to language specific interpreting tutorials, workshops and interpreting practice, we have delivered all our classes.  We, the tutors and students have been