Never I would have thought to become a teacher! And life taught me better!!! In fact, I spent most of my life teaching and finally I am specialized.

professional positions

During and after my studies I worked (mostly as a teacher) helping me to get up my budget. Some little jobs were: offset printing, serving in a restaurant, teaching English to adults, German to kids and filling in statistics.

teaching and learning competences

research skills

The main research skills I applied were in relation to the field work in Niger for my final paper. Since I am a friend of understanding, I like to see behind the numbers. Therefore I used the following methods very effectively:

working in relation to RRA-methods
RRA – Rapid Rural Appraisal – is a method used in development contexts to collect the most important information for a given subject in a given time and budget. Principal research areas are given in advance, but the main topics can only be determined once in the field working with the residents of the research area.
RRA is a participatory approach, which aims to understand complexity, diversity and interdependency. The method allows you to rapidly recognize a problem and its context. The understanding of this context is crucial to resolve problems, but usually underestimated.
RRA is not a standardized method and therefore very flexible. It is a systematic approach to problems, enabling the researchers and often also the local population to identify opportunities for improvement. The interviews can get very complex and crucial questions can eventually be asked as the interview advances. RRA does not try to reproduce statistical information, but tries to acces essential facts by the means of triangulisation.

applying the system of “optimal ignorance”
The principale of “optimal ignorance” imposes researchers to simply ignore certain information. This permits cutting costs, while getting essential information in a given time. The system of “optimal ignorance” demands that only strong information is treated, reducing the amount and detail of information to a minimum in a limited time span. To be efficient the method is based on a multidisciplinary approach, trying not to exceed the data concerning the research topics and not to bother with unnecessary details. Sometimes this is difficult, when the collaboration between the local residents and the research team is so well that the team gathers more information than essentially necessary.

developing, applying and analyzing of semi-structured interviews
Semi-structured interviews are a possibility to set up a two-way communication, due to its quite open framework. Information can path both ways. In semi-structured interviews questions are not explicitly formulated in advance, but only a certain pattern is established to guide the conversation. The possible relationship between two people allows the interviewer to get to essential questions without an intense preparation ahead of time. Related topics can rise up during the discussion and more specific questions don’t need to be prepared in advance. Sometimes this allows deeper details that you would not even touch otherwise. Answers are suddenly within a context and their reasons allow you to understand the whole rather than just isolated parts.
The tool opens up the possibility to obtain specific information (qualitative and quantative) and general information on specific topics. The contact to new people is more easily established and hence the confidence necessary to talk about subtile details. Due to the large number of information exchanged during the interview, it is very important to immediately elaborate on the notes after the interview.

developing, applying and analyzing of qualitative interviews
The qualitative interview aims to understand the point of view of the subject and hence to see beyond the surface. The qualitative interview gives a framework to the subject to describe and explain their point of view about a topic, including facts, ideas, perceptions as well as emotions. Often open-ended qualitative interviews are combined with more structured interviews. They are often used to set up quantative interviews, their categories and questions. They may be used after standard interviews to develop a subject and to get more detailed information about the interactions of different topics. The emotional statements can be used to underline special points making subjects easier to understand than simple quantivications.
Qualitative interviews are often used in evolving programs, where the point of view of the participants has its importance. The individual differences can help to explain certain behavior and can help to capture multiple processes in the program.

developing, applying and analyzing of questionnaires
Questionnaires enable the interviewer to always stay with the same right question. Their meaning will never change, ensuring that everyone will be answering the questions in the same order, aiming to establish a similar context for each person. Questionnaires are prepared in advance and the answers are often multiple choice. The researcher’s personal opinion will not influence the respondant.They are easy to evaluate and with an increasing number of research questions they get more and more cost effective. This kind of information collecting is especially adapted when searching for factual information.

editorial activities

During my studies I had the possibility to write two articles in German for the “Journée de l’Europe” – “Day of Europe” – 4th of may 1993, in a special edtion of the University of Fribourg called “Universitas Fribourgensis”, under the theme: «L’ouverture de l’Europe sur une société sans barrière : La cohabitation harmonieuse des nations et des régions »
(Opening up of Europe for a society without boundaries : A harmonious cohabitation of nations and regions.)