1. Premises

The EU member states, aiming to achieve a mutual recognition of academic grades and titles, have constructed a standardizing framework, in which we do not only find administrative changes, but also shifts in the field of teaching methods. Those shifts affect the way of teaching and learning as well as the basic rules (models) that underlie it. For instance, learners become responsible for their own learning process, which is supposed to be a lifelong one, the contents taught should be closely related to the later professional environment, and learners must be enabled to achieve autonomous learning and self-assessment. The above-mentioned transformation coincides with another one: the impact of the new technologies and globalization and internationalization going hand in hand. Society is now expecting the University to respond to those challenges. And it is just these new technologies that can help to adapt to a new pedagogy of open learning, where every learner can achieve the skills necessary for his or her profession in a time and a way that suits him. Not only is teaching methodology changing, but also the roles, or even better, the functions of instructor and learner. As learners become the central agent of the learning process, they have to decide the content, the way and the sequence of it. Instructors are relegated to a role in the background, although they maintain their importance as tutors who guide the learners to the sources of factual knowledge, to the acquisition of processual knowledge, to the tools and strategies of autonomous learning, and who develop continuous assessment. In addition, learners shall mainly acquire learning strategies that help them to cope with problems outside the classroom, to work with others in a collaborative way and to construct knowledge together with them.

The introduction of electronic means of communication into the teaching-learning process has conferred special importance on virtual environments as pedagogy advances. The possibilities of these tools have not yet been sufficiently explored. The first reason is the lack of knowledge among instructors about how to merge their methodology with electronic tools. Pedagogy of translation is still quite neglected. There has been no significant change since Király declared more than ten years ago that "there has also apparently been no attempt to apply general pedagogical principles to translation teaching. There has been little or no consideration of learning environment, learner-instructor roles, scope and appropriateness of teaching techniques, coordination of goal-oriented curricula, or evaluation of curriculum and instructor". Quality of teaching lies not only in the simple use of e-mail, the Internet and intranets. The novelty of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) often leads its erroneous use such as, for example, offering traditional learning material online, so that only the medium changes. But there is a need to adapt this material to the new environment in order to exploit all the advantages of technology. In addition, new interaction strategies should be developed and trained with instructors and learners. In fact, most instructors first need training in ICT and the didactic shifts that it brings about. Of course, an additional effort is needed to bring about this change successfully. Also, efficient use of the new technologies frequently implies investing more time in class preparation and a conscious planning of communication processes through different means and channels.

Nevertheless, at University the virtual platform, and especially some of its tools, are underused in the area of Translation and Interpreting, as it could be observed after talking with colleagues, who do not know how to apply and exploit this platform adequately for their subjects. Mainly it is about the application of a teaching methodology that is common to all translation subjects and pursues the objectives of certain skills or (sub)competencies that learners should acquire in order to translate in a professional manner. In this context, ICT has great advantages such as the possibility for planning activities for asynchronous working and without depending on a specific location. Learners and instructors can work and communicate wherever they are. This way, face-to-face teaching can be combined with distance or open learning to become mixed learning. Another point is the possibility to adjust the teaching/learning process to the individual needs of each learner. Because now it is the learners who are responsible for what they learn, it is easier for them to control it and produce the results and the data in which they are interested. They become the active constructors of their knowledge. Applied to translation training, we previously have to render the knowledge, (sub)competencies and skills we are talking about with greater precision, to be able to decide afterwards how to use a virtual learning environment (VLE) as a support for teaching and learning.