Implementation of Virtual Exchange: Lessons from EVOLVE and Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange
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This document summarizes a presentation on virtual exchange programs and lessons learned. It discusses what virtual exchange is, how students define it, its aims to promote intercultural understanding and skills. Specific programs like Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange and EVOLVE are introduced that provide online training and support for educators implementing virtual exchanges. Student and teacher experiences from virtual exchange projects between universities in France and Spain are positive in developing skills like intercultural competence and collaboration. The presenters aim to continue and expand such virtual exchange projects in the future.
Implementation of Virtual Exchange: Lessons from EVOLVE and Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange
- 1. SETTING THE STAGE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF VIRTUAL EXCHANGE: LESSONS FROM EVOLVE AND ERASMUS+ VIRTUAL EXCHANGE SAKE JAGER, University of Groningen, Netherlands MIRJAM HAUCK, The Open University, United Kingdom THIERRY VILLARD, Université de Bordeaux, France Welcome to session S6.13 Room 208, 26 September, 11:30-12:30
- 2. What is Virtual Exchange? “Technology-enabled people-to-people dialogues sustained over a period of time”. ● Use of new media platforms to enable deep, interactive social learning ● Developed over 30 years from experience in the field of educational exchange and study abroad ● Making it possible for every young person to have meaningful, transnational and intercultural experiences. ● Prepares, deepens, and extends physical exchanges, and fuels new demand for physical exchange. 2
- 3. How students define Virtual Exchange
- 4. Aims of virtual exchange ● To allow an increasing number of people to have a meaningful intercultural experience as part of their formal and/or non-formal education ● To increase mutual understanding, global citizenship, and digital literacies in courses across the curriculum ● To develop employability skills such as digital competence (the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively online), foreign language and communication skills, media literacy, the ability to work in a diverse cultural context and team work
- 5. Virtual Exchange is not ... ● MOOCs ● Virtual mobility ● Distance learning courses ● Informal social media interactions ● Unmoderated, unsustained, unstructured communication
- 7. Specific objectives ● encouraging intercultural dialogue and increasing tolerance; ● promoting various types of virtual exchanges as a complement to Erasmus+ physical mobility, allowing more young people to benefit from intercultural and international experience; ● enhancing critical thinking and media literacy, to develop resistance to discrimination and indoctrination; ● fostering the soft skills development of students, young people and youth workers; ● supporting the objectives of the 2016 Paris declaration to promote citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education; ● strengthening the youth dimension of the EU neighbouring policy with South Mediterranean countries.
- 8. Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange Consortium This flagship programme is established under a contract with the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, financed by the European Union’s budget, and it is implemented by a consortium composed of:
- 9. Geographical area to be covered Erasmus+ programme countries South Mediterranean region as defined in the European Neighbourhood Policy Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom. Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia
- 11. Professional development for youth workers and university educators to learn how to develop a Transnational Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange Project (TEP) in order to enrich and expand existing programmes. Transnational Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange Projects (TEPs) are small-scale, project-based Virtual Exchanges. They are intended to foster meaningful intercultural experiences, the development of transversal skills as well as knowledge of a particular subject (e.g. international politics, media studies, music, etc.) and/or acquisition of specific competences (e.g. photography, graphic journalism, English language, Arabic, etc.).
- 12. Transnational Virtual Exchange Projects ● Two or more professors from different countries connect to add an international and intercultural dimension to their already-existing courses ● The professors work together to develop shared learning outcomes and a syllabus for this new international component, paying particular attention to the development of activities that promote interaction and collaboration between students ● The courses are usually blended, that is they combine face-to-face lecturers but also have students interacting with one another ● They last 6-8 weeks ● They have at least 2 facilitated synchronous video sessions ● They can be implemented in any subject or course
- 13. Example: Media literacy across cultures Media Literacy and Advertising University in Ireland English as a Second Language University in Morocco 13
- 14. 2018 Highlights 14 Breakdown of exchange Participants by Region
- 15. Impact ● 87% satisfaction among young people, 99% among facilitation trainees ● Over 80% of participants developed leadership, communication and active listening skills ● 91% reported ability to work in a culturally diverse place ● 78% improved their digital competencies ● 71% built meaningful relationships with peers from other countries/regions 15
- 16. EVOLVE ● Evidence-Validated Online Learning through Virtual Exchange ● Objective: Mainstream Virtual Exchange (VE) as an innovative form of collaborative international learning across disciplines in Higher Education (HE) institutions in Europe and beyond. ● Erasmus+ KA3 Forward-Looking Cooperation project ● January 2018-July 2020 ● Consortium: ○ 8 Universities ○ 2 Virtual Exchange Providers ○ 2 University Network Associations (70 universities) With the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union Connect with us: www.evolve-erasmus.eu/ evolve@rug.nl @evolve_erasmus
- 17. Main activities ● Help universities to implement VE by providing online training and support ○ Online training co-laboratory: 6-week training, experiential learning, focus on specific competences ○ Implemented in Moodle, next run 14 October ○ Open Badges for educators ○ In preparation: New 2-week entry-level course for use by universities themselves ○ Materials to be shared as OER through EVOLVE website ● Conduct research on VE at learner, educator, institution level ○ Baseline study (Sept 2018) ○ Research on teacher and student competences ○ Case studies on adoption / implementation in institutions ● Actively promote results and engage with policy and decision makers at university, university network and European level ○ Coimbra Group and SGroup events ○ Academic conferences ○ High-level policy event Brussels/Strasbourg
- 18. Major challenge: Institutional Adoption ● Linking practitioner-driven activity to institutional strategies and policies ● Using VE for connecting digital education, internationalisation, and teacher professional development ● This will help to: ● Achieve more interest in VE overall ● Create stable, sustainable partnerships ● Get beyond language and culture studies to all disciplines ● Facilitate research on VE Internationalisation Professional development Digital Education VE
- 19. Baseline study ● Main goal: Investigate awareness and use of VE, with specific reference to Coimbra and SGroup ● Distinction by stakeholder role (specific questions for each group) ● 128 respondents ● Main findings: ○ Not much awareness of VE yet, mistaken for other types of online learning ○ Potential for competence development, digital education and internationalisation widely acknowledged (economic and educational benefits recognized) ○ Not integrated in strategies and policies ○ Regarded as low-cost solution by management
- 20. Research on student and teacher competences Participatory approach: ● Work with teacher/researchers ● Do research with/for institutions Research on: ● Teacher pedagogical competences ● Critical digital literacy ● Intercultural competences ● Language ● Disciplinary skills Mixed-methods: ● Pre- and post-tests ● e-Portfolios ● Interviews Participants: ● EVOLVE Training ● E+VE training ● Other training in universities
- 21. Critical Digital Literacy 1. I am able to use digital tools and services such as chat forums/WhatsApp, conferencing applications (e.g. skype or Zoom), multimedia messaging applications (e.g. Instagram, Snapchat) to establish and maintain my online presence. 2. I am able to support others in establishing and maintaining their online presence in similar ways. 3. I am able to explain how different digital modes of interaction (written, oral, visual) may impact how communication plays out and how we perceive others online. 4. I am able to select and use digital tools and applications that are appropriate for my communication purposes and the communication context. 5. I can recognize the potential bias in online information and communication through different media. 6. I am able to critically evaluate online resources (e.g. websites, wikis, blogs, vlogs, hashtags, etc.). 7. I am able to curate and create online resources in order to communicate with a wider audience. The ability to interact, communicate and collaborate critically through digital technologies while being aware of cultural diversity.
- 22. Critical digital literacy: Pre and post test The ability to interact, communicate and collaborate critically through digital technologies while being aware of cultural diversity.
- 23. General evaluation 4.05 4.00 3.81 3.66 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00 OVERALL, I APPRECIATED PARTICIPATING IN THIS VIRTUAL EXCHANGE THE VIRTUAL EXCHANGE SHOULD BE CONTINUED IN THE FUTURE IN THIS COURSE I AM INTERESTED IN HAVING FURTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO ENGAGE IN DIALOGUE… PARTICIPATING IN THIS VIRTUAL EXCHANGE INCREASED MY INTEREST IN PHYSICAL MOBILITY Appreciation It was a nice experience and made me learn to work with people virtually from across Europe. I needed the credits and this was a fun way to do it. Participating in this Virtual Exchange was a new experience. It let me know myself better and teached me how can I behave in a difficult situations. It was my first time joining this kind of project so I just enjoyed new experience. Also, for me it was easier and cheaper way to interact with people from other culture.In addition the main theme seemed nice and we could learn sth new, not only about other country, but sometimes even about ourselves." The lack of organisation by my group mates caused stress. They didn't appear to care for things having to be done by a certain time. Their lackadaisical attitude was extremely off- putting at times, however the VE interactions themselves were enjoyable and overall a good learning experience.• Used for formative purposes • Both positive and negative aspects mentioned, although generally positive overall • Yet to be coded
- 24. Online Training ● ‘Co-laboratory’: ○ Study VE by doing VE (including ‘Facilitated Dialogue’) ● Other stakeholders in VE invited to participate (pedagogical/technical supporters, internationalisation officers, management) ● 5 core modules + 2 optional modules focusing on research ● Mentoring of trainees for preparing and running exchanges ● First iteration completed in December 2018, new round 14 October 2019
- 25. 26/09/2019 Slide 25 Project: Bordeaux-León Two countries. Two cultures. Different education backgrounds for students and staff. Two institutions One project : creating an eco-friendly automated watering system.
- 26. Student experiences VE might be seen as a challenging experience : They have to leave their comfort zone , adapt or change their working habits. However based on their testimonies and on this year’s experience with Spain, There are numerous benefits : - Academic. - Professional. - Personal .
- 27. Student experiences Academic perspective - Students have improved their scientific skills , in our case, students had to think of eco-friendly ways to water our garden. - They have developed IT competences. - They also improved their soft-skills such as Intercultural competences (working with a different culture/different language). - They have learnt how to cooperate and working with others as a team: From planning and organizing to meeting deadlines and presenting results.
- 28. Student experiences Professional/Employability Perspective Today’s job market has already changed and will continue changing … - Being able to work as a team is valued but working with people living abroad makes it more beneficial for the students living in a more than ever globalized world. - Being able to exchange/work/interact in a foreign language proves also interesting for them.
- 29. Student experiences Personal Perspectives - Have discovered a new culture, made new friends. - It has given them the will to continue the experience. - They have realised the importance of mastering a foreign language to communicate on a common topic. - Eventually, this project has helped them to find a new interest in their studies .. A highly positive experience for the students but what about the teachers ?
- 30. Teacher experiences Academic reasons - To help our students improve their scientific, language and soft skills. - To prepare them to future international cooperation and working with foreign students. (better employability) - To give them the will to travel/discover new horizons. - To prepare students to face future challenges : project management in an international and authentic working context.
- 31. Teacher experiences Institutional reasons - To foster new cooperations without the fear of the distance : Virtual exchanges as a way to cross borders. - A possibility to Internationalise at home, VE as a way to promote project based learning. Professional reasons - Exchange on our working methods and learn from others. - VE as a way to boost our careers/new goals/new challenges.
- 32. VE in Bordeaux: What’s next? Some hurdles, some timing issues at stake but …… - We are starting on a new project with Spain, this year the challenge will be to work on some prototypes. - There will be now three other projects with Tokyo University starting this November.This will include more students, more teachers, more topics