Training

Arab*ic West*ern Cultural Relationships

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

• • Acquiring knowledge about Tunisian/German culture, understanding pluralist approaches connected to arab*ic and west*ern cultures
  • Understanding how cultural values affect one’s perception and behaviour
  • enhancing self confidence in dealing with other people from a different culture
  • developing cross cultural virtual teamwork
  • developing ICT literacy

– Targeted learning outcomes

Obtaining knowledge about culture, specifically ones own culture and culture of participating students, reflecting attitudes, images, stereotypes, obtaining communication skills to broaden intercultural competence and apply for 21st century challenges in the context of SDG´s.
• Students are aware of culturally learned structures of perception and behaviour and how they affect communication in teams.
• Students know the differences of description, interpretation and evaluation and how these influence patterns of communication. Students can effectively use skills of active listening, addressing differences, asking questions. Students know how to communicate in the virtual context and acquire digital literacies.

– Global task description

In teams students will think about innovative ideas to enhance multicultural relationships between students within their campuses.

BATH-PSUT

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Cultural communication and understanding the other.

– Targeted learning outcomes

Breaking cultural barriers. Be more accepting and more tolerant. Making friends overseas. Learning Arabic for the English students.

– Global task description

Students from the two universities, and hence different cultures, meet an hour weekly to address topics of general a such as food, clothing, family ties etc, and discuss how each culture tackles it. It is a way to understand the other and build relations. It is also hoped that at the end of the program, each pair of students will be able to design some common project and present it to the other’s country and culture.

Challenges of Child Protection

Challenges of Child Protection was one of the projects of ENVOIE (University of Groningen, Netherlands)

Summary

For this assignment, students will focus on one specific and contemporary challenge of the child protection system facing children and youth today in different countries. Examples of challenges include: teen pregnancy in care, violence among youth, child labour, transition to adulthood from public care, homelessness youth, LGBTQ children in care, promotion of children’s well-being in an educational context, race and culture in the child welfare system, involvement in the juvenile justice system, gender issues in the care system, children’s participation in decision-making, etc.

Groups of students from the master Youth Society and Policy (YSP) at the University of Groningen (RUG) and from the master Childhood and Youth Studies at the University of Sussex will choose a contemporary challenge of the child welfare system to analyse, with a comparative perspective, how the issue has been addressed in at least two countries where they live and/or study. The students will conduct a review of the research, policy and practice addressing the specific challenge in these countries. They will write a joint report of 10 to 15 pages extension.

The students from both study programmes will be in charge of communicating effectively all the information to their counterparts, providing them with the necessary literature to understand the challenge analysed. It is expected that the students have a series of online contacts (at least 3 videoconference interactions) using Blackboard Collaborate at the Student portal, Skype or any other videoconference tool of their choice. The students will use online document platforms to write the joint report. In addition, they will keep a log or diary narrating their experience and reflecting on the knowledge acquisition process.

Clavier

Summary

This is a large scale exchange with many different components, many shared on the unicollaboration.eu site. See also Clavier.

Combining expertise from linguistics and tourism: A tale of two cities told in videos

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Building on the connection between Jyväskylä (FL) and Poznan (PL) advertising/promoting the unknown aspects of the two sister cities in Poland and Finland to attract young travellers;
To enhance online intercultural collaboration in the form of group work and to raise students’ awareness of promotional discourse in tourism;

– Targeted learning outcomes

Skills: critical digital literacy, intercultural skills, online team working skills, analytical skills. By the end of the project, the students will be able to
formulate critical views of municipality website discourse,
reflect on the experience of intercultural online collaboration,
and use a new digital tool (e.g. a video editing app) for the creation of promotional materials.

– Global task description

Week 0 – PREPARATION TIME – right before the project begins our students in Finland and Poland independently carry out a short survey (3-5 questions) among other students in Jyväskylä and Poznan to verify how much they know about the two sister towns located in Finland and Poland and to see what would make them want to visit the sister town;
Week I  – introduction, icebreaking, and a short discussion on the idea of the role of sister towns, presenting the results of the survey – synchronous, facilitated meeting for the whole group (facilitated = teachers are also present), ss grouping;
Week: II  comparison and evaluation of the official English Internet websites promoting the two cities and their partnership (graphic design, language choice, information provided, evoked image etc.) – work to be done in small groups (via Skype&Google docs) – short reports shared on Padlet or a common google doc;
Week III  – collecting information, photos, videos, etc. of the lesser known attractions in Jyväskylä/Poznan that will be used to produce the final promotional video – work to be done in small groups (via Skype&Google docs) – short reports shared on Padlet or a common google doc;
Week IV – task completion: producing the promotional video highlighting the unknown face of Jyväskylä/Poznan to attract young Polish/Finnish tourists – small groups, independent work, teachers available for help, short reports shared on Padlet or via google docs; EASTER BREAK (15-22.04.2019)
Week V – final product presentation (URL addresses placed on Padlet) and project evaluation, including a closing synchronous, facilitated meeting for the whole group (facilitated = teachers are also present) – a chance for the students to express their feelings, describe the difficulties they encountered and present the ways that let them overcome the challenges.

Critical thinking and Digital Learning in the secondary classroom

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

• Compare and contrast classroom dynamics (e.g., demographics, resources, teaching/learning strategies) between the U.S. and Turkish schools
• Improve intercultural communication skills
• Improve critical thinking skills
• Improve technological skills

– Targeted learning outcomes

• Develop a better understanding of local and global issues and how these impact social as well as educational contexts.
• Examine diverse backgrounds, cultures, and viewpoints while connecting and collaborating with others locally and globally
• Make use of digital tools to contribute constructively to projects while assuming different roles and responsibilities toward the accomplishment of common goals
  
• To design effective questions for virtual information exhange to complete the argumentation tasks
• To develop good inductive arguments on education based on the exchanged information

– Global task description

The specific tasks developed for the VE supported the theoretical aspects presented in the online lecture. The pre-tasks aimed to prepare students to enter a new learning environment with unknown partners. The second task required students to establish their topics/questions for the exchange. The third task involved students in the actual implementation of the VE where they had the flexibility to schedule the virtual meetings and choose the tools that best served their communication needs/styles. This task also included a diary or log where students reported their experiences and reflections as the VE was in progress. The final tasks included a presentation where students shared with their groups their experiences and challenges in the VE, and also completed a final survey. In addition, the VE tasks were built upon their complexity to fit into our gamed-based learning approach. Each task was matched to a “mission”, “challenge” and “outcome”. In the VE, the tasks gave students the experiential learning opportunity to collaborate, be exposed to multiple viewpoints, as well as to understand the affordances and challenges of VEs.

Cultural Representations of the Hispanic World

Cultural Representations of the Hispanic World was one of the projects of ENVOIE (University of Groningen, Netherlands)

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Understanding and analysing journalistic work as a team in an intercultural context.

– Targeted learning outcomes

• Gain general knowledge and understanding of Hispanic culture through cultural representations such as films, literature, theatre and poetry focusing on crucial episodes from the colonial period to present times.
• Learn how to reflect on these cultural representations from both a European and Latin American point of view.
• Online Intercultural communicative competence: carry out online task with peers from another sociohistorical context and cultural background.
• Digital skills: learn how to use online tools such as videoconferencing programmes, blogs, podcast etc.

– Global task description

1. Icebreaking and intercultural awareness raising activity
2. Debate and collaborative writing/research on a subject related topic and development of intercultural skills
3. Final joint product: presentation/podcast/radio programme/blog on subject related content.   
4. Reflection in journal/blog on the intercultural encounters and experience as a whole.

Equality and Diversity in Teacher Education

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

The goal of this project was to bring together English teacher candidates to collaborate on a sequence of tasks that fostered learning and reflection about issues of equality and diversity in different educational contexts. This collaborative was intended to encourage students to apply concepts from their courses (e.g. assessment practices, theories of language teaching and learning, equality in the classroom) in the discussion and development of teaching materials for future English classes. At the same time, this partnership offers students the chance to develop their linguistic and intercultural competence and collaborative and transversal skills.

– Targeted learning outcomes

Application of course knowledge, intercultural awareness, online collaboration skills. Developing understanding of Equality and Diversity.

– Global task description

Students were partnered into transnational teams to complete a sequence of three tasks: introduction, comparison of perspectives on equality and diversity in education, application of these perspectives in the collaborative development of teaching materials for future English classes.

EUROCULTURE IP Preparation

EUROCULTURE was one of the projects of ENVOIE (University of Groningen, Netherlands)

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Preparing students for the Intensive Programme (IP) Euroculture, the annual summerschool for all first year students from the 8 partner universities in Europe. The aims of the project were to increase and intensify the cooperation among the partner universities, to incorporate intercultural competencies in this course and, last but not least, to take more profit from the expertise from our colleagues in other universities.

– Targeted learning outcomes

• Identify and discuss theoretical and methodological approaches, in particular social constructivism, which are central to the Euroculture programme;
• Formulate a research proposal. and select appropriate methods to execute this research project;
• Demonstrate how to value and make use of theoretical concepts in a research paper;
• Select and manage information from a variety of sources, and evaluate often complex, insufficient or conflicting data;
• Present the outcomes of independent research in both written and oral form;
• Discuss and reflect on their own learning process in writing an academic paper.

– Global task description

1. Students prepare through joint reading of the required literature in an online environment (Blackboard). Students are asked to pose clarification and discussion questions and answer questions posed by other students. A virtual discussion forum is attached to each video-clip where students are asked to share and discuss their insights.
2. Students are divided into groups and asked to prepare a short presentation (pitch) on how the content of each video-clip informs the theme of their working group. These presentations take place at the start of each conference and provide a starting point for the discussion.
3. Students prepare a written and oral peer review of a) abstract b) literature review c) methodological framework 4) paper draft. Meeting report that summarizes each peer-review session. 
4. Students prepare written reports on a) research idea b) research design c) preliminary findings 
5. At the end of the course, students present their findings at the Euroculture Intensive Program (summer school), which takes place each summer and is organized by one of the Euroculture partner universities.

European Refuge(es)

Summary

The aim of this programme is to bring together refugee and non-refugee youth across Europe to discuss what it means to be a citizen in Europe. Jointly they will develop a (counter) narrative to combat stigmatisation and foster mutual understanding. The aim of the programme is to promote understanding between European residents and refugee newcomers by understanding their experiences. We achieve this by discussing issues affecting both communities and what it means to be a citizen in Europe in facilitated online seminars that foster trust and mutual understanding. We connect refugees and non-refugees directly as personal encounters lead to the development of genuine relationships and allow young people to speak for themselves encouraging them to take ownership over the narrative that is prevalent in discussions across Europe.

During ten weeks participants from refugee and non-refugee background across European and South Mediterranean countries follow webinars from expert academics and practitioners in the field. Participants meet weekly in small groups in our tailored virtual classroom to explore their perspectives on the refugee ‘crisis’ and what it means to be a citizen in Europe. All participants jointly participate in video-project whereby they interview a peer through which they facilitate the interaction between peers across Europe.

Grenoble, Ostrava: German language

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Grenoble (UGA): French students, too often frozen in a long reflection before speaking, must develop a spontaneous and more natural expression. We are trying to create a real need for communication and not, as in class, an “artificial” discussion led by a teacher who has a perfect command of their mother tongue and can help them, in their mother tongue, in case of difficulties of expression.

Ostrava (TUO): The students have been dealing with German since elementary school. They need contact with non-Czech-speaking partners in order to use their knowledge of German in practice and to recognize that in addition to English, German can also serve as a language of communication.

– Targeted learning outcomes

UGA: Students must develop reflexes to express themselves, make themselves understood and understand the partner, as in a real situation in a German-speaking country.

TUO: Orientation towards practical use of the language. Students should also practice the ability to communicate via the Internet and use their language more spotlessly and quickly.

– Global task description

UGA: As it is a question of developing automatisms and of putting the students in real situations, there is no preparation for this exchange. The themes in progress and during the discussions are different. Nevertheless, the vocabulary and grammatical structures learned in class can be reinvested during virtual exchanges.

TUO: Knowledge and topics used in the course complete the VE program.

Improving fieldwork research through local consultancy

Fieldwork abroad was one of the projects of ENVOIE (University of Groningen, Netherlands)

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Students from DePaul University (Chicago, Ill., USA) and University of Groningen (NL) have different roles in the VE. For Groningen students it is part of their obligatory fieldwork abroad, which they do in Chicago 3 months after the VE.
Main objective of the Virtual Exchange for both groups of students is to increase their awareness of the importance of integrating local knowledge in research. This works through feedback that the Groningen students receive from DePaul students to improve their research proposals, including reciprocal discussions on this feedback. Implicitly, intercultural communication is practised and experienced by all students.

– Targeted learning outcomes

1) to make students aware of cultural differences (between comparable social groups from different places; students in Groningen respectively Chicago);
2) improve their research proposals.
3) to stimulate longer lasting contacts between the UG and DePaul students, as the UG students would visit Chicago 3 months after the collaboration

– Global task description

UG students prepare for a research project by having 2 video-conferences with students from DePaul University, who function as local consultants. DePaul students read and reflect on these proposals, discuss potential improvements, and link the Groningen proposals to the theoretical discussions in their own geography classes.

Innovations in Teaching

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Give students opportunity to learn more about technology in teaching and issues that can be related to topics in sociolinguistics.

– Targeted learning outcomes

To be able to critically use digital tools for studying language use and language variation

– Global task description

Students complete three tasks (intro, comparison, collaboration) around the use of technology in teaching to solve classroom issues completed in international teams.

Integrating Technology & Sociolinguistics

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

• Providing teacher candidates with international experience in discussion and collaboration with their international peers on topics and tasks related to the integration of technology in language teaching.
• Participants will not only gain experience in using and analyzing different digital tools for language teaching but also increase awareness of their own and their partners’ culturally situated education practices and uses of technology.
• Provide participants with the opportunity to become aware of cultural norms for interaction and collaboration and ask them to develop skills and knowledge such as empathy, self-awareness, and intercultural communicative competence.

– Targeted learning outcomes

• Identification and illustration of a sociolinguistic theme that occurred during the VE.
• Pre-service English teachers will learn about and experience international telecollaboration. They will develop a part of their future teaching curriculum which includes VE between Istaeli school aged kids and other kids around the world.

– Global task description

Language teacher education partnership. This exchange will also have a facilitated dialog as part of Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange.

Intercultural communication

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Students practice with technology-mediated collaborative group work, peer support and giving and receiving constructive feedback;
Intercultural experience for students who not all have experience with a diverse group of students.

– Targeted learning outcomes

(1) developing competencies in technology-mediated collaborative work
(2) making a link between the exchange experience including reflection and a practical application of the theory discussed in class

– Global task description

During weekly video-conferencing sessions, two students from the University of Groningen and two students from Jyväskylä University discuss topics related to intercultural communication. They screen-record their meetings and upload the recordings for future use. Students are expected to reflect on their telecollaborative meetings. During seminars, it is discussed whether and how the students’ experiences relate to the content of the class, that is, how the theoretical concepts of intercultural communication can be mapped onto the weekly practice.

Intercultural Exchange for International Business and Professional Development

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

(OUC) Thanks to this project students will have the opportunity of improving their communicative skills in English, learning from other cultures and developing many transversal skills as digital skills, negotiation or self-management among others.

(UG) Develop communicative, intercultural and empoyability skills in Spanish.

– Targeted learning outcomes

(OUC) Improving communicative skills in English, intercultural skills and transversal and employability skills.

(UG) B1 level of Spanish according to the CEFR

– Global task description

(OUC) The students have to complete 4 video conference sessions which will give them the opportunity to improve their communicative skills in Spanish and English, learning from another culture and developing 21th century transversal and employability skills such as digital skills, negotiation skills and self-management skills. 

(UG) The tasks are part of the Portfolio Oral which means that students will have to carry out an oral task of approximately 1 hour together with a native or peer who speaks Spanish. The students in these groups will carry out the tasks of the portfolio oral with a peer from UOC.

Language Exchange

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

The main target of the VE is to improve both linguistic competence and ability to communicate between students. Our project gives opportunity to interact with native speakers of target languages, share and enrich university experience, learn more about foreign culture and people.

– Targeted learning outcomes

By the end of this project students will improve their language fluency, ability to express themselves better, expand vocabulary and acquire flexibility in negotiating cultural differences.

– Global task description

Students are expected to keep in touch with assigned students of another university for all duration of the project and to complete given conversation topics.

Let’s go study in Germany

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

• • Use German as Lingua Franca.
  • Foster the interactional competence of the students (by using the language in a more spontaneous way and less controlled as they are used to in the classroom context).
  • Allow the students to identify their needs (or strengths) during their experience in order to set own learning objectives – it means improve their learning awareness and develop some self regulations skills.
  • Intercultural exchange about their studying contexts and student life in both countries.
  • Exchange information, negotiate and collaborate actively with the partners in the target language by using specific linguistic means but also developing strategies for understanding / maintain the interaction / express ideas or share opinions.

– Targeted learning outcomes

• • Can exchange informations about a topic, give opinions, ask questions, make decisions and propositions in an oral interaction or in short written posts (forum).
  • Can make / write a summary with collected informations.
  • Can work collaboratively with pairs and develop intercultural awareness.
  • Can speak more fluently without focusing exclusively on accuracy.

– Global task description

The VE is organised on a task based approach in a blended environment (work in class / language activities on the moodle platform / VE activities online with the partners) – pair-groups decide to plan together a semester abroad in Germany. They first exchange about their own studying context in France and in the Czech Republic, before gathering information on different websites in order to choose a city and an university in Germany, in which they could spend one semester. After that different tasks in class and online should lead them to organise their stay more precisely. In the final task students have to summarize the whole preparation of their mobility project in a short presentation

Minority Languages: The cases of Frisian and Basque compared

Minority Languages: The cases of Frisian and Basque compared was one of the projects of ENVOIE (University of Groningen, Netherlands)

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Comparison of two minority language cases (Basque and Frisian) from the perspective of sociolinguistics and the sociology of language.

Students in the programme in Leeuwarden have as general learning outcomes to become experts on the Frisian multilingual situation and to be able to partake in debates about language governance of minority languages (in Friesland). They are also expected to be able to apply the knowledge and first hand experiences attained in the course to other minority language communities throughout the world, and in this way form an opinion about the status of Frisian, as opposed to that of other minority languages.

Collaborating in an OIE with the Basque country, Spain will help tremendously in attaining all of the above outcomes.
Students in the programme in San Sebastian have as general aim to become a specialist at an advanced level in multilingualism and education. Specifically for this course they obtain knowledge about various European minority languages. The opportunity to acquire first hand and more in-depth knowledge of the Frisian case is invaluable. They will gain in their capacity to solve problems and develop stronger a critical and analytic attitude. It will contribute to their research skills and intercultural experience.
Collaborating in an OIE with the master students in Leeuwarden will help them accomplish the aims stated above.

– Targeted learning outcomes

Intercultural communicative competences and cross-cultural collaboration skills.
Sociological theories with regard to ethnolinguistic minorities.
Exchange of information through multimedia, thereby developing advanced digital skill.

– Global task description

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Nicosia – Grenoble 2019

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Future teacher training (Grenoble), language learning & intercultural aspects (Nicosia)

– Targeted learning outcomes

Grenoble:

• • experience and reflect on online tuition
  • learn to set up online tasks for learners of French as an L2 & to correct their productions

Nicosia:

• • practice academic writing and oral production
  • communication

– Global task description

2 students from Grenoble (future French-as-a-foreign-language teachers) set up tasks and tutor a group of 6-8 students studying French (x 4: 8 Grenoble students and 24 Nicosia-students in total). The first task is an ice-breaker, the following ones last two weeks each and, within a given theme, vary from group to group. They tackle various topics over the semester.
The Grenoble students aim at gaining experience in setting up and tutoring an online task, the Nicosia students at improving their French and discussing (inter)cultural topics. In parallel to the VE with Nicosia, other students from Grenoble work with students from Riga (Latvia).

NU-UMBC COIL Project: Hanaki-Hoogenboom2019

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

• Analyze American and Japanese media articles how they report a same news/event/issue and discuss the reasons why they report the way they did
• Determine any cultural based expressions or the ways they report the same news/event/issue

– Targeted learning outcomes

• Discuss the reasons of differences in media articles after analyzing a few media sources how they report a same news/event/issue in Japan and in the U.S.
• Demonstrate understanding of intercultural communication by communicating with students whose cultural background is different from theirs as well as create a summary of discussion 

Palestine – Grenoble 2020

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Disciplinary skills:

• • • • Experiencing a VE Learning and reflecting on VE task design
      • Adapting a VE task that the students had designed beforehand to the context of the actual VE
      • Providing the partners (in small groups) with support for their main learning outcome: improving their written French skills, while discussing and reflecting on intercultural topics (e.g. forbidden books

– Targeted learning outcomes

An-Najah University:

• • • • Improve (written synchronous) online discussion skills in French
      • improve written and oral comprehension skills in French
      • improve skills for analysing, commenting, arguing in French

– Global task description

• • • • Get to know each other – icebreaking activity (asynchronous Chinese portrait & Zoom session)
      • Get information on and discuss educational contexts (Our studies and targeted profession)
      • Informations exchange and collaborative task: Sources of information (those the students use and the factors their choice of the source(s) may depend on; elaborate jointly a survey that allows to verify these factors and ask 10 persons from their own country to fill it in, analyse and interpret the results together)
      • Adapt and experience a task the students in Grenoble had designed, within a previous VE, for this VE: the small groups could choose between “forbidden books” and “paper vs. digital books”.
      • Final reflective VE session in small groups

Reading the City

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

To provide students with opportunities to develop intercultural communicative competence and critical digital literacies in the context of global citizenship education.

– Targeted learning outcomes

Upon completing the project, students should be able to:

(1) self-assess intercultural communicative competence in cross-cultural interaction and teamwork.
(2) critically use and evaluate digital tools and demonstrate critical (digital) literacies in collaboration and co-co-creation of multimodal texts.
(3) demonstrate understanding of interconnections between global issues and local contexts.

– Global task description

Urban landscape and cultures offer rich opportunities for learning about who we are as local and global citizens in our contemporary world. The guiding question in this project is: How can we use the city as a text and a resource to gain better understanding of how global issues operate in our local contexts.

The project is informed and framed by the United Nations’ sustainable development Goal 11: “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.”

Students engage in a sequence of three tasks: (1) connecting; (2) comparing and collaborating; (3) co-creating.

Reflecting Intercultural Communicative Competence in a Foreign Language Class

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

To help English language students from two completely different backgrounds and countries come together and practise English as an EFL as a way of raising awareness in their culture.

– Targeted learning outcomes

• • • to raise interdisciplinary cultural awareness among the two countries,
    • to find possible student or future cooperation opportunities and to use English as a means of communication.
    • to find interdisciplinary (Chemical Engineering & Medicine) solutions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

– Global task description

The 5-week Virtual Exchange project was based on the task-based method. Students worked on the tasks asynchronously on Google Drive, Messenger and Facebook and presented their work synchronously on Zoom on Thursdays during class hours. Firstly, they familiarised themselves with significant cultural elements from each country through interactions in English (as a foreign language) and then they focused on interdisciplinary topics such as ways of handling the Corona virus pandemic which had just broken out. The two disciplines were Chemical Engineering and Medicine. All tasks and discussions were conducted in the students’ English course, offered by the Language Centre of each university.

Riga – Grenoble 2019

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Future teacher training (Grenoble), language learning & cultural aspects (Riga)

– Targeted learning outcomes

• • experience and reflect on online tuition
  • learn to set up online tasks for learners of French as an L2 & to correct their productions

– Global task description

2 students from Grenoble (future French-as-a-foreign-language teachers) set up tasks and tutor a group of 5-6 students studying French (x 2: 4 Grenoble students and 11 Riga-students in total). The first task is an ice-breaker, the following ones last two weeks each and, within a given theme, vary from group to group. They tackle various topics over the semester.
The Grenoble students aim at gaining experience in setting up and tutoring an online task, the Riga students at improving their French and discussing (inter)cultural topics. In parallel to the VE with Riga, other students from Grenoble work with students from Nicosie (Cyprus).

Rituals in Theory and Practice

Rituals in Theory and Practice was one of the projects of ENVOIE (University of Groningen, Netherlands)

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Rituals in Theory and Practice enabled students to explain and identify anthropological, psychological and sociological approaches to the study of ritual. They learned how to apply some aspects of theoretical frameworks to the selected case study on consolation rituals and shared their insights with students from the partner university.

– Targeted learning outcomes

The project targeted the following learning outcomes: the ability to cooperate with peers from another culture using intercultural communication skill; the improvement of the students’ intercultural competences; the ability to collaborate with peers abroad using digital tools; students are motivated to study a semester abroad; the improvement of the students’ English language skills (specifically for Groningen students).

– Global task description

Throughout the course of the project, the students met twice in their respective groups. In the first week, a short meeting for groups to get to know each other was organized. At the home universities, students then watched the Introduction to Consolation vignettes by Christoph Jedan in preparation for the inter-university group discussion. They read the chapter ‘A Conceptual Framework of Consolation: Introducing the Four-Axis Model and watched the Conclusion to Consolation vignettes by Christoph Jedan. At the Inter-university meeting, the students shared their reflections on Jedan’s introduction video, chapter and conclusion video. The students then retreated to the home university to complete the assignment of the project as required by the teachers at the home university.

Tandem Groningen – Padova

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Improving language learning in an informal environment.

– Targeted learning outcomes

Essentially speaking, listening and interaction skills, also writing.

– Global task description

Dutch and Italian students were working out tasks alternatively in Dutch and Italian; the tasks were about the all day life of the students (their family, town, university) and about film and child literature.They had to write their ideas and then talk about it with their partner. In a blog they wrote about their tandem experience.

Telecolaboración Padova – Cali (Colombia)

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Oral interaction, cultural exchange, personal relations with natives of the target language.

– Targeted learning outcomes

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– Global task description

Conversation exchange (Spanish-Italian)

Telecollaboration – Foreign Language Learning through International Encounters

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

• • Engage students in international collaboration using English as a lingua Franca
  • Have students develop intercultural communicative competences which obviously includes foreign language competence
  • Develop students’ pedagogical-digital competence by having them use and reflect on various digital tools
  • Facilitate students’ competence development in the area of analyzing, designing and reflecting abut online-based tasks for their respective future classroom contexts

– Targeted learning outcomes

• • To engage in international collaboration
  • To develop intercultural communicative competences, pedagogical-digital competence, and analyzing ability

– Global task description

Following the progressive exchange model students engage in a getting-to-know phase doing various tasks (forum post, short video, picture description task, online conduct rules). The following two phases are task design phases, where students first analyze an intercultural task and then create one on their own and finally in the third phase create a longer task sequence, most probably by using  a Weekly site for presenting the tasks online.

Telenta

Summary

Telenta  = Telecollaboration, English, Task design.

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Experiencing a VE, becoming aware of its potential for learning, getting an insight into task design for VE

– Targeted learning outcomes

To improve students intercultural communicative competence in English. To improve students digital literacy. To increase students’ understanding of the potential of telecollaboration in educational contexts. To learn about different cultures and reflect on one’s own.

– Global task description

3 major tasks following the Ware & O’Dowd’s 3 task model we did:
Task 1: Photo Sharing using the Describe-Interpret-Explain activity
Task 2: Comparison and Analysis of a topic relevant to education and educational policy in Europe, e.g. migrant children in primary schools
Task 3: Collaborative development of a telecollaborative task for students in the schools where the Italian students were doing their practicum

Teletandem Bremen – Padova

Summary

The exchange was meant to offer students of different faculties the opportunity to interact with students in a German speaking context, without having to attend a language course in the classroom.

Teletándem Padua- México

Summary

Multicultural topic exchange between 14 Mexican students and 14 students of Padua University. Languages: Spanish & Italian. A Mexican teacher and me decided 4 topics for the discussion, 1 topic was chosen by the students. They should speak 30 min in Spanish and 30 minute in Italian about the topic.

The Nusantara Project and Business Research and Consulting

The Nusantara Project was one of the projects of ENVOIE (University of Groningen, Netherlands)

Summary

The Nusantara Project is an international consulting project, where several undergraduate students from all over the world, compromised in a global virtual team, deduct a case study based on an Indonesian company. By collaborating online, each group constructs a marketing plan for the according company, proposing ideas how they can successfully export their products abroad. The purpose of the project is three-fold: first, the project aims to enhance learning in Business/Management and related courses; second, to provide an opportunity for students to work as a consultant and get experience in providing solution for companies in Asia. Third, learn how to work in Global Virtual Teams By joining this project students: 1. can learn other cultures. 2. are supported in establishing a networking 3. are facilitated to apply the theory from classroom into practice 4. Support the education in the developing countries, particularly Indonesia.

UGA-UNESP-1000

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

• Experiencing a VE.
• Practising the English language related to CALL.
• Reflecting on VE task design.
• Giving access to different approaches and methodologies for teaching.
• Improving teaching skills.

– Targeted learning outcomes

• Intercomprehension skills development.
• Intercultural competence improvement.
• Pedagogical tasks designing.

– Global task description

Get to know each other; get information on and discuss educational contexts; set up a list of criteria for a telecollaborative task; design a task for another (upcoming) VE with a new partner.

US Italy Exchange Fall 2017

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

The aim of the exchange was for students on both sides to experience online interaction and collaboration with international peers, to develop greater intercultural understanding and develop curiosity towards another, to deconstruct national stereotypes and engage with different perspectives on given issues.

– Targeted learning outcomes

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– Global task description

Some of the activities included exploring and deconstructing Hofstede’s dimensions, carrying out a survey and writing a collaborative report.

Virtual Exchange for Citizenship Education

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

Develop global citizenship and awareness of immigration issues in both countries.

– Targeted learning outcomes

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– Global task description

Tasks involved collaborating together on the issue of immigration in the UK and Spain and proposing a practical solution to certain problems which immigrants are experiencing.

Virtual exchange for future TESOL/ELT students: critical digital literacy

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

The exchanges will provide the participants with an opportunity for experiential learning in which they will experience telecollaboration as a participant so that they can understand the complexity of such exchanges and the issues involved. The experience is expected to enhance their understanding of telecollaboration for TESOL/ELT and how it can be used in teaching.

– Targeted learning outcomes

The participants will: (1) develop digital linguistic, communicative and plurilingual skills that are required to communicate effectively and appropriately with other people in online contexts; (2) practice digital communication and collaboration skills which will allow you to interact, communicate and collaborate through digital technologies with TESOL students from other cultures, in this case Turkey; (3) use co-operation and conflict resolution skills needed when engaging with others on joint activities and tasks.

– Global task description

We create 3 tasks based on the following sequences:
http://uni-collaboration.eu/node/394
http://uni-collaboration.eu/node/463
SLO: Learners will (1) explore what VE is and how it can be used in language teaching and learning, (2) learn about various types of tasks used in VE, (3) explore online tools for e-literacy and intercultural exchange
Task 1: Getting to know each other: http://uni-collaboration.eu/node/115 (as whole group, Padlet)
Task 2: Creating a group identity: http://uni-collaboration.eu/node/458 (in small groups of 4-5, synchronous / Zoom + Google slides)
Task 3: E-literacy: exploring online tools: http://uni-collaboration.eu/node/332 (in small groups of 4-5, synchronous / Zoom)

World literature, genres, and cultural transfer

World literature, genres, and cultural transfer was one of the projects of ENVOIE (University of Groningen, Netherlands)

Summary

– Main objectives of the Virtual Exchange

The main objectives of the project were to bring together the different expertise fields of the three partners, which is translation theory for Sichuan University, world literature for Uppsala University and cultural transfer for the University of Groningen in such a way that both teachers and students would be able to learn from each other.

– Targeted learning outcomes

This project is particularly interesting because it provides the students with different perspectives on world literature, which is sometimes viewed differently in different cultures. Besides that, the students would also get insight in other academic environments and get a better understanding of the cultures in which they and the other students find themselves. Finally, an important objective was for the students to improve their intercultural communication skills.

– Global task description

The online international exchange part (OIE) of the course consisted of two brief introductory tasks and three more extensive collaborative assignments. The two tasks preceding the assignments were meant for the students (and teachers) to get to know each other and to get familiar with the tools. The three other assignments were based on readings selected by the three teachers. The students discussed these texts based on several questions and created joint products based on these.