Training

Training in VE through Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange and EVOLVE

The EVOLVE project and the Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange Project have worked closely together to offer educators and other stakeholders interested in Virtual Exchange (VE) an attractive range of training opportunities.

Both EVOLVE and Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange have come to an end, but training materials and further training opportunities remain available.  Further information about this is provided below.

EVOLVE

EVOLVE has delivered two rounds of training of the Online Training Co-Laboratory:

• Online Training Co-laboratory
  The “Online Training Co-laboratory” (OTC) is a highly interactive online course which was made available to HE educators and supporting staff across all disciplines. Following an experiential learning approach, the training focused on VE between educators and their foreign partners, under the guidance of experienced VE trainers. Training participants worked under the guidance of experienced VE trainers to explore the various aspects of VE design and delivery, including the pedagogy of VE, technology preparation and the handling of organizational and intercultural challenges. The training was run successfully in the autumn of 2018 and in the autumn of 2019. The training paid specific attention to fostering and researching specific learning outcomes with university students. The training consisted of 5 modules and lasted 5 weeks.

EVOLVE training has been specifically designed for educators and other stakeholders from the EVOLVE project institutions and the university networks Coimbra Group and Santander Group, but was open to participants from other institutions.

At the end of the project, the Online Training Co-Laboratory materials (including a downloadable version of the full course, which institutions can install in their own learning environments)  have been made available as Open Educational Resources. These OER training resources can be found in the training resources area of this website.

Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange

Training opportunities closely related to the work in EVOLVE have been provided in the form of TEP Training and Online Facilitated Dialogue.

Training to develop Virtual Exchange Projects
This training was for university educators, youth workers and their support teams who wanted to develop Transnational Exchange Projects (TEPs). These are small-scale, project-based Virtual Exchanges jointly developed by youth workers and/or university educators from two or more different countries. The training was offered at basic and advanced levels and customized support is provided for youth organisations.
More information about this type of training can be found here.

Online Facilitated Dialogue
Another option was for institutions to participate in Online Facilitated Dialogue projects. Training opportunities were available for educators and students for learning to become facilitators in these exchanges.  Training was offered in French, English and Arabic.
More information about this type of training can be found here.

The other forms of VE supported through Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange were Advocacy Training and Interactive Open Online Courses.

Information about the training, participant experiences and impact reports are available through the Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange site: https://europa.eu/youth/erasmusvirtual_en

Open Badges

Upon successful completion, trainees in the training offered through the Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange and EVOLVE projects have received digital open badges for recognition of the competences and skills acquired.

Continued Training Opportunities

Although these projects have ended, the EVOLVE and E+VE project partners continue to provide training in Virtual Exchange through organisations which which they are associated.

	UNICollaboration, the professional organisation in Virtual Exchange and Telecollaboration with whom we have worked closely together in designing the training, are available to provide advice, train-the-trainer courses or deliver training to your faculty.
	Our partner organisations Sharing Perspectives Foundation and Soliya are offering training to staff and students in facilitated dialogue and ‘ready-made exchanges’ for students on cross-cultural topics and societal issues.

Please check out their websites for the kinds of training these organisations provide.

Please note that fees may apply for participating in the training programmes offered. For questions about the training resources, training opportunities or other issues, please send an email to evolve@rug.nl.