Introducing Virtual Student Exchange in international university education

Virtual Exchange (VE) is an umbrella term which refers to the numerous online learning initiatives and methodologies which engage learners in sustained online collaborative learning and interaction with partners from different cultural backgrounds as part of their study programmes. This article reviews the differences between VE and the activities of Virtual Mobility and Blended Mobility. Following that, the main learning outcomes for teachers and students engaged in VE are outlined. The article concludes by proposing how universities can consider the activity within their internationalisation programmes and how they can support its take up among teaching staff. It is argued that VE is not in competition with physical mobility programmes, nor is it an ‘emergency tool’ to be considered only in times of pandemics and limited international travel. Instead, VE should be considered as a preparation for or complement to physical mobility which serves to enhance the range of international learning experiences which an institution offers its students

What do students learn in virtual exchange? A qualitative content analysis of learning outcomes across multiple exchanges

.Virtual exchange refers to the engagement of groups of learners in online intercultural interaction and collaboration with partners from other cultural contexts or geographical locations as an integrated part of course work and under the guidance of educators and/or expert facilitators. This study presents a qualitative content analysis of reported learning outcomes by students of English in a Spanish university following their participation in one of thirteen online intercultural exchanges. Based on the analysis of 345 learner portfolios, several key themes were identified which provide insight into the type of learning which virtual exchange can contribute to second language classrooms. These included how virtual exchange contributed to overcoming students’ stereotypes, gaining confidence as communicators in their second language (L2) and reconceptualizing English as a tool for communication rather than as an abstract academic activity. A comparison of two models of virtual exchange within the dataset also revealed how task design can influence the outcomes of this activityS

Virtual exchange: moving forward into the next decade

[ES] In a recent editorial position paper in this journal, Jozef Colpaert (2020) rightly observed the dramatic growth of interest in the pedagogical activity of connecting students in structured online intercultural collaboration with peers in order to develop their foreign language, intercultural and digital competences. However, he also takes issue with the gradual move away from the term ‘telecollaboration’ towards ‘virtual exchange’ to describe this pedagogy. I found Colpaert’s article very important as it challenges practitioners and researchers such as myself to critically reflect on the terminology we use to describe what we do. For that reason, I was both delighted and honoured when he invited me to address some of the issues which he raises in his position paper. I also take the opportunity here to review and look for commonalities in the many ‘impact reports’ which have been published lately based on large scale projects and initiatives related to virtual exchange. I then conclude by looking to what the immediate future may hold for this activity.S

Peer feedback on language form in telecollaboration

We performed a two-phase, year-long research project that explored the impact of peer feedback on language development. We investigated specifically how and when post-secondary learners of English and Spanish provide corrective feedback on their partners' use of the target language in weekly asynchronous discussions by assigning them to one of two conditions: e-tutoring, in which students were asked to provide peer feedback on any linguistic form they perceived as incorrect; and e-partnering, in which students were not required to provide peer feedback but could do so on their own initiative. We examined the frequency and type of language use by coding the feedback for language-related episodes (Swain & Lapkin, 1998) and for feedback strategies (Ros i Solé & Truman, 2005). The findings indicate that students in both conditions preferred an inclusion of feedback on form as part of their exchange, but such feedback only occurred when explicitly required in the e-tutoring condition. Pedagogical implications include the need to situate peer feedback on form within current models of telecollaboration and to assist students in using feedback strategies such as reformulations, which do not rely on a deep understanding of the target or native language grammar

Telecollaboration in the foreign language classroom : A review of its origins and its application to language teaching practice

This volume looks at the application of pedagogically-structured online collaborative learning initiatives between groups of learners in different geographical locations. This type of exchange is commonly known in foreign language education as telecollaborative learning. Specifically, the chapters in this book outline language learning projects, designed and carried out by primary and secondary teachers, working telecollaboratively with partners from around the globe. The projects can serve as inspiring models for other teachers who are interesting in innovating their teaching practices, especially as these teachers very openly describe the challenges they faced and how they overcame them, as well as the many rewarding outcomes they (and their students) derived from the experiences. The authors/teachers are also very generous in sharing materials they have designed for their telecollaborative projects and even offer tips on how to avoid some of the possible pitfalls that they themselves encountered

Network-based language teaching and the development of intercultural communicative competence

This thesis reports the findings of three qualitative studies which were carried out in EFL classes at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany between 2001 and 2003. All three groups used various combinations of communication technologies such as e-mail, web-based message boards and videoconferencing in order to engage in on-line exchanges with different partner classes in Ireland and the USA. The research was aimed at establishing, firstly, how such virtual intercultural contact can contribute to the development of intercultural communicative competence, and secondly, what skills and knowledge both students and teachers need in order to engage successfully in this complex on-line learning activity. The research revealed that the success of such exchanges often depends on their appropriate integration into the language classroom and that it is necessary to reassess the role of the teacher in telecollaborative exchanges

Network-based language teaching and the development of intercultural communicative competence

Zugriff auf den Volltext ist aus datenschutzrechtlichen Gründen gesperrt, neue Version unter DuEPublico-ID 33547 This thesis reports the findings of three qualitative studies which were carried out in EFL classes at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany between 2001 and 2003. All three groups used various combinations of communication technologies such as e-mail, web-based message boards and videoconferencing in order to engage in on-line exchanges with different partner classes in Ireland and the USA. The research was aimed at establishing, firstly, how such virtual intercultural contact can contribute to the development of intercultural communicative competence, and secondly, what skills and knowledge both students and teachers need in order to engage successfully in this complex on-line learning activity. The research revealed that the success of such exchanges often depends on their appropriate integration into the language classroom and that it is necessary to reassess the role of the teacher in telecollaborative exchanges. </p