Webinar: Overcoming Challenges and Barriers in Virtual Exchange

Abstract:

Forms of online collaborative learning, such as Virtual Exchange and Blended Mobility, are becoming increasingly popular in foreign language education. Virtual Exchange (VE) refers to the numerous online learning initiatives and methodologies which engage learners in online collaborative learning and interaction with partners from different cultural backgrounds as part of their study programmes. Blended Mobility combines stages of online collaboration with short periods of physical mobility.

Although VE has been employed in foreign language education for over 25 years, it has received much greater attention since the recent COVID-19 pandemic and many practitioners are exploring its potential to develop foreign languages learning, intercultural competence and global citizenship in their classrooms (Porto, 2018; Ramirez, 2019; Trapé, 2018).

In this presentation I will use key publications from the literature to explore how VE and Blended Mobility can promote foreign language learning as well as global citizenship. I will also outline how VE and Blended Mobility can be integrated effectively into foreign language programmes. Finally, I will reflect on the challenges educators face as we try to use this activity to deal with issues of diversity and inclusion and to establish equitable relationships with partners from other countries.

O’Dowd, R. (2023). Internationalising higher education and the role of virtual exchange. Routledge.

Porto, M. (2018). Affordances, complexities, and challenges of intercultural citizenship for foreign language teachers. Foreign Language Annals, 52(1), 141–164. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12375

Ramirez, C. K. de. (2019). Global Citizenship Education Through Collaborative Online International Learning in the Borderlands: A Case of the Arizona–Sonora Megaregion: Journal of Studies in International Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315319888886

Trapè, R. (2019). Building Empathy and Intercultural Citizenship through a Virtual Exchange Project. Le Simplegadi, 19, 167–180. https://doi.org/10.17456/SIMPLE-136

A list of resources on Virtual Exchange curated by Professor O’Dowd can be found here.

A volume he co-edited with Margarita Vinagre was published in August:

The VALIANT book has been published!

Bio:

Robert O’Dowd is full professor for English Studies at the Universidad de León, Spain. He has taught at universities in Ireland, Germany and Spain. He has published extensively on the application of Virtual Exchange in higher education and has coordinated 3 Erasmus+ projects, including the European Policy Experiment ‘Virtual Innovation and Support Networks for Teachers’ (VALIANT) (2021-2024). He collaborates with organizations on the promotion and integration of Virtual Exchange in higher education and his most recent book is Internationalising Higher Education and the Role of Virtual Exchange (2023, Routledge). He was recently listed in Stanford University’s ‘Ranking of the World Scientists: World´s Top 2% Scientists’.