Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange by José Díez Verdejo, European Commission

1. Education
and Training
Erasmus+
Virtual
Exchange
EADTU Peer Learning Activity
- Virtual mobility
Maastricht, 12 December 2018
José DIEZ VERDEJO
DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture
European Commission
jose.diez-verdejo@ec.europa.eu

2. Politics Education
Erasmus+
Virtual
Exchange
Paris Declaration
Blended learning
Internationalisation
Future Erasmus
Media literacy
against fake news
European
Neighbourhood
Policy
Why?
EU Youth
Strategy

3. Education
and Training
34 Erasmus+
Programme Countries
&
10 Southern
Mediterranean
Partner Countries
Where?

4. Education
and Training
What? The virtual exchange concept
Technology-enabled, people-to-people
education programmes, sustained over a period
of time in which communication and interaction
takes place between individuals or groups who are
geographically separated, with the support of
facilitators and/or educators.

5. Erasmus+
5
How does
it look
like?

6. Education
and Training
Goals
Intercultural
awareness
Skills
development

7. Education
and Training
Academia
• Professors
• Administrators
• Students
Youth
• Youth workers
• Young people
Target groups

8. Education
and Training
How?
Training
• For anybody to become
facilitator
• For educators to develop
their own virtual exchanges
Exchanges
• Online Facilitated Dialogues
• Interactive Open Online Courses

9. Education
and Training
Training to become a facilitator
Skills: active listening, summarising and reframing
Hands-on practice and feedback from trainers
Individualised coaching

10. Education
and Training
Training to develop international
projects
• Professors take the initiative
• Goal: to develop an international
virtual exchange project
• Integration of the virtual
exchange into existing courses

11. Examples of training to develop
Transnational Virtual Exchange projects
Partners’ countries Fields
France-Czech Republic Chemistry and Physics-Business
Tunisia-France English as a Foreign Language
France-Spain English - Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Germany - Finland - Czech Republic - Ireland Business and Management – Global Virtual Teams
Italy-Libya History
Spain-Poland Computer Science and Gaming-Business and
Management
Palestine-Netherlands English as a Foreign Langauge - Journalism
Spain-Poland Business & Economics - English for Specific
Purposes

12. Education
and Training
Online facilitated
dialogues
• Endorsement by professors
• Participants from various countries in small groups
• Non-formal discussions but readings and papers
• Promotion by universities’ international units
• Great impact as first international experience

13. Education
and Training
Interactive open online courses
Previous IOOCs:
Introduction to Dialogue Facilitation
Countering Hate Speech
Refugees in Europe
Gender In/Equality in Media and Journalism
Culture and Politics in Europe
Newcomers and Nationalism
Option: incorporate interactive
activities to existing MOOCs

14. Education
and Training
Recognition
• Open badges for each activity
and for trainers and facilitators
• Their value will depend on
endorsement by universities and
employers

15. Education
and Training
Stories of virtual exchanges
Syrine Ayachi, Tunisia, 22 years old: “We all know that young
people are the future leaders. So, if we help them through the virtual
exchange to become more open-minded and give them the
opportunity to see the world through new eyes away from the
propaganda, we can have a better, more peaceful world”.
• Skills : active listening, critical thinking, asking good questions, open-
mindedness
• Different cultures : their religion, traditional food, marriage, major festivals in
each country, values
• Global issues : poverty, women rights, educational system, the negative
effect of social media, immigration

16. Education
and Training
europa.eu/youth/
erasmusvirtual