Presentation for #TEALfest2020 Friday 15th May at UNiversity of Warwick.

1. COMMUNICATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
How can Virtual Exchange
help you?
Teresa MacKinnon @warwicklanguage
The definition of VE by Groningen group 2018 is licensed under CC (...)

2. What is Virtual Exchange?
• VE is a form of computer-mediated learning whereby students from
geographically remote classes work together online (in pairs or small
groups) on learning tasks developed by teachers or educational
facilitators.
(for a full description, see What is Virtual Exchange)
The definition of VE by Groningen group 2018 is licensed under CC (...)

3. What about the 95% - or even the 80%?
The limits of student mobility
• Only about 4.5% of the total student population in the
European Higher Education Area experience a period of
study abroad at some time during their studies.
• Even if the European objective of 20% by the year 2020 is
achieved, this will still leave 80% of students without an
international, intercultural experience as part of their
university studies.
• http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-647_en.htm
This slide from "ENVOIE Workshop on OIE: University of Groningen, 1st Feb 2018" by Sarah Guth is licensed under CC BY 3.0.

4. TWO ROUTES TO INCREASING ENGAGEMENT IN
VIRTUAL EXCHANGE:
•Erasmus Plus Virtual Exchange
initiative
•EVOLVE project

5. Erasmus+
What is Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange?
● Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange aims to expand the reach and scope of
the Erasmus+ programme through virtual exchanges
● An accessible, groundbreaking way for young people to engage in
intercultural learning.
● Working with Youth Organisations and Universities
● Open to any young person aged 18-30 residing in Europe and the
Southern Mediterranean.
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6. Erasmus+
Objectives
Encouraging intercultural dialogue and increasing tolerance through online
people-to-people interactions
Promoting various types of Virtual Exchange as a complement to Erasmus+
physical mobility, allowing more young people to benefit from intercultural
and international experience.
Enhancing critical thinking and media literacy, particularly in the use of the
Internet and social media, to develop resistance to discrimination and
indoctrination.
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7. Erasmus+Erasmus+
Activities
INTERCULTURAL LEARNING EXPERIENCES
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8. Erasmus+
ONLINE FACILITATED
DIALOGUE
Three Virtual Exchange programmes
connecting young people in non-
formal discussions from various
countries to each other for exposure
to diverse views and cultures,
language exchange and practice, and
employability skills.
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9. Erasmus+
TRAINING TO DEVELOP
VIRTUAL EXCHANGE
PROJECTS
Professional development for youth
workers and university educators to
learn how to develop a Transnational
Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange Project
(TEP) in order to enrich and expand
existing programmes.
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10. Erasmus+
ADVOCACY TRAINING
Bringing young people from different
backgrounds together to develop
parliamentary debate skills with the
support of a network of trained debate
facilitators, fostering listening and
understanding through advocacy
training.
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11. Erasmus+
INTERACTIVE OPEN
ONLINE COURSES
Access open online courses across
cultural contexts and national
boundaries to learn with peers from
diverse backgrounds using bite-sized
video lectures, supported by skill
building activities and facilitated
intercultural discussions.
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12. What is ?
• EVOLVE (Evidence-Validated Online Learning through Virtual
Exchange) aims to mainstream Virtual Exchange (VE) as an innovative
form of collaborative international learning
across disciplines in Higher Education (HE) institutions in Europe and
beyond.
With the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union

13. Benefits for students – transversal
skills• Experiential & collaborative student learning
• Enhance learning by having students engage and learn course content
through their own and the other’s unique cultural lenses
• Develop transversal skills such as:
• online intercultural communicative competence
• digital literacies
• working effectively in virtual teams
• Offer opportunities to build diverse personal relationships
• Better prepare them for work and civil engagement in a global context
• Encourage students who never thought of taking advantage study abroad
to do so
This slide from "ENVOIE Workshop on OIE: University of Groningen, 1st Feb 2018" by Sarah Guth is licensed under CC BY 3.0.

14. Benefits for teachers?
• Professional development opportunities
• Improve online teaching skills
• Develop co-teaching skills
• Develop new teaching methods
• Learn new methods and approaches from partner teachers
• I gained new perspectives from my international partner from the outset, as well as confidence in my own approach
toward my students at our institution.
• Offer students opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have
• Particularly for students with limited opportunities to travel abroad, the opportunity to share an educational experience
with students from other cultures and countries is very important.
• New research opportunities!
This slide from "ENVOIE Workshop on OIE: University of Groningen, 1st Feb 2018" by Sarah Guth is licensed under CC
BY 3.0.

15. HEI VIRTUAL EXCHANGE RECOGNITION
• Badges to recognise support and
advocacy
• Provides a pathway through
participation to expertise in Virtual
Exchange implementation.

16. OUTPUTS
Erasmus Plus Virtual Exchange: (up to
Dec 2019)
• 18,678 people engaged in
training/exchanges
• 87% of young people satisfied or
very satisfied with their experience
• 84% interested in future
opportunities for virtual exchange
EVOLVE outputs: (project ends in
2020)
• Publication of research available from
website
• Video resources to support
communications
• Training course materials available
for download under open licence.

17. EVOLVE partnership composed of: Coimbra Group, SGroup, Jan Dlugosz University,
University of Leon, University of Groningen, Sharing Perspectives Foundation, The Open
University, Université Grenoble Alpes, University of Padua, University of Warwick, Malmö
University, Search for Common Ground:
With the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the
European Union
Connect with us:
www.evolve-erasmus.eu/
Email: evolve@rug.nl
Twitter @evolve_erasmus
Twitter:
@unicollaborate
Email:info@unicollaboration.
org
Follow #virtualexchange