COURSE AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Aims of our course

The aim of this online course is to familiarise participants with Virtual Exchange and Blended Mobility as pedagogical activities for engaging students in authentic intercultural collaborative projects with international partners.  The focus will be on providing examples from across the disciplines – e.g. STEM, the Humanities and Social Sciences subjects - and teachers from all subject areas are welcome. The course will provide participants with the knowledge and materials necessary to prepare online collaborative exchanges for their students.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Explain how Virtual Exchange and Blended Mobility work and how they are being employed in university contexts.

• Outline the potential learning outcomes of Virtual Exchanges and Blended Mobility for their students. 

• Describe the basic steps for setting up and running a Virtual Exchange or Blended Intensive Programme. 

• Design tasks for their Virtual Exchange which are relevant to their subject area.

• Take steps to design a successful Virtual Exchange or Blended Mobility project with their international partner teachers.

Methodology

Participants will be required to read about, observe, and discuss the different aspects of running Virtual Exchange (VE) and Blended Mobility projects. They will examine and analyse different examples task design, assessment, and strategies for integrating the exchanges into coursework. 

The online sessions will be interactive, and participants will have many opportunities for general discussion and debate about the underlying principles and issues related to Virtual Exchange, including using a foreign language, students’ digital competences and intercultural communication breakdown. Participants will be provided with numerous examples of VE and Blended Mobility projects in their subject areas and will have opportunities to apply ideas to their own particular contexts. In breakout activities, teachers will be matched as much as possible with colleagues from similar subject areas. 

Timeline