ENLIGHT offers trainings on virtual exchange collaboration
As part of ENLIGHT’s educational cooperation, an online training on virtual exchange will be offered on 12 May.
One of the forms of international educational cooperation is the virtual exchange (collaborative online international learning). It can take place both as a separate online joint course and as a part of a face-to-face course.
On May 12, an online training course on virtual exchange will take place for ENLIGHT universities. All UT employees interested in the topic are most welcome. An online networking event will be held in June, primarily for those looking to partner with ENLIGHT universities to develop collaborative online international learning together.
Read more about the ENLIGHT virtual exchange training and the networking event down below.
Invitation to Virtual Exchange training in the ENLIGHT network
The ENLIGHT network invites to a series of three events on Virtual Exchange (VE).
Firstly, a workshop will introduce virtual exchange and its benefits to intercultural collaboration, secondly, a partnering fair will assist interested academics in finding VE partners within the ENLIGHT network, and finally, a tailored training will be provided for those who have defined their goals to jointly develop a VE together with their partner.
Participation is free of charge, and one person can either take part in one or several of the mentioned events. Registration is open for each session separately. All sessions are organised in cooperation with UNIcollaboration, a cross-disciplinary professional organisation for telecollaboration and VE in Higher Education.
VE or Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) collaboration illustrates a digital teaching and learning pedagogy and enhances the process of blended learning and Internationalisation at Home. Primarily, it fosters intercultural and often interdisciplinary cooperation between students and teaching staff from different locations and/or cultural backgrounds. Over a certain period of time and with support of facilitators, students work together on interdisciplinary tasks in synchronous and asynchronous course-activities.
12 May 2023 at 11:00 – 14:00 EET in Zoom
Workshop “Internationalisation at home through Virtual Exchange”
The workshop will introduce the concept of VE pedagogy, present concrete ideas of projects developed across a range of disciplines and geographical areas, and discuss both pedagogical and technological aspects that are essential in the success of a VE project. There will also be a chance to brainstorm and discuss potential collaborations within the Enlight alliance in view of the forthcoming partnering fair.
This workshop brings together a wide set of participants interested in virtual exchange and co-teaching more broadly: academic staff, non-academic and administrative staff, curriculum developers.
Registration is already open here: https://forms.microsoft.com/e/z4fyiDCGkE
The workshop will be led by the UNICollaboration trainers Ana Beaven and Mirjam Hauck.
Dr Ana Beaven is a language teacher at the University of Bologna. She has been involved in various European projects in the fields of web-based collaborative language learning and intercultural competence. She took part in the Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange initiative as a member of UNICollaboration and is trainer and facilitator in virtual exchange projects. Ana is trained dialogue facilitator with Soliya.
Dr Mirjam Hauck is Associate Head for Internationalisation, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at the Open University/UK and a Senior Fellow of the UK’s Higher Education Academy. She has written numerous articles and book chapters on the use of technologies for the learning and teaching of languages and cultures, in virtual exchange (VE) contexts in particular. She presents regularly at conferences, seminars, and workshops worldwide. She is the President of the European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL), and the Chair of the Language and Culture Expert Community of the European Association for International Education (EAIE). She serves as Associate Editor of the CALL Journal and is a member of the editorial board of ReCALL and LLT. She is also a founder member of UNICollaboration.org.
13 June 2023 at 14:00 – 15:30 EET in Zoom
Partnering Fair. A crucial step towards the successful development of VE scenarios is finding suitable (interdisciplinary) partners to jointly elaborate course ideas, share disciplinary insights and plan co-teaching approaches. This process requires time to build a reliable partnership.
Partnering fair event can offer a starting point for such a partnership to evolve.
Registration to be opened after the workshop.
October 2023 in Zoom
Individual Online Training: Collaborative Class-to Class VE Design (12 – 20 participants)
This session is aimed at educators who have already experienced VE and who already have partners, this training completes the described approach effectively. Within five modules of synchronous online training on the design and implementation of successful class-to-class VE, participants can work on their specific VE-course and thus create output that can directly be applied to their teaching practice.
Registration will be opened in September.
Participation in the workshop, partnering fair and individual online training is free for the staff of the ENLIGHT universities.
Contact person: Ülle Tensing, University of Tartu, ulle.tensing@ut.ee
