Virtual Exchange and Internationalising the Classroom

Virtual Exchange and internationalising the classroom Virtual Exchange and internationalising the classroom by Robert O’Dowd by Robert O’Dowd a long history in university language education ‘The first examples of online Robert O’Dowd University of León [email protected] (Warschauer, 1995) and, over the past two Published in Training, Language and Culture Vol 1 Issue 4 (2017) pp. 8-24 doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.4.1 collaborative projects between decades, approaches to Virtual Exchange have Recommended citation format: O’Dowd, R. (2017). Virtual Exchange and internationalising the classroom. classrooms around the globe evolved in different contexts and different areas of Training Language and Culture, 1(4), 8-24. doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.4.1 university education and these approaches have began to appear within a few Telecollaboration, or ‘Virtual Exchange’ refers to the application of online communication tools to bring together years of the emergence of the classes of learners in geographically distant locations with the aim of developing their foreign language skills, digital had, at times, very diverse pedagogical objectives. competence and intercultural competence through online collaborative tasks and project work. In recent years For example, approaches in foreign language Internet’ approaches to Virtual Exchange have evolved in different contexts and different areas of university education and these approaches have had, at times, very diverse organisational structures and pedagogical objectives. This article provides education have explored the development of an overview of the different models and approaches to Virtual Exchange which are currently being used in higher autonomy in language learners, foreign language appear within a few years of the emergence of the education contexts and outlines how the activity has contributed to internationalising university education to date. competence (O’Rourke, 2007) as well as aspects Internet. Early reports include the work of the KEYWORDS: telecollaboration, virtual exchange, online communication, digital competence, intercultural competence of intercultural competence (Belz, 2002). Virtual Orillas Network (Cummins & Sayers, 1995), the Exchange initiatives such as Soliya have focused AT&T Learning Circles (Riel, 1997), as well as This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is on bringing students from the West into dialogue more in-depth research studies into foreign properly cited (CC BY 4.0) with students from the Muslim world with the aim language exchanges (Brammerts, 1996; Eck et al.,

1. INTRODUCTION institutions to look increasingly at of developing a deeper understanding of the 1995). The publication Virtual Connections: Universities are increasingly concerned with the ‘internationalisation at home’ (IaH), defined by perspectives of others on important socio-political Online Activities for Networking Language task of preparing graduates to be active and Beelen and Jones (2015) as ‘the purposeful issues and also to develop critical thinking, Learners (Warschauer, 1995) included a collection responsible global citizens in a world which is integration of international and intercultural intercultural communication and media literacy of ‘cross-cultural communication’ projects which intrinsically digitalised, globalised and dimensions into the formal and informal skills (Helm, 2016). Meanwhile, initiatives from reported on foreign language students creating multicultural in nature. For many years, curriculum for all students within domestic the field of Business Studies such as XCulture have personal profiles, carrying out surveys and international mobility programmes were learning environments’ (Beelen & Jones, 2015, p. striven to develop in students the necessary examining cultural stereotypes with distant considered the most effective way to prepare 59). competences to work in what are commonly partners. Around this time, a number of websites, students to be ‘global citizens’ and develop their described as Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) and to including Intercultural E-mail Classroom ‘capacity to critique the world they live, see As part of their IaH initiatives, a growing number give them first-hand experience in online Connections (IECC) and E-Tandem, also became problems and issues from a range of perspectives, of higher education institutions are engaging their international collaboration in professional contexts available online in order to link up classrooms and take action to address them’ (Leask, 2015, p. students in Virtual Exchange or telecollaboration – (Taras et al., 2013). In this article, we will review across the globe and to provide practitioners with 17). However, the number of students who have a rich and multifaceted activity which refers the different approaches and highlight the different activities and guidelines for their projects. The engaged in study abroad programmes remains to online intercultural interaction and characteristics of each model of exchange. IECC listserv was established by university stubbornly low and research has demonstrated the collaboration projects with partner classes from professors at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, USA limited impact of study abroad on students’ other cultural contexts under the guidance of 2. THE ORIGINS OF VIRTUAL EXCHANGE and functioned as one of the first ‘matching intercultural attitudes and awareness (Kinginger, educators and/or expert facilitators (Dooly, 2017; The first examples of online collaborative projects services’ for teachers who wanted to connect their 2009; Papatsiba, 2006). This has led educational O’Dowd & Lewis, 2016). Virtual Exchange has had between classrooms around the globe began to students in e-mail exchanges with partner classes

© Robert O’Dowd 2017 8 Training, Language and Culture This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Training, Language and Culture 9 Virtual Exchange and internationalising the classroom Virtual Exchange and internationalising the classroom by Robert O’Dowd by Robert O’Dowd a long history in university language education ‘The first examples of online Robert O’Dowd University of León [email protected] (Warschauer, 1995) and, over the past two Published in Training, Language and Culture Vol 1 Issue 4 (2017) pp. 8-24 doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.4.1 collaborative projects between decades, approaches to Virtual Exchange have Recommended citation format: O’Dowd, R. (2017). Virtual Exchange and internationalising the classroom. classrooms around the globe evolved in different contexts and different areas of Training Language and Culture, 1(4), 8-24. doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.4.1 university education and these approaches have began to appear within a few Telecollaboration, or ‘Virtual Exchange’ refers to the application of online communication tools to bring together years of the emergence of the classes of learners in geographically distant locations with the aim of developing their foreign language skills, digital had, at times, very diverse pedagogical objectives. competence and intercultural competence through online collaborative tasks and project work. In recent years For example, approaches in foreign language Internet’ approaches to Virtual Exchange have evolved in different contexts and different areas of university education and these approaches have had, at times, very diverse organisational structures and pedagogical objectives. This article provides education have explored the development of an overview of the different models and approaches to Virtual Exchange which are currently being used in higher autonomy in language learners, foreign language appear within a few years of the emergence of the education contexts and outlines how the activity has contributed to internationalising university education to date. competence (O’Rourke, 2007) as well as aspects Internet. Early reports include the work of the KEYWORDS: telecollaboration, virtual exchange, online communication, digital competence, intercultural competence of intercultural competence (Belz, 2002). Virtual Orillas Network (Cummins & Sayers, 1995), the Exchange initiatives such as Soliya have focused AT&T Learning Circles (Riel, 1997), as well as This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is on bringing students from the West into dialogue more in-depth research studies into foreign properly cited (CC BY 4.0) with students from the Muslim world with the aim language exchanges (Brammerts, 1996; Eck et al.,

© Robert O’Dowd 2017 8 Training, Language and Culture This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Training, Language and Culture 9 Training, Language and Culture doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.4.1 Virtual Exchange and internationalising the classroom Volume 1 Issue 4, 2017 rudn.tlcjournal.org by Robert O’Dowd

‘One possible categorisation of disciplines at different stages over the past 20 learning tool has been foreign language education. ‘From the beginnings of the the different initiatives involves years and the practice has continued to evolve in From the beginnings of the Internet in the early Internet in the early 1990s, differentiating between subject- different communities of practitioners and 1990s, foreign language educators have seen the foreign language educators have researchers who, in many cases, have been potential of connecting language learners with specific Virtual Exchanges, relatively unaware of the work of their counterparts in other countries in order to engage seen the potential of connecting shared syllabus approaches and counterparts in other disciplines. The them in interaction with native speakers of other language learners with service-provider approaches’ consequences of this have included a certain languages and to give them semi-authentic counterparts in other countries degree of ‘reinventing the wheel’ in terms of experiences of communicating in these languages. in order to engage them in in other countries and in other regions of their methodology and tasks and also that there has interaction with native speakers own country. Between 1992 and 2001, IECC been a superfluous number of terms to refer In foreign language education, Virtual Exchange of other languages and to give distributed over 28,000 requests for e-mail to the same overarching activity (Rubin & Guth, has been referred to as telecollaboration (Belz, them semi-authentic experiences partnerships. The E-tandem server was aimed at 2016). This, in turn, has often led to either 2003), telecollaboration 2.0 (Guth & Helm, 2010), matching learners of foreign languages and was confusion in the academic community or to a e-tandem (O’Rourke, 2007) or Online Intercultural of communicating in these supported by a network of research and project general lack of awareness of the actual scale and Exchange (O’Dowd, 2007; O’Dowd & Lewis, languages’ work carried out at Trinity College in Dublin importance of this area of research and practice. 2016) and over the past 20 years it has gone on to (O’Rourke, 2005). Meanwhile, practitioners such become an integral part of Computer-Assisted In the e-tandem model (O’Rourke, 2007), two as Ruth Vilmi in Finland (Vilmi, 2000) and Nevertheless, a positive outcome has been that no Language Learning (CALL) or Network-based native speakers of different languages Reinhard Donath (Donath, 1997) in Germany one model has exclusively imposed itself as the Language Teaching (NBLT) (Kern et al., 2008). communicate together with the aim of learning the helped to make the activity better known by way to engage in online intercultural exchanges Virtual Exchange in foreign language education other’s language, and messages are typically publishing practical reports of their students’ work and Virtual Exchange has been adapted and has traditionally taken the form of one of two written 50% in the target and 50% in the native online. Vilmi’s work focused on online developed to attend to different needs and aims models – each one reflecting the principal learning language, thereby providing each partner with an collaboration between technical students at across numerous areas of education. approaches prevalent in foreign language opportunity to practise their target language and, universities across Europe, while Donath provided One possible categorisation of the different education at the time. The first well-known model at the same time, provide their partner with German secondary school foreign language initiatives involves differentiating between subject- was e-tandem, which focused on fostering learner authentic input. teachers with a wide range of resources and specific Virtual Exchanges, shared syllabus autonomy and learners’ ability to continue their information about how projects could be approaches and service-provider approaches. We language learning outside of the language These exchanges are also based on the principle of integrated into the curriculum. will now look at each of these in some detail. classroom. The second model is usually referred to autonomy, and the responsibility for a successful as Intercultural Telecollaboration or Online exchange rests mainly with the learners, who are 3. DIFFERING APPROACHES 3.1 Subject-specific Virtual Exchange – foreign Intercultural Exchange (O’Dowd, 2007) and expected to provide feedback on their partners’ 3.1 Managing Virtual Exchange language learning initiatives reflects the emphasis in the late 1990s and early content and/or on their foreign language Since its initial steps, Virtual Exchange has It is not surprising that one of the disciplines to 2000s on intercultural and sociocultural aspects of performance. In this sense, tandem partners take emerged as an educational tool in various most eagerly take up Virtual Exchange as a foreign language education. on the role of peer tutors who correct their

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partners’ errors and propose alternative you. Your responses were very informative and Virtual Exchange in foreign language education. A The telecollaborative model of Virtual Exchange formulations in the target language. The role of the definitely showed me that family life in Spain was large amount of research on the outcomes of e- strives to integrate the online interaction tutor or class teacher in the e-tandem model is not all I’d expected it to be. (I was surprised, for tandem learning continue to appear in the comprehensively into the students’ foreign usually minimal. For example, learners are often example, that your family is not religious. I literature (Bower & Kawaguchi, 2001; O’Rourke, language programs and involves international encouraged to take on responsibility for finding assumed that most families in Spain are, and I’m 2005; Vinagre & Muñoz, 2011). Browsing the class-to-class partnerships in which intercultural their own themes for discussion, correcting their sure you have many assumptions about life in many partner-searches which appear on the projects and tasks are developed by partner partners’ errors, and keeping a learner diary or America as well). UNICollaboration.eu platform for class matching teachers in the collaborating institutions. For portfolio to reflect on their own learning progress. reveals that many practitioners continue to look example, students’ contact classes are where Your English is very good. There are only a few for e-tandem-style exchanges. online interaction and publications are prepared, The example below of an American student problems that I have to correct. Some of your analysed, and reflected upon with the guidance of writing an email to her partner in Spain illustrates sentences are too long, and would make more In the late 1990s a second model or approach to the teacher. Foreign language telecollaboration many of the key aspects of a typical e-tandem. The sense if you separated them into two or three Virtual Exchange in foreign language education also places the emphasis of the exchanges on American student begins by writing in English and sentences instead. For example, ‘My parents are began to appear which was characterised by a developing intercultural awareness and other talking to her Spanish partner for his recent not divorced in Spain there are very few cases of stronger focus on intercultural aspects of language aspects of intercultural communicative message. She then takes on the role of peer-tutor divorced’ could be rewritten as ‘My parents are learning and communication and by a greater competence, in addition to developing linguistic and provides some corrections of Pablo’s English. not divorced. In Spain there are very few cases of integration of the online exchanges into classroom competence. Although she does not provide detailed divorce.’ Your letter was great and made sense activity. This form of Virtual Exchange was to grammatical feedback, she is able to suggest despite these things. Good work. become broadly known as ‘telecollaboration’. There is great variety in the type of tasks which alternative correct formulations of his errors and educators have used to develop intercultural she is sure to praise him for his writing in his Las fiestas en the ciudad de Nueva York son muy The term was coined by Mark Warschauer in his approaches to telecollaboration. Some of the foreign language. locas y emocionantes. Voy a las discotecas con mis publication Telecollaboration and the Foreign better-known tasks involved requiring students to amigas los jueves, los viernes, o los sabados. Language Learner (1996) and a special edition of work together with their international partners to In the second part of the message she then takes Vamos a los bars tambien. Nosotros volvemos a the journal Language Learning & Technology was produce websites or presentations based on on the role of Spanish learner and tells her partner nos salons de dormitorio a las cuatro de la dedicated to the subject where Belz (2003) comparisons of their cultures. Belz (2002), for about student life in New York. It is likely that in manana. Queremos bailar a las discotecas. identified the main characteristics of foreign example, reports on a USA-German exchange the following message, Pablo will respond to Necesita tener veintiuno anos por beber el alcohol language telecollaboration to be ‘institutionalised, which involved developing a website which Elena, providing some corrections to her Spanish pero la mayoria de estudiantes en las electronically mediated intercultural contained bilingual essays and a bilingual and continuing the conversation. universidades tenen los ‘fake IDs’ y ellos beben el communication under the guidance of a discussion of a cultural theme such as racism or alcohol ... languacultural expert (i.e., teacher) for the family. Another popular intercultural task for Hey Pablo! purposes of foreign language learning and the telecollaborative exchanges has been the analysis It was great to receive your letter. I was so happy Although the model is now over 20 years old, e- development of intercultural competence’ (Belz, of parallel texts. Belz (2005) defines parallel texts to see that you responded to my questions. Thank tandem continues to be a very popular form of 2003, p. 2). as ‘linguistically different renditions of a particular

12 Training, Language and Culture Training, Language and Culture 13 Training, Language and Culture doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.4.1 Virtual Exchange and internationalising the classroom Volume 1 Issue 4, 2017 rudn.tlcjournal.org by Robert O’Dowd story or topic in which culturally-conditioned the partners’ perspectives. In other words, e-mail reports have emerged of how universities are ‘Another discipline which has varying representations of that story or topic are was suited to foster cultural knowledge, while integrating Virtual Exchange into their study recognised the relevance and presented’ (Belz, 2005, p. 21). Popular examples videoconferencing supported the development of programs (O’Dowd, 2013), the use of alternative potential of Virtual Exchange is of parallel texts which have been used in students’ intercultural negotiating skills. credit systems for students’ telecollaborative work telecollaborative exchanges include the American The end of the 21st century’s first decade has seen (Hauck & MacKinnon, 2016), and about the Business Studies, in particular in film Three men and a baby and the French original foreign language Virtual Exchange gradually development of competence models for the areas of International Trois hommes et un couffin. diverge in two paths. The first of these paths has telecollaborative learning (Dooly, 2017) and for Business and International led telecollaborative exchanges away from formal teachers engaged in telecollaborative exchanges Marketing’ A further intercultural task adapted to language learning and engage learners in language (O’Dowd, 2015). Between 2011 and 2014 the telecollaboration was the application of and cultural learning experiences by immersing INTENT project was financed by the European cost-effective way of conducting business, as a ethnographic interviewing in synchronous online them in specialised online interest communities or Commission to achieve greater awareness of manner to reduce power differences in team work sessions. O’Dowd (2005) trained a group of environments that focus on specific hobbies or telecollaboration around the academic world and and to enable physically disadvantaged employees German EFL students in the basic techniques of interests. Thorne (2010) describes this form of to look for ways for its integration into university have greater access to the virtual environment than ethnographic interviewing and the students then telecollaborative learning as ‘intercultural education. One of the main outcomes of this the physical workspace. As online communication carried out interviews with American informants in communication in the wild’ and speculates that it project was the UNICollaboration platform (www. becomes increasingly common in many the USA using group-to-group videoconferencing may be ‘situated in arenas of social activity that are unicollaboration.eu) where university educators organisations, a growing number of educators are sessions and one-to-one email exchanges before less controllable than classroom or organised and mobility coordinators could establish looking to Virtual Exchange as a tool to prepare writing up reflective essays on their findings. The online intercultural exchanges might be, but which partnerships and find the resources necessary to students of Business Studies to successfully work combination of synchronous and asynchronous present interesting, and perhaps even compelling, set up telecollaborative exchanges. Since then, and collaborate online with colleagues and tools allowed the students to develop different opportunities for intercultural exchange, agentive UNICollaboration has established itself as an customers in other locations. The central interest aspects of their intercultural competence. action and meaning making’ (Thorne, 2010, p. academic organisation and holds regular bi-annual here is in developing in students the necessary Videoconferencing was seen to develop students’ 144). conferences for practitioners from all disciplines competences to work in what are commonly ability to interact with members of the target who are interested in Virtual Exchange. described as Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) and to culture under the constraints of real-time The second, alternative path in foreign language give them first-hand experience in online communication and also to elicit, through a face- Virtual Exchange involves attempts to integrate 3.2 Subject-specific Virtual Exchange – business international collaboration in professional to-face dialogue, the concepts and values which telecollaborative networks more comprehensively studies initiatives contexts. underlie their partners’ behaviour and their in formal education. The argument here is that if Another discipline which has recognised the opinions. Virtual Exchange is such a valuable learning relevance and potential of Virtual Exchange is GVTs are defined as ‘geographically dispersed experience, then it should not be used as an ‘add- Business Studies, in particular in the areas of teams that use Internet-mediated communication However, email was employed to both send and on’ activity but rather as a recognised, credit- International Business and International Marketing. to collaborate on common goals, and typically receive much more detailed information on the carrying activity which is valued and supported by In modern business contexts, online consist of members who have diverse cultural two cultures’ products and practices as seen from university management. Based on this belief, communication is widely considered as offering a backgrounds and who have not previously worked

14 Training, Language and Culture Training, Language and Culture 15 Training, Language and Culture doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.4.1 Virtual Exchange and internationalising the classroom Volume 1 Issue 4, 2017 rudn.tlcjournal.org by Robert O’Dowd story or topic in which culturally-conditioned the partners’ perspectives. In other words, e-mail reports have emerged of how universities are ‘Another discipline which has varying representations of that story or topic are was suited to foster cultural knowledge, while integrating Virtual Exchange into their study recognised the relevance and presented’ (Belz, 2005, p. 21). Popular examples videoconferencing supported the development of programs (O’Dowd, 2013), the use of alternative potential of Virtual Exchange is of parallel texts which have been used in students’ intercultural negotiating skills. credit systems for students’ telecollaborative work telecollaborative exchanges include the American The end of the 21st century’s first decade has seen (Hauck & MacKinnon, 2016), and about the Business Studies, in particular in film Three men and a baby and the French original foreign language Virtual Exchange gradually development of competence models for the areas of International Trois hommes et un couffin. diverge in two paths. The first of these paths has telecollaborative learning (Dooly, 2017) and for Business and International led telecollaborative exchanges away from formal teachers engaged in telecollaborative exchanges Marketing’ A further intercultural task adapted to language learning and engage learners in language (O’Dowd, 2015). Between 2011 and 2014 the telecollaboration was the application of and cultural learning experiences by immersing INTENT project was financed by the European cost-effective way of conducting business, as a ethnographic interviewing in synchronous online them in specialised online interest communities or Commission to achieve greater awareness of manner to reduce power differences in team work sessions. O’Dowd (2005) trained a group of environments that focus on specific hobbies or telecollaboration around the academic world and and to enable physically disadvantaged employees German EFL students in the basic techniques of interests. Thorne (2010) describes this form of to look for ways for its integration into university have greater access to the virtual environment than ethnographic interviewing and the students then telecollaborative learning as ‘intercultural education. One of the main outcomes of this the physical workspace. As online communication carried out interviews with American informants in communication in the wild’ and speculates that it project was the UNICollaboration platform (www. becomes increasingly common in many the USA using group-to-group videoconferencing may be ‘situated in arenas of social activity that are unicollaboration.eu) where university educators organisations, a growing number of educators are sessions and one-to-one email exchanges before less controllable than classroom or organised and mobility coordinators could establish looking to Virtual Exchange as a tool to prepare writing up reflective essays on their findings. The online intercultural exchanges might be, but which partnerships and find the resources necessary to students of Business Studies to successfully work combination of synchronous and asynchronous present interesting, and perhaps even compelling, set up telecollaborative exchanges. Since then, and collaborate online with colleagues and tools allowed the students to develop different opportunities for intercultural exchange, agentive UNICollaboration has established itself as an customers in other locations. The central interest aspects of their intercultural competence. action and meaning making’ (Thorne, 2010, p. academic organisation and holds regular bi-annual here is in developing in students the necessary Videoconferencing was seen to develop students’ 144). conferences for practitioners from all disciplines competences to work in what are commonly ability to interact with members of the target who are interested in Virtual Exchange. described as Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) and to culture under the constraints of real-time The second, alternative path in foreign language give them first-hand experience in online communication and also to elicit, through a face- Virtual Exchange involves attempts to integrate 3.2 Subject-specific Virtual Exchange – business international collaboration in professional to-face dialogue, the concepts and values which telecollaborative networks more comprehensively studies initiatives contexts. underlie their partners’ behaviour and their in formal education. The argument here is that if Another discipline which has recognised the opinions. Virtual Exchange is such a valuable learning relevance and potential of Virtual Exchange is GVTs are defined as ‘geographically dispersed experience, then it should not be used as an ‘add- Business Studies, in particular in the areas of teams that use Internet-mediated communication However, email was employed to both send and on’ activity but rather as a recognised, credit- International Business and International Marketing. to collaborate on common goals, and typically receive much more detailed information on the carrying activity which is valued and supported by In modern business contexts, online consist of members who have diverse cultural two cultures’ products and practices as seen from university management. Based on this belief, communication is widely considered as offering a backgrounds and who have not previously worked

‘There is a growing number of groups of German, Austrian and American students and UK high school pupils in online ‘There are currently 34 examples of practitioners from students together in virtual teams in online collaboration to design and programme robots in university members in the SUNY different subject areas who are communication using e-mail, chat rooms, and both the real world and in virtual world Global Partner Network and other online communication tools. Students were simulations. However, in the area of the shared introducing Virtual Exchange asked to prepare a report or develop a website syllabus approaches to Virtual Exchange, there is these are engaged with other into their classrooms’ comparing a product, service, or organisational one particular approach which has become institutions in collaborative feature across their countries. For example, one dominant and that is Collaborative Online projects’ together in face-to-face settings’ (Taras et al., group compared differing marketing approaches International Learning (COIL). Although this 2013). and consumer attitudes related to soft drinks in approach has existed for many years, the COIL is undoubtedly the emphasis which is put on Germany and USA. model (as it is known today) was actually examining different cultural and national A review of practice in this area would suggest developed in 2004 by Jon Rubin and his experiences or interpretations of subject content. that Virtual Exchange initiatives are, in comparison 3.3 Shared syllabus approaches to Virtual colleagues at the State University of New York While foreign language telecollaboration, for to foreign language telecollaboration, relatively Exchange (SUNY) network of universities (Rubin & Guth, example, usually takes language and culture as the scarce and under-researched, but the reports that Although it has been less well documented and 2016). The COIL approach to Virtual Exchange content and focus of an exchange, COIL adds a do exist provide an insight into how Virtual researched, educators in other subject areas apart involves connecting two or more classes of similar collaborative and comparative perspective to the Exchange is being introduced into the discipline. from foreign language education and Business course content in different countries. Once subject content by creating a shared syllabus Duus and Cooray (2014), for example, describe a Studies have also been engaging their students in connected, the instructors in the partner which is worked on by all participating classes. project for students of Marketing which brings Virtual Exchange initiatives since the beginnings of universities design course modules in a way that together business students in the UK and India to the Internet. Their motivation has been to give the two different student populations will engage Of course, as is the case with subject speciﬁc take part in a simulation which involves working students in different universities the opportunity to in communication and collaboration together. Virtual Exchange, there is no one deﬁnitive COIL in online virtual teams and setting up a new develop a wide range of skills including Often, the two groups of students have to work methodology. For example, in their volume which business in India. Lindner (2016) reports on an intercultural competence and critical thinking, together to discuss course materials, address a reports various COIL projects, Schultheis-Moore exchange between business studies students at the while working on shared subject content and also practical problem, or produce another type of and Simon (2015) present examples of courses University of Paderborn in Germany and Masaryk providing them with different cultural perspectives grade-able product. Collaboration may occur which are completely online and others which are University in Brno in the Czech Republic which on their particular subject area (Starke-Meyerring synchronously (in real time) or asynchronous (not blended in nature. They also include courses involved students collaborating online with their & Wilson, 2008). in real time) and students may connect via email, which have negotiated a complete common international partners to create a website which voice, video, or in some combination. (Wojenski, syllabus and assignments but they also report on compared a product, service, or managerial There is a growing number of examples of 2014). projects which only come together to work on one innovation across two cultures. practitioners from different subject areas who are particular assignment. In recent years, COIL has introducing Virtual Exchange into their classrooms. The key difference between COIL exchanges and become one of the largest Virtual Exchange Osland et al. (2004) present the Globally Distant Vallance et al. (2015), for example, report on a those that come from the foreign language or networks. There are currently 34 university Multiple Teams project (GDMT) which brought project which engaged Japanese undergraduate Business Studies traditions of Virtual Exchange members in the SUNY Global Partner Network

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and these are engaged with other institutions in educators) which universities may need to engage learning. One of the best-known of these models attend to other areas, such as 21st century skills collaborative projects. Rubin reports that from their students in Virtual Exchange. is the Soliya Connect programme , which brings (e.g. cross-cultural communication, collaborative 2006 to 2016 COIL also worked more students from West into dialogue with students problem solving, team work, etc.) that enable occasionally with an additional 30-40 universities This ‘service-provider’ approach to Virtual from the Muslim world with the aim of developing participants to engage with differences more and that they are presently supporting at least 65 Exchange is actually quite common at all levels of a deeper understanding of the perspectives of positively and to become active global citizens. joint COIL courses, serving well over 2500 education and various groups and organisations others around the world on important socio- students (Rubin & Guth, 2016). have been providing ready-made Virtual Exchange political issues and also to develop critical Soliya’s Virtual Exchange programme contains environments for primary and secondary thinking, intercultural communication and media various characteristics which differentiates it from Although there is relatively little reported research education for many years. The oldest of these literacy skills (Helm, 2016). ‘traditional’ class-to-class Virtual Exchange set ups on the learning outcomes of the COIL model, organisations is iEARN, a non-profit organisation which we have seen until now. Firstly, various reports of how the model works and which was founded in 1988 and is currently made Each iteration of the project connects more than communication takes place through synchronous examples of good practice are available. Rubin & up of over thirty thousand schools and youth 200 students from more than 30 different videoconferencing on a specially designed Guth (2016) provide a broad introduction to the organisations in more than 140 countries. iEARN universities in the United States, Europe and the platform. Students take part in a two-hour volume and its impact to date, while the volume reports that over two million students each day predominantly Arab and/or Muslim worlds. videoconference every week for eight weeks and by Schultheis-Moore and Simon (2015) provides a take part in their projects worldwide. The Students are placed into small groups and guided this makes up the core of the programme. Students fascinating overview of examples of online organisation offers over 150 pre-designed projects through an eight-week, English language dialogue are allocated to small groups of 8 to 10 for exchange initiatives in the Humanities which have and provides online environments where programme by pairs of trained facilitators. Students interaction, if possible with an equal division stemmed from the work of the COIL Centre. educational institutions can sign on, choose the receive credit from their local institution for between participants from the ‘West’ and the Contributions to this volume provide examples of project which best suits their students’ curriculum, participating in the project, even though the ‘predominantly Arab and Muslim world,’ so that how the shared curriculum model can be and then participate with international partner facilitators and the online exchange environment they can be exposed to a multiplicity of diverse integrated effectively into the study of subject classes to complete the activities. are contracted from the Soliya organisation by the viewpoints. areas as diverse as jazz music, feminism, the different universities. diaspora, gender roles and human rights. Although iEARN caters principally for students in However, the most distinctive of the Soliya’s pre-university education, there are various other Since its establishment in 2003, Soliya has worked characteristics is undoubtedly the role of the 3.4 ‘Service-provider’ approaches to Virtual Virtual Exchange ‘providers’ which attend with well over 100 institutions and boasts over ten facilitator who takes part in all the online sessions Exchange exclusively to higher education institutions. In thousand activated alumni from 28 countries. They and whose role it is to create a safe dialogic space We have looked at Virtual Exchange initiatives contrast to the practitioner-driven approaches have also trained over 1,300 young people to work for learning and to ensure that the dialogue which have emerged from the work of individual which generally rely on the teachers of the classes as professional online facilitators since 2003. process is constructive and meaningful. teachers. However, there is also an important field to organise and lead the exchange, these providers Although the initiative started as an attempt to of work being carried out by organisations which use ‘facilitator-led’ models which involve trained promote West/Arab dialogue in the aftermath of Soliya also follows a structured eight-week are dedicated to providing the curricula and intercultural educators leading the online the September 2001 attacks in the USA, Soliya has program which ensures that, as relationships online environments (and even, in some cases, the discussions and facilitating the intercultural gone on to broaden its curriculum in order to develop, participants are able to explore difficult

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‘The practitioners and promoters organisation dedicated to providing students and explored the causes of and possible solutions to transversal skills, digital literacies, intercultural of these different forms of Virtual academics with opportunities to collaboratively the European crisis and was structured around the awareness and the ability to live and work together Exchange work closer together study contemporary themes related to the subjects major economic, political and sociocultural with people from other cultural backgrounds of political science, law, economics and social challenges that were at stake in the European (Guth & Helm, 2010). The initiatives also appear to promote the overall goal of science. Union. The exchange lasted 16 weeks and to have encountered the same problems and increasing the number of included two video lectures a week, mostly challenges as they seek to expand their practice to students who benefit from online Their model of Virtual Exchange works in the contributed by the partner universities; a two-hour greater numbers of classrooms and institutions. intercultural exchange as part of following way: weekly dialogue session with 8 to 10 students These include students having limited access to their university education’ from each university in the group which was led technology, limited digital competences of Providing academic content. Participating by trained facilitators; and a research component, teachers, time-differences hindering synchronous conversations and gain critical awareness on their universities construct a shared curriculum which is with participants carrying out three surveys and communication and institutional resistance to the peers and themselves in the process. The Soliya presented through video lectures by the gathering responses from peers and young people inter-institutional approach to learning which curriculum also has clear education goals and a participating educators. in their countries. Selected participants from each Virtual Exchange can involve (Starke-Meyerring & specific structure to help groups reach their university were then invited to Brussels to present Wilson, 2008; O’Dowd, 2013). learning objectives and to ensure that certain Online discussion. After watching the video lecture the research results. Students who successfully learning components on cross-cultural assigned for that particular week, students come complete Sharing Perspectives projects are usually Differences between the models emerge at the communication are a part of everyone’s dialogue together in subgroups of one student per awarded 5 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and level of organisational structure behind the process. However, the format of the curriculum is participating university in a web-based Accumulation System) grades for their work by initiatives. There is a clear difference, for example, semi-structured, thereby providing space for each videoconference room. Here, they discuss the their local institutions. between practitioner-led approaches such as the group to discuss issues that are important to those lecture of that week. These discussions are hosted foreign language telecollaboration models young people in question. by professionally trained facilitators. 4. CONCLUSION outlined above, shared syllabus approaches such The review of different Virtual Exchange initiatives as COIL and the service-provider initiatives such Finally, the online interface that is used by Soliya Engaging in collaborative research. Students are and models which has been presented here as Soliya and Sharing Perspectives. Inevitably, each in its Virtual Exchange programs has been custom- then required to collaboratively design, conduct provides an insight into the great variety and approach can be seen to have its strong and weak made for dialogue. This ensures that the and share survey research about the topic in their richness of work which is currently going on in the points. Practitioner-led initiatives are developed by technology facilitates diverse dialogue and own communities to learn about the broader field. Of course, on a general level, all the teachers who believe passionately in the supports inclusive discussions where everyone is societal impact of the topic. initiatives can be seen to share a basic educational underlying principles and aims of Virtual Exchange able to be heard. approach which involves a commitment to and therefore these models are likely to grow in a A recent example of a Sharing Perspectives project experiential learning, collaborative critical enquiry slow, but steady bottom-up fashion. Another example of a Virtual Exchange ‘service is Perspectives on the Euro(pean) Crisis, which and cross-curricular learning (Cummins & Sayers, provider’ has been pioneered by the Sharing involved eight partner universities with funding 1995); and all would also share common On the other hand, approaches such as COIL will Perspectives Foundation, which is a non-profit from the European Commission. The project educational goals such as the development of benefit from the institutional support provided by

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university management and are likely to receive on practitioner-driven, institutionally-led and Language Learning & Technology, 7(2), 68-117. 1374-1385). Springer, Boston, MA. the funding and training necessary to integrate outsourced initiatives. The important issue is that Belz, J. A. (2005). Intercultural questioning, discovery and Kinginger, C. (2009). Language learning and study abroad: A tension in Internet-mediated language learning critical reading of research. Springer. Virtual Exchange on a large scale across an the practitioners and promoters of these different partnerships. Language and Intercultural Leask, B. (2015). Internationalizing the curriculum. Routledge. Communication, 5(1), 3-39. institution. However, the belief and support of forms of Virtual Exchange work closer together to Lindner, R. (2016). Developing communicative competence senior management cannot guarantee the promote the overall goal of increasing the number Bower, J., & Kawaguchi, S. (2011). Negotiation of meaning in global virtual teams: A multiliteracies approach to and corrective feedback in Japanese/English eTandem. telecollaboration for students of business and passionate belief and motivation of the teaching of students who benefit from online intercultural Language Learning and Technology, 15, 41-71. economics. CASALC Review, 1, 144-156. staff to this approach to learning. exchange as part of their university education. Brammerts, H. (1996). Language learning in tandem using the O’Dowd, R. (2005). Negotiating sociocultural and Internet. Telecollaboration in Foreign Language institutional contexts: The case of Spanish–American Learning, 121-130. telecollaboration. Language and Intercultural Finally, service provider approaches provide a In conclusion, the future of Virtual Exchange Cummins, J., & Sayers, D. (1995). Brave new schools: Communication, 5(1), 40-56. Challenging cultural illiteracy through global learning valuable service to educational institutions, would appear to be bright yet still unclear in many O’Dowd, R. (Ed.). (2007). Online intercultural exchange: An networks. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press. providing their students with well-designed respects. While it is clearly beginning to gain introduction for foreign language teachers (Vol. 15). Donath, R. (1997). Das Transatlantische Klassenzimmer: Tips Multilingual Matters. frameworks of trained facilitators, partnerships and recognition at national and trans-national policy- und Ideen für Online-Projekte in der Schule [The O’Dowd, R. (2013). Telecollaboration and CALL. In M. tasks which they can access without needing staff making levels, there is still a lack of transatlantic classroom: Tips and ideas for online Thomas, H. Reindeers, & M. Warschauer (Eds.), projects at school]. Hamburg: Körber. from the institutions themselves to be communication and coordination among the Contemporary computer-assisted language learning Dooly, M. (2017). Telecollaboration. The Handbook of (pp. 123-141). London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic. knowledgeable in this area. In this sense, they many initiatives and organisations and this Technology and Second Language Teaching and O’Dowd, R. (2015). The competences of the telecollaborative provide an excellent supplementary educational undoubtedly hinders the further dissemination of Learning, 169. teacher. The Language Learning Journal, 43(2), resource which can complement students’ regular this educational approach among the wider Duus, R., & Cooray, M. (2014). Together we innovate: Cross- 194-207. cultural teamwork through virtual platforms. Journal of O’Dowd, R., & Lewis, T. (Eds.). (2016). Online intercultural studies without actually needing to be integrated academic community. Agreeing to use one term, Marketing Education, 36(3), 244-257. exchange: Policy, pedagogy, practice (Vol. 4). into course syllabi. However, as was pointed out such as Virtual Exchange, may be a first step in the Eck, A., Legenhausen, L., & Wolff, D. (1995). Routledge. earlier, these initiatives are likely to have serious right direction, but even this proposal is likely to Telekommunikation und Fremdsprachenunterricht: O’Rourke, B. (2005). Form-focused interaction in online Informationen, Projekte, Ergebnisse tandem learning. CALICO Journal, 433-466. issues of sustainability as they continue to grow in be rejected by many of the practitioners [Telecommunication and foreign language teaching: O’Rourke, B. (2007). Models of telecollaboration: eTandem. popularity. mentioned in this article. Further steps may Information, projects, results]. AKS-Verlag. Languages for Intercultural Communication and include organising joint conferences and research Guth, S., & Helm, F. (Eds.). (2010). Telecollaboration 2.0: Education, 15, 41. Language, literacies and intercultural learning in the Osland, J. S., Bird, A., Osland, A., & Mendenhall, M. (2006). Inevitably, it is likely that Virtual Exchange will initiatives with representatives of all the initiatives 21st century (Vol. 1). Peter Lang. Developing global leadership capabilities and global continue to grow in different directions, depending and organisations mentioned here. Helm, F. (2016). Facilitated dialogue in online intercultural mindset: A review. In G. Stahl (Ed.), Handbook of exchange. Online Intercultural Exchange: Policy, research in international human resource management Pedagogy, Practice, 150-172. (pp. 197–222). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Pbl. Hauck, M., & MacKinnon, T. (2016). A new approach to Papatsiba, V. (2006). Making higher education more References assessing online intercultural exchange. Online European through student mobility? Revisiting EU Beelen, J., & Jones, E. (2015). Redefining internationalization Belz, J. A. (2002). Social dimensions of telecollaborative Intercultural Exchange: Policy, Pedagogy, Practice, 4, initiatives in the context of the Bologna Process. at home. In A. Curaj, L. Matei, R. Pricopie, J. Salmi, & foreign language study. Language Learning & 209. Comparative Education, 42(1), 93-111. P. Scott (Eds.), The European higher education area: Technology, 6(1), 60-81. Kern, R., Ware, P., & Warschauer, M. (2008). Network‐based Riel, M. (1997). Learning circles make global connections. Between critical reflections and future policies (pp. Belz, J. A. (2003). Linguistic perspectives on the development language teaching. In B. V. Street, & N. H. Hornberger Das Transatlantische Klassenzimmer, 329-357. 59-72). Springer International Publishing. of intercultural competence in telecollaboration. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education (pp. Rubin, J., & Guth, S. (2016) Collaborative online international

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22 Training, Language and Culture Training, Language and Culture 23 Training, Language and Culture doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.4.1 Volume 1 Issue 4, 2017 rudn.tlcjournal.org Teaching Generation Z: Methodological problems and their possible solutions learning: An emerging format for internationalizing active learning in 3D virtual worlds. In L. Uden, D. by Svetlana Popova curricula. In A. Moore, & S. Simon (Eds.), Globally Liberona, & T. Welzer (Eds.), Learning technology for networked teaching in the humanities: Theories and education in cloud (pp. 268-282). Cham, Germany: Svetlana Popova Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) [email protected] practices (pp. 15-27). London, New York: Routledge. Springer. Schultheis-Moore, A., & Simon, S. (2015). Globally Vilmi, R. (2000). Collaborative writing projects on the Published in Training, Language and Culture Vol 1 Issue 4 (2017) pp. 25-38 doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.4.2 networked teaching in the humanities. New York, NY: Internet: More than half a decade Recommended citation format: Popova, S. (2017). Teaching Generation Z: Methodological problems and their Routledge. of experimentation. In P. Howarth, & R. Herrington possible solutions. Training, Language and Culture, 1(4), 25-38. doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.4.2 Starke-Meyerring, D., & Wilson, M. (2008). Learning (Eds.), EAP learning technologies (pp. 28-42). Leeds, environments for a globally networked world: UK: Leeds University Press. The focus of the article is on the younger generation of today, which is referred to as Generation Z. The theoretical Emerging visions. Designing globally networked Vinagre, M., & Muñoz, B. (2011). Computer-mediated grounding is based on the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory. The paper discusses lack of motivation to study learning environments: Visionary partnerships, corrective feedback and language accuracy in efficiently and looks into the reasons for misunderstanding which often arises among students and teachers born a few policies, and pedagogies, 1-17. telecollaborative exchanges. Language Learning and generations earlier. Analysis proves the significance of the difference in values and worldview influenced by various venues, circumstances and surroundings that are unique for each generation. Online games, computerisation, Taras, V., Caprar, D. V., Rottig, D., Sarala, R. M., Zakaria, N., Technology, 15(1), 72-103. communication via text messages and inability to read the context are mentioned among the features of Generation Z. Zhao, F., & Bryła, P. (2013). A global classroom? Warschauer, M. (1995). Comparing face-to-face and Difference in the attitude to work and studies is explained with the continuous ‘information noise’ and special Evaluating the effectiveness of global virtual electronic discussion in the second language hypertextual perception of reality that influences the personal and social life of Generation Z representatives. The collaboration as a teaching tool in management classroom. CALICO journal, 7-26. article suggests a number of steps to optimise the teaching process with the coming generation of students. education. Academy of Management Learning & Warschauer, M. (1996). Telecollaboration in foreign language Education, 12(3), 414-435. learning (Vol. 12). Natl Foreign Lg Resource Ctr. KEYWORDS: context reading, computerisation, fan fiction, Generation Z, hypertext, motivation, text messages, theory of generations Thorne, S. L. (2010). The ‘intercultural turn’ and language Wojenski, C. L. P. (2014). Virtually there: Examining a learning in the crucible of new media. collaborative online international learning pre- Telecollaboration, 2, 139-164. departure study abroad intervention. The State This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is Vallance, M., Ibayashi, K., & Goto, Y. (2015). Engineering University of New Jersey-New Brunswick. properly cited (CC BY 4.0)

1. INTRODUCTION return to the beginner level, in many ways due to The importance of studying foreign languages is lack of proper motivation and a conservative rarely questioned. Having failed to learn a foreign approach to the teaching process. The situation language, one might find it quite tricky to soar to might appear even more challenging in view of a success regardless of occupation, age or seemingly decreasing interest in education. What nationality. Learning a foreign language is a must is the reason for this? Is it because teachers are for most of the world population. Nevertheless, now teaching differently, or is that students are less only a small number of students can admit that capable of learning? Is there any reason that we they have mastered a foreign language easily, fail to notice or tend to ignore? Is it possible to turn effortlessly and speak it fluently. By the end of things around? These are some of the questions secondary school, students usually succeed in this paper aims to address. mastering English at elementary or pre- intermediate levels. Yet, should they fail to sustain 2. MATERIAL AND METHODS their level of language proficiency, many learners The age gap between teachers and students is said