07-11-2022

Toolkit for Integrating Virtual Exchange in Higher Education

Virtual Exchange as an educational practice has been shown to work as a complementary component of physical exchange programmes, allowing more students to benefit from meaningful international and intercultural experiences as part of their higher education. Now it is time for Higher Education Institutions to mainstream this approach into their institutionalized mobility activities.

To support educational professionals with this mission, we are excited to present the ‘Toolkit for Integrating Virtual Exchange in Higher Education’. This one-stop-shop provides key information, inspiration, tools and case examples of the approaches that Higher Education Institutions can take to integrate and accredit Virtual Exchange. Whether you are an administrative officer curious to explore what Virtual Exchange integration can bring to your institution, or a teacher willing to find ways to accredit and sustain your Virtual Exchange activities in the curriculum; this product will help you with essential tools, activities and best practices. Visit this website to download the digital or the printer-friendly version of the toolkit, and explore additional multimedia assets like the FRAMES podcast .

Toolkit-cover

“The Toolkit … has every chance of serving the purpose it was designed for and to live up to the expectations of both the project authors and prospective users. [T]he toolkit is a good, effective means of devising ways for integration and accreditation of virtual exchange in the institution of the user.”

– External project reviewer Professor Anna Turula, Head of the Technology Enhanced Language Education Department at the Pedagogical University of Krakow,

The Toolkit has been created in the framework of the FRAMES project, a Strategic Partnership funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union spanning over 2 years (March 2021 – February 2023). The project is implemented by a consortium composed of UNIMED – Mediterranean Universities Union (coordinator), UNICollaboration, Sharing Perspectives Foundation, Universitat de Girona, University of Limerick, and Università di Siena.

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Drie keer nieuw met ‘The Digital Us’

Drie keer nieuw: Met de lancering van ‘The Digital Us: Allies en Actie Tegen Online Racisme’, start Stichting Sharing Perspectives niet alleen een nieuw project, maar gaan we ook een nieuwe samenwerking aan en verleggen we onze focus naar de Nederlandse context.

FRAMES conference

After two years of working on the integration and accreditation of blended mobility and Virtual Exchange (VE) in Higher Education with the FRAMES consortium, it is time to present our outcomes at a closing conference. On 30 March 2023, FRAMES is organizing its final event on-site at the University of Siena in Italy. The theme of the event is “Framing Virtual Exchange and Blended Mobility in Higher Education”.

Stimulating virtual international collaboration in education, ‘the Dutch way’

Since last year, the Dutch Ministry of Science, Culture and Education is offering subsidy for Dutch higher education institutions to develop innovative virtual projects that foster collaboration amongst Dutch and international students. Any institution that has been granted this specific subsidy is also offered a range of activities to build capacity for designing effective and successful virtual projects. Let us tell you why this is such an exciting initiative.

5 Fundamental Tenets Of Virtual Exchange

Virtual Exchange (VE) is a great way to allow for genuine interaction, learning and relationship development between people in geographically distant locations. Through VE, spaces for effective collaboration are created and cultivated. Using sustained dialogue as a pedagogical tool during the virtual exchanges, helps to foster healthy group formation processes, even between physically remote people. In order to sustainably enhance these outcomes and impact, there are 5 fundamental tenets of Virtual Exchange that support this process.

Your different virtual personas

Being in front of someone ‘in real life’ obviously assists in clear communication, as it allows us to pick up on small social cues, to establish eye contact, and to have a clearer sense of prosody, tone, and body language. The truth is that we can still pick up on most or all of these in online dialogue, but this requires those involved to make an effort and use the digital tools at hand deliberately.

"Take care of yourselves and the planet"

Towards the end of the 9-week virtual exchange 'Climate Movements', participants reflect and express their gratitude towards the group for the experience and the learning that happened. Facilitators invite participants to bring a ‘(virtual) parting gift’ to their last online session as a way of saying goodbye and celebrating their achievements. Over the years our facilitators have seen this exercise lead to wonderful expressions from participants, like digital cards and even musical performances. This spring iteration, one virtual gift stood out in particular for its relevance to the subject matter of ‘Climate Movements’.

Innovating European Higher Education with Virtual Exchange

Sharing Perspectives Foundation is joining forces with partners to foster a harmonised implementation and accreditation of Virtual Exchange (VE), as an integral part of (blended) mobility approaches, among European Higher Education Institutions. The FRAMES project (Fostering resilience through Accredited Mobility for European Sustainable Higher Education innovation) aims to make the European Higher Education Area more innovative, intercultural, and resilient.