The FRAMES Toolkit provides key information, inspiration, tools and case examples of the approaches that HEIs can take to integrate and accredit Virtual Exchange. The Toolkit is a usefull one-stop-shop for educational professionals working in higher education.

With contributions from leading Virtual Exchange practitioners and developers, 'Designing and implementing virtual exchange – a collection of case studies' offers tangible examples of different VE models. This publication brings together case studies to illustrate various ways of implementation in formal and non-formal education, across a range of disciplines.

With nearly a decade of experience in developing large scale online interactive educational programmes, we’ve learnt a thing or two about what works well and what doesn’t. Here are our top tips for everyone involved with remote teaching, elearning and online instructional design.

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. 

Across a range of fields and disciplines, virtual learning and interaction are commonly seen as a ‘plan B,’ i.e. “if we can’t get everyone together, then we’ll begrudgingly adapt accordingly”. What this negative sentiment prevents is the ability to ask the more generative question: What is enabled by ‘going virtual’? 

The norms we can take for granted in a classroom setting often get lost in cyberspace and a virtual setting brings with it the opportunity (and challenge) to rethink them. Educators can anticipate and respond to emergent challenges in virtual learning and engage students in the process. In this blog we share discussion guides and tips for collaboratively confronting challenges in virtual teaching.

Accessible won’t always mean accessed. Learning needs to be social and experiential, and online learning requires grounded affiliations and incentives. Is there a place for virtual exchange in open online courses? We have found that there is. 

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.

From bonding over a shared passion for dancing to deep realizations on climate action; A few weeks into the Virtual Exchange ‘Climate Movements’ all involved are already experiencing plenty of highlights.  We approached Helen Eve from our partner ESIEE Paris to share thoughts on the relevance of Virtual Exchange for her students; "Young people today need several international experiences in order to be ready for a globally-connected workplace."

How to differentiate between a virtual exchange and a virtual training? An overview of the different emphases within the methodological principles of each format.

Climate change is considered one of the most pressing concerns of our time, and has already had a significant impact on human movement and life on earth. Young people have been a major source of momentum behind climate action in recent years. Through Virtual Exchange we wanted to offer the opportunity for young people to connect with each other on this theme. How do they experience and perceive climate change? And how do they feel about their role as young people? We collected some of the experiences from the Virtual Exchange ‘Cultural Encounters: The Big Climate Movement 2020’. 

What the Virtual Exchange format introduces, is a continuous connection between the local and the global, online and offline, personal and common, or differences and similarities. The format does not introduce a radical disruption from or for traditional forms of education, but establishes new dimensions and connections to existing, formal education settings.