Virtual Exchange FAQ
Links to the mentioned pages are at the bottom of the FAQ
Is Virtual Exchange about opening courses online for foreign students to listening in?
No, it isnât. Or, it is only a small part of it. Virtual Exchange means to engage your students in small group collaboration (for 4-6 weeks) with international peers, on a task that is related to their specific disciplinary field and integrated in a course of their regular curriculum. Virtual Exchange can also be called Collaborative Online International Learning â COIL.
Can I combine a Virtual Exchange with a ârealâ mobility?
Yes, a Virtual Exchange can perfectly be combined with a physical mobility. There is even funding of the ERASMUS+ programme for such activities, that is called Blended Intensive Programme (BIP).
Where can I find examples how a Virtual Exchange or a BIP can look like?
You can find case descriptions in the UNIC Centre for Teaching and Learning Case Gallery, and in the UNIC Handbook on Physical and Virtual Mobility.
Are there any materials that can help me with the planning?
The UNIC Centre for Teaching and Learning has created several material to support structured planning processes. If you have any ideas for further material, please let us know.
How can I find a partner?
You can participate in a UNIC event, there are also special Virtual Exchange workshops where you can meet teachers from all over the alliance.
You can write to your local UNIC manager.
You can contact your local Centre for Teaching and Learning.
Within UNIC you can use the matchmaking in the Virtual Campus
What if the semester times of my partner differ from mine?
There are different possibilities to organise a Virtual Exchange with differing semester times.
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If your semesters overlap of 4 weeks and more, you can organise in a way that the group work of the students is in the beginning of the course for one side and in the end of the course for the other side.
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You can organise one or several block sessions, e.g. two half-days, where students can meet and work together, either within the semester or shortly after closing/before beginning the semester.
What if we cannot find a common time slot during a day?
Virtual Exchange educators have organised in different ways to encounter this problem.
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If you find overlapping times (e.g. 8-10 a.m. at one university, 9-11 a.m. at the partner university), you can use the overlapping timeslot for the online collaboration.
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You can organise one âexceptionalâ meeting at a time that fits for all, and the rest of the collaboration is organised outside of class time.
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The whole exchange activity is organised outside of class time.
How can I make sure my students work with their working group, if the activity is completely self-organised by the students outside of class time?
There are three approaches to ensure your students are engaged in the activity:
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Use class time to discuss with your students about their experiences, problems they encounter, and how to behave in the intercultural online interaction.
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Have regular meetings with your partner teacher (once a week) to see if there are any complains or problems on the partnerâs side.
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Give your students several deadlines to document intermediate steps of their collaborative work, so that you get an impression of their process.
My university does not allow digital teaching anymore/not to the extent of a whole course. How is it possible to organise a Virtual Exchange?
Engaging your students in a Virtual Exchange does not mean to organise the whole course online.
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If you have 4-6 sessions online, maybe that is not hurting your regulation.
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As well, if students work outside of class time with their international peers in small groups, you do not have to organise your course online. You can continue meeting your students in person during class time, while they cooperation outside of class online.
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If you have aligned class times with your partner and want your students to collaborate during class time, you can very well be with your students on campus in a room, while they connect to their peers online in breakout sessions.
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Part of self-study workload?
It is too much work to organise a Virtual Exchange, it takes too much time, I cannot do it with all my other obligations, although I see the benefits for me and my students. What can I do?
You can start with a smaller activity, for example holding mutual guest lectures and small discussions with your respective students in one joint session. If it works well, you can extent that activity to two sessions in the next year. And extent it little by little steps, so that you do not have all the planning and agreements at once.
Absätze tauschen. Furthermore, in UNIC, there is funding scheme (VIP Fund), where you can apply for having support (e.g. a student assistant or a research assistant) in the organisation of the Virtual Exchange.
My partner/I must plan teaching at least three semesters ahead and need to give descriptions one year ahead. How can we organise a joint activity?
Take the time and plan three semesters ahead. If in the meantime smaller activities are possible (e.g. mutual guest lectures), use the occasion to try out some activities and discussion formats with your students.
I usually teach in German, and donât want to switch that. What can I do?
This is not a problem. There are two solutions:
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You could find a partner class that speaks German as well, e.g. in Austria, Switzerland, or a class that is learning German as a target language.
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You conduct your lessons as usual, only your students have to speak English (or another lingua franca) with their peers during their online interaction.
Links
InterTeach: https://www.unic.eu/en/centre-teaching-and-learning#interteach
Case Gallery: https://www.unic.eu/en/centre-teaching-and-learning#casegallery
UNIC Teaching guide: https://www.unic.eu/en/library
UNIC Virtual Campus: https://campus.unic.eu/
UNIC Handbook on physikal and virtual mobility: https://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2021/23567/pdf/unic-tweak.pdf