Virtual Exchange (VE) now has a relatively long history in educational environments and is having a profound effect on many students around the world. The benefits are being shown in a growing body of research and governments are working to incorporate it into syllabi. Yet it is still not truly mainstream. Challenges remain for this to happen and this symposium will take those up as well as noting the incredible benefits VE can result in when applied well in the classroom.

The Asia Pacific Virtual Exchange Association (APVEA), UniCollaboration, the Stevens Initiative and other groups have many resources and information outlining the benefits of VE. Particularly in the field of language learning, and the related field of intercultural studies, research shows VE offers exceptional benefits to students studying these as can be seen in the 391 papers, chapters and books in the APVEA bibliography on VE. In other fields VE, and its cousin Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), are also generating interesting results and some of those will be showcased in this symposium.

However, there are many challenges that need to be overcome before VE truly becomes mainstream. Equitable access, sound methodologies, assessment and teacher training are just some of the areas where work still needs to be done. The symposium will take up these challenges and offer ideas to over come them to ensure the future of VE is bright.

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Abstract Summary
Virtual Exchange (VE) now has a relatively long history in educational environments and is having a profound effect on many students around the world. The benefits are being shown in a growing body of research and governments are working to incorporate it into syllabi. Yet it is still not truly mainstream. Challenges remain for this to happen and this symposium will take those up as well as noting the incredible benefits VE can result in when applied well in the classroom.

Authors:
Eric Hagley, Griffith University, Australia
Robert Steel, De Paul University, United States
Melinda Dooly Owenby, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Research, Spain
Masahito Watanabe, Yokohama National University, Japan
Jennifer Claro, Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
Ruben Alberto Pulgarin Cruz, LatinCALL, Colombia

About the Presenter(s)
Mr Eric Hagley is a University Doctoral Student at Griffith University in Australia

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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