Telecollaboration in University Education:Opportunities for Internationalising the Classroom and Developing Intercultural Competence Online

Robert O'Dowd, Universidad de León, Spain @robodowdrobert.odowd@unileon.es

Outline for our Presentation• 60 min. presentation + 30 min.

Q&A:• A brief overview of different

models of telecollaboration• What has telecollaboration

contributed to university education to date?

• What are the challenges for university educators?

• Where can you learn more about telecollaboration and get your classes involved?

Trending Topics in Europe (1): “Much, if not all, of the debate in higher education seems to be focussed these days on massive open online courses, or MOOCs, which according to several people should be considered nothing less than a revolutionary new model for higher education teaching and learning.”

[‘Virtual Mobility without commericialisation’ Hans de Wit, 2013][http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130528175741647]

What have been your experiences of MOOCs at Princeton?

Trending Topics in Europe (2)

In 2020, at least 20% of those graduating in the European Higher Education Area should have had a study or training period abroad.[Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve, 28-29 April 2009]http://ec.europa.eu/education/doc/2008/mobilityreport_en.pdf

• The current rate of mobility in Europe?• 4% -5%• The current rate of mobility in the USA

and in Princeton?

But what happens to the remaining 80%?

European Commission Report: “European Higher Education in the world”: “…internationalisation should not benefit only the minority…who spend time abroad….Higher education policies must increasingly focus on the integration of a global dimension in the design and content of all curricula …to ensure that the large majority of learners who are not mobile… are nonetheless able to acquire the international skills required in a globalised world (2013:6)”

But how should this be done?

One possible solution: Telecollaboration

What is Telecollaboration?

The engagement of groups of students in online intercultural interaction and collaboration with partner classes from other cultural contexts or geographical locations, under the guidance of educators and/or expert facilitators

What’s in a name?

•Virtual Exchange •COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) - SUNY •OIE (Online Intercultural Exchange) •eTandem •eTwinning•ePals

What does Telecollaboration offer universities?

An Intercultural Experience for

non-mobile and pre-mobile

students

Semi-Authentic Communicative

Foreign LanguageLearning

Opportunities for Internationalisation

of the curriculum for on-campus learning

A collaborative alternative to MOOCs

While in MOOCs the teaching stays more or less traditional, using modern technology for a global form of delivery, in COIL the technology is used to develop a more interactive and collaborative way of international teaching and learning.[Prof. Hans de Wit on COIL – An interactive alternative to MOOCS]

Different set-ups which Telecollaboration can take

1. A Class of learners in Germany carry out collaborative tasks online with a class of learners in the USA– using German and English

4. Students on international mobility contribute to a blog where they discuss their experiences abroad. This blog includes quetions and

comments by ‘pre-mobility’ students at the home university.

3. Before leaving on mobility programmes to Europe, students from the USA are ‘matched’ and interact online with European students

planning to travel to the US.

2. A class of students in Spain collaborate online with a class in USA. This is combined with week-long study visits by both groups to partner

universities.

A practical example of Telecollaborative Exchange

• Future ‘Primary school teachers’ in ULE work with Students of Spanish at University of Central Missouri, USA

Task 1: Representing your culture through photos…

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Task 2: Discussion forums on issues related to culture and the relationship between the two countries

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Task 3: Making videos for their partners on aspects of the language…

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Task 4: Writing and presenting blogs about their local culture for a foreign audience

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Task 5: Comparing Reactions to movies, short stories, cultural products

Two students’ reactions…Student 1: These months sharing opinions have given us a very different view of the United States, which we had idealized, and that, from this we have taken note that are not so different to our countries and that American films us had deceived with respect to reality. The most important thing I've learned in this Exchange has been not to judge a society without first speaking with one of its citizens…

Student 2: I really enjoyed meeting new people and talk with them. I think it was a good experience. I also think that learning English with this online exchange is fun for people who don’t like English grammar and it is an alternative way of learning English.

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Models of Telecollaborative

Exchange in University Education

E-tandem

Cultura

Sharing Perspectiv

es

Soliya

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http://www.cisi.unito.it/tandem/etandem/

• Two native speakers of different languages communicate together with the aim of learning the other’s language (e.g. German-English)

• Based on the principles of autonomy and reciprocity – Responsibility rests mainly with learner

• Partners provide feedback on content and foreign language performance

• Teacher’s role is limited – learners keep a diary and/or portfolio of their work

An example of an American-Spanish e-tandemHey Pablo!It was great to receive your letter. I was so happy to see that you responded to my questions. Thank you. Your responses were very informative and definitely showed me that family life in Spain was not all I'd expected it to be (I was surprised, for example, that your family is not religious. I assumed that most families in Spain are, and I'm sure you have many assumptions about life in America as well). Your English is very good. There are only a few suggestions that I have to correct it. Some of your sentences are too long, and would make more sense if you separated them into two or three sentences instead. For example, "My parents are not divorced in Spain there are very few cases of divorced" could be rewritten as "My parents are not divorced. In Spain there are very few cases of divorce." Your letter was great and made sense despite these things. Good work. Las fiestas en the ciudad de Nueva York son muy locas y emocionantes. Voy a las discotecas con mis amigas los jueves, los viernes, o los sabados. Vamos a los bars tambien. Nosotros volvemos a nos salons de dormitorio a las cuatro de la manana. Queremos bailar a las discotecas. Necesita tener veintiuno anos por beber el alcohol pero la mayoria de estudiantes en las universidades tenen los "fake IDs" y ellos beben el alcohol. … No sabo mucho de Espana. Sabo que hay un museo de Guggenheim en Bilbao y sabo que hay muchos castillos bonitos. Que sabes de los Estados Unidos? Como es la fiesta en Espana? Elena

Simultaneous teletandem sessions between Georgetown University and Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (Mexico) and UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Brazil)

Synchronous E-tandem and interactionist approaches to SLA:

1990’s-2000: E-tandem should produce intense negotiation of meaning. Require learners to come to an agreed solution in a spot the difference or jigsaw activity.

“Many of the studies of network-based interaction report on activities in which large groups of students discuss their opinions about current affairs, world politics… – in short, conversation type activities…However research has proven that …the negotiation of meaning and the resultant learner modifications are much more prevalent in goal-oriented, task-based interaction than in usual conversation (Pellettieri, 2000: 64).”

Towards a more sociocultural interpretation of telecollaboration…

• A move towards …a sociocultural approach- greater emphasis on the social aspects of language.

• Language and communication are also used for face saving, the expression of ethnolingusitic identity (Block, 2002), “…establishing and maintaining relationships” and as “an opportunity to understand oneself and one’s own culture better (Kramsch, 1993: 183)”.

2: The Cultura Modelhttp://cultura.mit.edu/

Questionnaires for both groups in mother tongue

Answers to the Questionnaires

Analysis in class

Written Discussion Forums –asking for clarifications of the questionnaires

• Student 1 from Spain: Most of the words used to describe the United States are: fast food, Obama and patriotism. Are you surprised with our answers?

• Student 1 from Princeton: Hi! I am particularly interested in the theme of fast food. This past summer I recognized how many fast food chains exist in Spain, such as Burger King and McDonald's. From my experiences with friends…, I had heard of students who eat fast food quite regularly that were not US citizens. It is intriguing for me to see how many people responded with the impression of fast food or junk food when hearing the word United States.

Questioning, explaining, correcting…

• Student 2 from Spain: On the one hand I think that this is because your country is really big, but on the other hand, maybe your tastes are about this kind of food. This is one of the most important reasons that the USA has got more than the 50% of its citizens with obesity, and the obesity is a really big problem talking about the health. What do you think?

• Student 2 from Princeton: ….I think that perhaps the most important factor contributing to the national problem of obesity and the proliferation of fast food is the steep cost of healthy food, which might not be immediately apparent. America's reputation of prosperity might hide the hundreds of millions of Americans that cannot afford fresh fruits and vegetables. For many, fast food is the only economically viable option, and a significant contributor to nationwide health problems

3: The Soliya Model – East-West Negotiations

• Soliya connects over 200 students from over 30 different universities in the US, Europe and the predominantly Arab and/or Muslim worlds.

• Students are placed into small groups of 8-10 students and guided through a 9-week, English language dialogue program by pairs of trained facilitators.

http://www.soliya.net/

Stages of the Soliya ‘Connect Programme’

• Students meet online in groups of 8-10 for two-hour sessions each week for ten weeks.

• Each group has participants from universities around the world and is led by two Soliya facilitators

• Dialogue progresses from discussing culture and everyday life to delving into controversial topics

• Soliya has a full academic curriculum including readings and classroom activities that complement online dialogue sessions.

• Each semester concludes with a hands-on media project in which students produce short news segments.

[http://www.soliya.net/?q=what_we_do_connect_program]

4: Sharing Perspectives: A Content & Exchange Modelhttp://www.sharingperspectivesfoundation.com/

Stages of ‘Sharing Perspectives’• Providing academic contentParticipating universities construct a shared curriculum. This curriculum is presented through video lectures by the participating educators. • Enabling online discussionAfter watching the video-lectures, sub-groups – of one student per participating university – come together in a web-based video-conference room, where they discuss the lectures of that week. These discussions are hosted by professionally trained facilitators.• Facilitating collaborative researchStudents are required to collaboratively design and conduct survey research in their own communities in order to learn about the broader societal impact of the topic.

Sharing Perspectives on Innovation in FL education – León, Spain; Tel Aviv, Israel and Malmo, Sweden

5. Pre-Mobility Telecollaboration & Combing Virtual and Physical Mobility

• Kinginger: “A particularly intriguing application of this approach… would be to establish telecollaborative courses linking students at home to their in-country peers in the precise locations where they will study abroad and thereby to establish contacts through prior, institutionally sanctioned interaction (2009: 111).”

Virtual International Partner (VIPs)• Students planning to take part in an

Erasmus mobility are assigned a Virtual International Partner in their desired destination

• The students carry out various tasks in L1 and L2 over a 2-month period using email, skype, etc.

• At the end of the exchange, students submit a portfolio providing evidence of their work and reflections on their learning

• Successful participants are awarded extra points for Erasmus application

• Partnerships currently exist with Ireland, UK and France

Tasksheet 2: Finding out about your Host Country

Discuss the following questions with your virtual partner. You should tell them about these aspects of your own country and they will tell you about their country. It is not obligatory to discuss all these questions – focus on the ones most interesting for you.

1. How big are your two countries? Compare the population of your two countries.

2. What are the opening times of shops and restaurants in your countries? What time do people usually have their lunch and evening meals?

3. Find out what a typical meal would be in your partner’s country. What do people usually eat at lunchtime? And what do they have for their evening meal?

4. How much do the following things cost approximately in your partner’s country?

a. A coffee b. A bus/tram ticket c. A lunchtime meal in a restaurant d. A week’s groceries in a local supermarket

5. What are the main religions in your partner’s country? Does religion play an important role in society? If so, in what ways? Talk about your own country first and then you can compare with the host country.

6. What is your partner’s country famous for? What is worth visiting or worth doing during your time there?

Integrating Virtual & Physical Mobility

• “The Spanish-American Cultura Exchange”

• University of León – Barnard College, University of Colombia, New York

• EFL students at León + Spanish students at Barnard

• Combining virtual and physical mobility

Spanish-American CulturaCombining On-line and Physical Mobility

• January-March: On-line Exchange (1)– Project work – videos, essay etc.– Online interaction between both classes

• March: Group from New York visit León• April: Group from León visit New York• April: New Materials collected/created by students are

added to on-line platform• April-May: On-line Exchange (2). Analysis of new materials • Following year: Previous year’s materials available for new

groups of learners….

Exploiting Students’ Visits

One week study visit to partner university by 6 students. This includes:

•Home-stays with families•Visiting students attend various classes: Presentations in their native language / participation in class activities •Interviewing of local residents •Organised tours and visits with host class as ‘guides’

Feeding back to the on-line Platform – for next year’s participants

• Favourite photos and their commentaries

• Videos of presentations• Essays based on ethnographic

interviews

Your opinions…

What model would best suit your teaching context and your subject area?

What has research told us about the best way to apply Telecollaboration in university education?

• Great potential for awareness raising of cultural differences in communicative practices – different genres, pragmatic competence etc. Learners consider their partners to be ‘people who matter’ (Belz and Kinginger, 2002, 2003).

• In the context of online learning ‘exposure and awareness of difference seem to reinforce, rather than bridge, feelings of difference’ (Kern, 2000, p. 256). – Hence the need for task design and integration into classroom.

• In order to contribute to students’ linguistic and intercultural development, the key is to combine online interaction with either reflective reviews of online interactions (e.g. ‘la salle de rétrospection’ Kern, 2014 ) or through pedagogic interventions by teachers (Cunningham & Vyatkina, 2012)

What has research told us about the best way to apply Telecollaboration in university education? (2)

• Intercultural communication skills form part of ‘new literacies’ and ‘twenty-first century skills’

• However, they require attention and training in the classroom

• Need to develop Online Interaction skills in students “Teaching Comments”, “Asking Questions”

An extract from a German-Irish exchange• A German student writes this opening message to her new partner in Ireland:• Hello, how are you? I study English and history at the University of Essen and I want

to become a teacher. This term we do some cultural studies concerning Ireland and I very interested in it because I actuallly do not know much about it.

• Now I would like to ask you some questions.Do you live in Northern or in Southern Ireland? How many people live in your town? Are you a Catholic or a Protestant? I have heard that regular churchgoing declines more and more in your country-is it true?

• What are you doing in your free time? Do you often go to pubs? What do you think about Germans? Irish people have the reputation of being very indirect and polite in their speaking style. I have read that there was an enormous economic change in Ireland.

• How have you or your parents experienced the social and economic change in the past 20 years?

• That's all for now. I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Criticism of Telecollaboration and Exploring “Telecollaboration in the Wild”

• “The limited authenticity” of simply engaging L2 learners with other classrooms. Alternatives?– Hanna and de Nooy (2009): Online interaction with native

speakers on the websites of international newspapers such as Le Monde.

– Sauro (2012): online fan communities – remixing etc. – Thorne (2010): ‘intercultural communication in the wild’:

“…situated in arenas of social activity that are less controllable than organized online intercultural exchanges might be, but which present… compelling, opportunities for intercultural exchange”.

Objectives:• Carry out a review of

telecollaboration in European university education

• Develop a platform with tools, resources and networks to facilitate telecollaboration practice.

• Develop a set of workable solutions to address the lack of academic integration of telecollaboration.

An Alternative Trend: Integrate Telecollaboration more successfully into University Education

INTENT Project (2011-2014) : Integrating Telecollaborative Networks Into Higher Education

Financed By The European Commission - Lifelong Learning Programme

A study of Telecollaboration in European HEI’s (Guth, Helm,

O’Dowd, 2012)

The unicollaboraion.eu platform to support Telecollaboration in

European HEIs (unicollaboration.eu)

The first international conference on telecollaboration in university

education (University of León, Feburary 2014)

Teacher training through workshops & online resources

The INTENT Project

INTENT : Integrating Telecollaborative Networks Into Higher Education LLP: 2011-2014

Study of Telecollaboration in European Universities Three surveys:

Experienced teacher telecollaborators (102 responses) Inexperienced teacher telecollaborators (108 responses) Experienced student telecollaborators (131 responses)

Qualitative Case studies: 7 representative examples of telecollaboration around Europe

Aims: Identify telecollaborative practices undertaken by European university

educators Explore the barriers to telecollaboration and the strategies used to

overcome these barriers

“Telecollaboration Is worthwhile”: Experienced university practitioners give their feedback on telecollaboration

What students learn from Telecollaboration

Students’ comments on what they learned…• I've been practising a lot of English. I know how an email conversation is like in

English. I realized I should be less influenced by cultural stereotypes.

• Cross-cultural dialogue skills -negotiation and facilitation skills• Patience and cooperation.

• My foreign language skills, both speaking and comprehension and some language teaching techniques.

• I have developed the ability to work in a group.

• I believe I‘ve developed my ability to write in a foreign language and my knowledge regarding the use of ICT in foreign language teaching. I’ve been able to expand my vocabulary.

• Coordination and group work mainly (I was group leader)

• J`ai developpe la capacite de travailler en groupe.

•

So why isn’t everyone doing it?

In your opinion, what are the reasons why telecollaborative exchange is not more popular in university education?

__________________________________ (Mentioned by 49/ 98 practitioners)

__________________________________ (Mentioned by 28 / 98 practitioners)

__________________________________ (Mentioned by 20/ 98 practitioners)

__________________________________ (Mentioned by 19 / 98 practitioners)

__________________________________ (Mentioned by 9/ 98 practitioners)

So why isn’t everyone doing it? In your opinion, what are the reasons why telecollaborative exchange is not more

popular in university education?

Time necessary to set up and run exchanges (Mentioned 49/ 98 practitioners)

Difficulties in integration & assessment due to institutional requirements (Mentioned by 28 / 98 practitioners)

Lack of pedagogical knowledge about how to run and integrate exchanges (Mentioned by 20/ 98 practitioners)

Teachers lack e-literacies/ required technological knowledge (Mentioned by 19 / 98 practitioners)

Difficulty in finding appropriate partners (Mentioned by 9/ 98 practitioners)

Educators’ comments:• “From my perspective, having done 5 different telecollaboration projects, I feel

now that they are not good “on-the-side" projects because there is no time to really bring students' attention to the communication taking place and the language being shared. All of my projects felt rushed. It was frustrating, though I will say there were also good things that came of all of them.”

• ...because it‘s very hard to find partners.“ • “…the cost-benefit ratio is negative for them [my colleagues]. In other words,

they realise these exchanges are relevant for the students but it takes too much effort to organise it and for that reason they won’t introduce it in their teaching.”

Growing recognition at institution level

What are the challenges for teachers?What skills do telecollaborative teachers need?

A Practical Example: Connecting classes in Spain, UK, Germany and Israel

Koblenz

León

Coventry

Tel Aviv

Task 1: Create a blog to present aspects of your local culture and provide feedback

Task 2: Carrying out group interviews based on cross-cultural themes of interest

Task 3: Use online content to create academic essays and presentations

• What kind of challenges and problems emerge during such an exchange?

• What kind of competences does a telecollaborative teacher require?

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The Challenges of Telecollaboration for Teachers- Critical Incident 1

• E-mails from teachers during the blog task…– Hi Everyone

Task one is going well with my students who are really getting into it. However just to let you know, for the second week running we have experienced problems with the Moodle site which just crashes at the beginning of our session (at about 12.00 German time). This is a real problem as we can't continue and the students get frustrated....

– Hi all, Something very strange has happened - I took my students into the computer lab last Monday and they replied to partners on the blogs. When I went in to look they are not there. I could assume that maybe one or two forgot to send, but not the entire class. In any event, I'm taking them in again tomorrow - I have never had this problem with Moodle and quite disappointing!

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The Challenges of Telecollaboration for Teachers- Critical Incident 2

• E-mail from the Israeli teacher when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict broke out…– Interestingly, yesterday I had to deal with a few upset students in a blog

group who were responding to a comment [from Germany] regarding the war situation, which they felt was insensitive. .

• The German comment:– …. I can understand that the rockets are very scary and i'm very glad that we in

Germany don´t have war like you. And i think Israel isn't alone in charge for this conflict. But can you understand the people in Gaza? Is it ok to keep these people there like in prison ? And why it isn't possible or why it´s so complicated to find a solution for all the people in your region? And why the people especially the young don't do something for the international understanding between these cultures? So it´s time so sit together, talk and finish this war. And both parties must grant facilities. Greetings from Koblenz…

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The Challenges of Telecollaboration for Teachers- Critical Incident 3

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The Challenges of Telecollaboration for Teachers- Critical Incident 4

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• Telecollaboration is inherently ‘intercultural’ – both in practice and in its underlying pedagogical principles

• The telecollaborative teacher is not alone – usually two or more teachers working together from different cultural and institutional contexts - requires of the teacher keenly refined intercultural skills and attitudes of intercultural competence

• Telecollaboration tends to be a long-term, complex activity which permeates the whole FL course – themes, tasks, classroom interaction etc.

• In telecollaborative set-ups, teachers need to be able to react quickly to emerging problems, issues and new learning opportunities.

[Read more about…The Competences of the Telecollaborative Teacher. O’Dowd, R. (2013) The Language Learning Journal, DOI: 10.1080/ 09571736.2013.853374.]

What differentiates Telecollaborative Competence from ‘Traditional’ Online Competence for FL Teachers?What differentiates Telecollaborative Competence from ‘Traditional’ Online Competence for FL Teachers?

Conclusion - Future Trends in University Telecollaboration?• Greater supportuniversity decision

makers – less dependency on ‘pioneering teachers’?

• New models of exchange which integrate telecollaboration with curricular content (Sharing Perspectives etc.)?

• More demands for research which clearly demonstrates learning outcomes of telecollaborative initiatives…

• More interest in telecollaboration for social change and for professional training

• If you come tomorrow…• We will:• Review the issues and options when planning

and setting up a telecollaborative exchange in your educational context

• Explore the UNICollaboration platform for tasks, partners and exchanges for your context

• Read and discuss case studies of ‘successful’ telecollaborative exchanges

How can you involve your classes in Telecollaborative Exchange?

Join UNICollaboration.eu: the Home of Telecollaborative Exchange for University Classrooms

Start here to find databanks of classes, institutions and practitioners who are interested in establishing contacts…

If you choose ‘classes’ then you’ll be able to search or browse a list of classes which are interested in taking part in online exchange projects...

Create a new class and let other practitioners read about your group and the type of exchange you’d like to have…

In the ‘Tasks’ tab in the top menu bar, you’ll find collections of tasks, task sequences (i.e. collections of interconnected tasks) and assessment tools to use in your online exchange projects…

To learn more about how online exchanges work: Click on the ‘Training’ tab in the top menu bar. Here you’ll find accounts of different exchanges (‘Sample projects’) and information on how to set

up and run an exchange (‘Training modules’)

When you choose a sample project, click on the different tabs to read about the project, the tasks it used and how educators evaluated the

project…

To discuss issues related to telecollaboration with colleagues: Click on ‘community’ in the top menu bar and participate in our moderated

discussion forums…

Read more about telecollaboration…• Contact:

– robert.odowd@unileon.es– Publications: http://unileon.academia.edu/RobertODowd– See this presentation again: http://www.slideshare.net/dfmro

• Read the INTENT Report on Telecollaboration in Europe: – http://www.scoop.it/t/intent-project-news

– Join UNICollaboration: www.unicollaboration.eu