What is Telecollaboration?How is it being used in University

Education?

•Robert O’Dowd•University of León, Spain•www.uni-collaboration.eu

Student mobility in Europe

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

• But what happens to the remaining 80%?– Need to exploit online communication as a form of blended mobility or

pure virtual mobility• 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)”

• Report of the High Level Expert Forum on mobility:– “Virtual mobility is widely available, quick and cheap. …Developing the

synergies between virtual and physical mobility is a central art of a new way of life’ (2008: 11)”.

Telecollaboration: International Online Learning from the classroom

• Telecollaboration/ Online Intercultural Exchange (OIE) involves virtual intercultural interaction and collaboration projects between classes in geographically distant locations.

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 Ireland – using German and English

4. Students on Erasmus 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 the UK, students from Italy are ‘matched’ and interact online with British students

planning to travel to Italy.

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.

Why integrate telecollaboration into your university classrooms?

For Students: Development of FL competence, intercultural awareness, electronic literacies

For University Management: ‘Low cost’ internationalisation strategy / Opening up new university partnerships

For Mobility Officers: Preparation for physical mobility/ Alternative to physical mobility

For University Educators: Opening up of classroom / Authentic communication and project work / Developing

international network of collaborators

Some examples of University-level Telecollaborative Exchange

• Future ‘Primary school teachers’ in ULE (B1 level) work with Students of Spanish in Missouri, USA:– Task 1: Upload and discuss a photo or video which tells the other group

something about your home culture– Task 2: Participate in two discussion forums – one in English and one in

Spanish. – Task 3: Make a video presentation, ‘teaching’ their partners expressions in

the foreign language– Task 4: In groups of four, create a blog with images, text and links about an

aspect of life in Spain/USA. Post your reactions and some language corrections to your American partners’ blogs.

– Evaluation: Write an essay reflecting on what you have learned from the exchange.

Web 2.0 Tool: www.ning.com

Task 1: Upload and discuss a photo…

9

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

10

Task 3: Making short videos for their partners…

11

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

12

Two students’ reactions…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…

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.

13

Another Example: Integrating mobility students into faculty’s study activities

• “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 Contact 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 are the potential benefits of telecollaboration for university education?

Research studies show its value for development of:

• Learner autonomy (O’Rourke, 2007)

• Linguistic competence (Belz and Kinginger, 2003; Ware and O’Dowd, 2008)

• Intercultural competence (Mueller-Hartmann, 2000; O’Dowd, 2003; Ware, 2005)

• Online literacy skills (Guth and Helm, 2010; Hauck, 2007)

• Independent and informal learning - online fan communities (Thorne et al., 2009), SpeakApps tools (http://www.speakapps.org/)

• Success at primary and secondary levels through networks such as etwinning.net and ePals.org

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.

INTENT : Integrating Telecollaborative Networks Into Higher Education

Financed By The European Commission - Lifelong Learning Programme

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

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.”

• “It needs to become an mainstream option in traditional face-to-face universities.”

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 English 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.

• Je crois avoir developpé mon expression écrite en LE et mes connaissances par rapport à l'emploi des TIC dans l'enseignement en LE. J'ai pu enrichir mon vocabulaire.

•

Lecturers’ opinions regarding telecollaboration and physical mobility

Read more of the report…• Contact:

– robert.odowd@unileon.es• Read our Report on Telecollaboration in Europe:

– http://www.scoop.it/t/intent-project-news

• This project have been funded with support from the European Commission. This project reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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)