Integrating Telecollaboration into Foreign Language Education:

Exploring Models of Virtual Exchange for Language Educators in University Education

Robert O’DowdUniversity of León, SpainPublications: http://unileon.academia.edu/RobertODowdPresentations: http://www.slideshare.net/dfmroTwitter: Robodowd Skype: robodowdUNICollaboration: www.uni-collaboration.eu

Timetable• 09.00-09.20: Introduction

– Why are you here? Some introductions.– What is Telecollaboration? What are its potential benefits?

• 09.20- 11.00: Planning and setting up a telecollaborative exchange in your educational context: Key issues and challenges

• 11.00-11.30: Break• 11.30 – 12.15: Using the UNICollaboration platform for your

exchanges (www.uni-collaboration.eu) • 12.15-13.00: Exploring case studies of Telecollaboration

What is Telecollaboration?

• Telecollaboration is: • 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 are the origins of Telecollaboration? • Célestin Freinet:

– Students carried out research into areas of personal interest

– Students published work in school newspapers

– Correspondence and exchange of newspapers between students in other French schools - ‘cultural packages’

Key Developments in TelecollaborationThe International Tandem Network - 1994

Virtual Connections: Online Activities & Projects for Networking Language Learners (1995) by Mark Warschauer

Key Developments in TelecollaborationIECC- Intercultural Email Classroom Connections (1992-2001: 28,000+ requests for e-mail partnerships)

Language Learning & Technology: 2003: Vol 7(2) – Special Edition Editor Julie Belz

Your thoughts…

What advantages could telecollaboration have for a) your students? b) you as an academic and teacher?c) your institution?

Why integrate Telecollaboration into your classrooms?

• Watch some telecollaborative teachers on UNICollaboration.eu talking about the benefits of online exchange:

• http://www.uni-collaboration.eu/?q=node/818

• What benefits do they mention?

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

Your thoughts….

• What questions should a teacher think about when planning an online exchange?

10

Issues when designing Online Exchange• What sort of partner class should I look for?• Where can I find partners?• How to deal with language use and combine the L1

and L2 successfully?• Which online communication tools to use?• What tasks should the students carry out together?• Should there be an explicit focus on form?• What should be the role of the teacher?• How should the exchange activity be assessed?

What makes a good telecollaborative partner?Where can I find partner classes?

What makes a good partner-teacher for my online exchange?

• Watch some telecollaborative teachers on UNICollaboration.eu talking about this here:

• http://www.uni-collaboration.eu/?q=node/438

• What do they mention?

Look for a possible partner-class for your context• Explore UNICollaboration.eu • http://unicollaboration.eu/ - Partners - classes

How to combine the L1 and L2?

The e-tandem Approach: “…this entails that each partner should communicate as closely as possible to half in his/her mother tongue and half in his/her target language. This grants both learners the opportunity to practise speaking and writing in their target language and listening to and reading text written by their native speaking partner.” [Pedagogical considerations for a web-based tandem language learning environment - Appel & Mullen, 2000]http://www.nc12z.com/uploadfile/cms/books/270/ts270059.pdf

Hey 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

The Cultura Option

“To have students write in the forums in their "native" language was also a deliberate choice. We wanted to make sure that students were able to express their thoughts in all their complexity as fully and as naturally as possible…what students may "lose", by not writing in the target language, is largely offset by the gains they make by getting access to a rich, dynamic and totally authentic language.”

• http://cultura.mit.edu/

Other possible Approaches? Spanish-American Cultura• Students alternate writing in BOTH LANGUAGES in the online interaction.

In English-language forums both groups communicate in English and in Spanish-language forums they do so in Spanish.

• Students read responses in both languages • Students always use target language in classroom discussion and analysis

Rationale:• Pedagogic demands of the institution• Better use of class time for students• Practises both writing and reading in target language

http://cultura2.wikispaces.com/robert.odowd@unileon.es

cultura

Your thoughts….

• What online communication tools would you consider using in an online exchange?

• What factors should we consider when choosing a certain tool?

21

Which Online Communication Tools to use?

• Asynchronous text-based tools? e-mail, forums, wikis, google docs

• Synchronous text-based tools? – Chat, whatsApp, etc.

• Synchronous oral communication? – skype, google hangouts…

• Web 2.0 – content & communication – blogs, tumblr etc.

Factors to consider when choosing the right Tool(s)• “Successful implementation of CMC…depends on having clear

pedagogical objectives in mind, knowledge of the technical options and an awareness of the needs, goals, and skills of the learners (Levy and Stockwell, 2006: 107)”

• Objectives of the exchange – culture/language? Oral/written?• Affordances of the different tools – use of multimedia?• Students current online practices in their social and working lives

(“cultures of use”) – Using WhatsApp in university education?• ‘Fit’ of the technology into both socio-institutional contexts:

• Availability• Reliability• Location

• What was the added value of the videoconference over other communication tools?

• Nadine: … it was great to see our partners and so to get a better view on the people we are writing at. Furthermore, it gave the chance to get more spontaneous reactions than one can get in emails.

• Jessica: … they had to answer intuitively and you were able to see on their faces what they were really thinking.

• What were the advantages of e-mail communication over the videoconferences?• Nicole: time to think about answers and questions (choice of words)/ greater

variety of vocabulary/ opportunity to look up new words and put them directly into context/

• Sandra: A written exchange gives you the chance to think about what you could write to represent a certain topic.

• Iolanda: Topics can be discussed in a more extensive and detailed way. Gives us time to think about what we are going to write and gives us time to search for information.

Understanding Technology in Context• Spanish student feedback

comparing oral and written discussion boards:

• “I prefer the written one because you don’t get so nervous and you have more time to think about what you want to say. Also I did not like to speak in the computer lab with my classmates listening to what I was saying.”

• “It’s easier to understand them in the written forum because it’s very difficult to speak with someone that you don’t see.”

Telecollaborators searching for the right tool• Alberto: …I am not sure where we could do all this [the exchange], because I am

convinced that enclosed sites like Moodle or Blackboard are so little interactive that they hinder communication and engagement. 

• Alberto: [After recommendations from others]: I have created an account on Canvas and it seems ok to me for the discussion boards. Students would need to register, but it should take them 2 minutes (we can do that in class).

• Robert: Alberto, this puts us back in the 'formal learning tools' though, doesn't it? What about using google docs? Students could write their comments and add photos etc. to google doc pages. Another option would be a free wiki such as PBWiki.

• Alberto: Hi Robert, I must agree with you!!! Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard are exactly what we were tying to avoid. Google + is less of a formal learning tool, but it will be probably complicated to use with so many people. I have checked PBWiki, a new tool for me, and it seems that their free wikis are limited to 15 people. 

• Alberto: Hi Robert, What about Google Groups? I have created and account, set up a group, and sent you an invitation so you can check it. I think that it is exactly what we needed: a discussion board tool without a LMS environment.

Google Groups: León-Princeton

What limitations does Google Groups have for telecollaborative interaction?

Other options –NING.com – 22€ / month – 1000 members

31

32

33

https://languagetwin.com/

https://languagetwin.com/#aboutUsPage

Your thoughts….

What types of tasks should students carry out together?Who should choose the tasks?

36

What makes a good task for my online exchange?

• Watch some telecollaborative teachers on UNICollaboration.eu talking about this here:

• http://www.uni-collaboration.eu/?q=node/439

• What do they mention?

• “Most teachers who have used the Internet have started out with some kind of simple key pal (computer pen pal) exchanges. And most teachers who have used these exchanges have felt something lacking. Simply put, there is no more reason to except a significant educational outcome from simply creating a pen pal connection than there is from simply bringing two students into a room and asking them to talk.”

• Mark Warschauer & P. Fawn Whittaker (1997)• http://iteslj.org/Articles/Warschauer-Internet.html

• Telecollaborative Tasks (Type 1): Information Exchange Tasks: – Provide partners with information about their

personal biographies, local schools or towns or aspects of their home cultures.

– Function as an introductory activity for two groups of learners who are not yet familiar with each other

– Generally ‘monologic’ in nature as there is usually little negotiation of meaning (neither cultural nor linguistic). Exception: ethnographic interviews- require intercultural skills of discovery and interaction.

• 1. Introductions. In these first two weeks of the English part of the exchange: Students from University X and University Y write an introductory text on themselves and their home town/ culture focusing on aspects of their lives which may surprise people from the other culture.

• 2. Tourist Shops. Students have to visit the tourist shops in their home town and report back on what they find there. Are the objects for sale really representative of their culture? Or are they simply stereotypical images of the home culture which do not correspond to the reality? Discuss together and ask each other questions about the two cultures.

• Telecollaborative Tasks (Type 2): Comparison and Analysis Tasks: – More demanding than T1. Require learners to go a

step further and carry out comparisons or critical analyses of cultural products from both cultures (e.g. books, surveys, films, newspaper articles).

– These can have a cultural focus and/or a linguistic focus.

– Require learners to provide explanations of the linguistic meaning or cultural significance of cultural products or practices and then to establish similarities or differences between the two cultures through dialogue.

http://web.mit.edu/french/culturaNEH

Questionnaires

• Telecollaborative Tasks (Type 3): Collaborative Tasks: – Require learners to work together to produce a joint

product or conclusion (e.g. an essay or presentation, a linguistic translation or cultural adaptation of a text).

– Usually involve great deal of coordination and planning.

– Also bring about substantial amounts of negotiation (both on linguistic and cultural levels) as learners strive to reach agreement on their final product.

• Advertisement Adaptation:

The students from Spain and America will be shown a Spanish advertisement and will be asked to write an adaptation for the American market.

You should change the content as well as the language style, so that the ad is appropriate for the other culture. The American partners should also comment on the language, style, and cultural appropriateness of the new version and suggest changes. Agree on a final version of the adaptation which is agreeable to all group members.

Issues when Designing Tasks:

Should tasks be chosen by the instructors an/or by the students themselves?

What level of autonomy should students be allowed to have when completing tasks?

E-mail from Alex (tutor in Spain) writes to Susan (tutor in USA)

• “…Another worry is the first Spanish activity - students are being very general and vague about what task to complete together and according to our timetable we have only one week left before moving on to task two. What can we expect students to do this week? Who should make the final decision as to what film/ad/ song they should discuss together? How much time will they have to then carry out this discussion? Do you share my worry about this? Or maybe I am being overly-teacherly about this and should just sit back and let the students work out all this for themselves. I'd like to hear your takes on this please...”

Reply from Susan to Alex• “…if they are indeed vague and general, in all honesty -  that’s

their problem. They know how telecollaboration functions and what impact it has on their grade. If they don’t intend to take it seriously on their own, their grade will suffer. Although they might not learn a lot of Spanish from that, it’ll be a valuable lesson in other senses: namely, I always tell my students that part of their academic experience is not only to learn about the subject matter, but also to learn responsibility, (self)discipline, time-management, collective awareness as well as many other concepts and principles on which the adult world operates. So, if my students don't grasp the subjunctive fully, but I manage to teach them some of the afore-mentioned principles - that satisfies me as a teacher as well. Ideally, I'd want to have them grasp both aspects, but that's not always possible. In the same vein, in reference to who will have a final decision as to what film/ad/ song they should discuss together, I think I mentioned on a couple of occasions that the students will be the ones to decide (preferably American students). If they drag their feet in making this decision and as a result of that they don’t have enough time to complete the first activity so be it. I’ll take a couple of points off and I can bet you that for the second activity they won’t commit the same mistake. That would be my take on things.”

Student Reactions to Self-selected or Instructor-Assigned Tasks

• Students from Spain:• “I prefer instructor-assigned tasks

because I consider we wasted a lot of time deciding on what task to do in Spanish”

• “The disadvantage of self-selected tasks is to find something relevant and interesting for both me and my partner…”

• “I prefer instructor-assigned tasks because you don’t always know what your partner is going to like or dislike about the task you choose, so it is easier a mandatory task”

• Students from USA:• “I prefer self-selected tasks because I

choose what I was interested in. The other tasks were boring…”

• “Self-selected because they gave me more freedom. The assigned tasks were uninteresting.”

• “I liked instructor-assigned tasks because it was easier to manage and not as open-ended.”

• “I like self-selected tasks because I could work on what I wanted to and that was motivating…”

Your thoughts….

How can we focus on form in telecollaborative projects?

51

Types of Focus on Form• In Tandem learning: • Error-correction by their partners• Repair sequences (“Negotiation of meaning”)• Working backward from their partners’ mistakes in the

L1 (Appel and Mullen, 2000) • Refer to structures and vocab used earlier in the L2 by

their partner (“noticing”) – pedagogical interventions

The benefits of peer-correction and mentoring

• "In class you write down notes about grammar and vocabulary and it stays in your notebook. With an exchange partner she corrects and the information stays with you ....

• You learn more from mistakes in the forums than from reading rules from the blackboard …. Maybe it's more interesting by the net. You are chatting so you are enjoying. If the teacher gives me a corrected essay, I just read it and that's all.”

[Interview extracts from a León-Dallas exchange. More info: http://llt.msu.edu/vol12num1/wareodowd/default.html]

Problems with focussing on form• Students don’t know how to correct their partners’

mistakes- How many English natives could explain the difference between ‘practice’ and ‘practise’ to a non-native Spanish speaker?

• [A Spanish student after her exchange with an American partner] “It’s ok but I think there is a bad point. That is that they are not teachers. They can make mistakes too. In the correction she sent me of ‘firstly’ she didn’t realise you can say this in British English.”

Some more Problems…• Difficulties correcting your partner

“I thought, I would seem arrogant if I tried to correct their grammar and their spelling in a casual conversation about the topics. When you’re speaking to somebody, you don’t expect them to correct you and it could actually insult them”. [Dana from the USA speaking about her Spanish partner]

• Schwienhorst (2000): even though students were explicitly encouraged to correct their partners’ grammar errors, very little evidence of error correction appeared in the transcripts. Perception by students that tandem was primarily a communicative activity?

Your thoughts….

What should be the role of the teacher?

57

What should be the Role of the Teacher?

• [A teacher writes to partner teacher] “Do you think there is any need to monitor the discussions or just exchange e-mail addresses and let the students handle the rest? (E-mail to author, 2001)”

• [Another teacher writes to partner teacher] “On-line exchanges should be integrated into the regular classes in the way which the teacher finds most effective. When students are left to themselves they lose interest in the process fairly soon. As any other teaching/learning process, this should be well-planned, organized and controlled – then it brings results.”

Should students`e-mails be read and shared in class?

• Q: Do you find it useful and interesting when we talk about the exchange in class?

• A: I think it might be necessary, just to keep it going. But on the other hand it seems uncomfortable to me that I would actually like to discuss (up to a certain degree) rather “private”, or non-superficial subjects, but my e-mails have to be forwarded to at least two people. And the content might be topic of our next meeting...

• But: „Zensur und Internet wollen nicht zueinander passen, aber E-mail Projekte sind keine Privatangelegenheit von Schülern, sondern Teil schulischer Arbeit (Donath, 1997:264).“

Dealing with intercultural communication episodes in the classroom

• Exploring cultural ‘rich points’ in class:

• Belz (2002: 76): “…the clash of cultural fault lines in telecollaborative learning communities …should not be smoothed over or avoided…; indeed, they should be encouraged”.

Your thoughts….

Read the extracts from various telecollaborative exchangesHow should they be dealt with in the classroom?

61

What are the main challenges for novice telecollaborators? Are there certain competences harder to develop than

others?• Qualitative interviews via

email with 4 novice telecollaborators (10 per informant)

• Informants teaching languages at universities in Argentina, USA and Italy (*2)

• Identified in the unicollaboration.eu database of practitioners

Main problems experienced by Novice Telecollaborators

• Barbara: that “…[telecollaboration] can be difficult if the teacher is not completely familiar with the culture/educational system of the partner country. …it was very helpful for me to know the French educational system and the fact, for example, that French students and teachers take their weekends and vacation time seriously, and don’t work 24/7 like the Americans.” [organisational competence A10]

• Francesca: [difficulty of] “…finding partner institutions in English speaking countries that have classes of Italian as a Foreign Language. Then, once the partner institution is found, it is not always easy to find time slots which fit the timetables of both institutions.” [A1] and [A4]]

Main problems experienced by Novice Telecollaborators (2)

• Marta: “My questions and doubts have to do with technology at this point. I am still debating what platform is best for the asynchronous exchange. I am not familiar with blogs so I am nervous about using it.” [C2]

• Melina: “The other difficulty for me is to keep track of the synchronous communication since there is no log. My students get an oral participation grade for this part of the exchange and I am still trying to figure out how to do that. [A13 and C2]

Model of Telecollabor

ative Competence for Teachers

Organisational

Competences

Pedagogical Competence

s

Attitudes /Socio-

affective

Electronic Literacies

65O’Dowd, R. (2013). The Competences of the Telecollaborative Teacher. The Language Learning Journal, DOI: 10.1080/ 09571736.2013.853374.

The Telecollaborative Teacher…• …can integrate appropriate

assessment procedures and rubrics which accurately reflect the activities which students carried out during their exchange.

• …can choose the appropriate

online communication tools (e.g. email, blogs, wikis, skype) to fit both the everyday online practices of the students as well as the project’s aims.

• …can use online networks and his/her own professional contacts to locate possible partner-teachers in distant locations.

• …can apply his/her knowledge of the educational context in which the partner class is working in order to structure the exchange

and avoid problems.

What Approach will you take?• Who decides on the content

of the tasks and interaction?

• How often will the online interaction be discussed in class?

• Do students need guidance in writing and analysing correspondence?

• Should the teachers intervene/participate in the online interaction?

Your thoughts….

How should we assess telecollaborative projects?

68

How should the exchange activity be assessed?

• What do we want to assess?– Participation?– Development in the L2?– Electronic Literacies?– Intercultural Competence (skills, attitudes, cultural

awareness)?

• How should it be assessed?– Proof of participation– Products of interaction (essays, blogs, websites)– Reflection on learning (portfolios, diaries)

• “Some authors suggest that instead of grading learners on the number of posts, more self-evaluating procedures should be used, as well as peer evaluations… These forms of evaluation become even more important when considering the question of assessing the general outcome of CMC in TBLT, intercultural communicative competence (Muller-Hartmann, A and Schocker v.-Ditfurth, M. 2008).”

Evaluating Intercultural Competence• An interview with Michael Byram:• “Although I have written about assessment for the

reasons that we all know, i.e. that what isn’t tested isn’t taught, nonetheless there are problematic aspects of assessment and we can’t be sure what the answers are. Particularly about attitude. Assessing skills is OK, assessing knowledge is OK, assessing the ability to evaluate is OK, but not assessing values or attitudes. That’s where there are problems of a moral nature, as well as a technical nature.”

• http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/elt/forum/byrint.htm

An Exchange Portfolio• What should your exchange portfolio contain?• Your portfolio should show proof that you have developed as a learner of English

during your online exchange and that you have reflected on your learning process. To do that, you should include some of the following things:

• 1. Your essay about the exchange.• 2. An example of a post you wrote to your partner where you tried out new

vocabulary and/or grammatical structures or ones which you do not usually use. Explain which are the new structures and vocabulary and how you felt about trying out new language.

• 3. A dialogue which shows a post you wrote which has some mistakes you made in English and then the answer from your partner where she corrects you. Explain whether you think your partner corrected you in a useful way or not. What did you learn from the corrections?

• 4. An example of a message from your partner where you learned new vocabulary or where you noticed how a certain grammatical structure works.

• 5. An extract from your chat with your partner (if you had one). Explain your opinion about using chats compared to using the message boards. Which advantages and disadvantages do chats have? Can you show evidence for this in your own chat?

• 6. Photocopies of pages from your notebook where you made notes about your online exchange and what your partner taught you.

Now it’s your turn: What Approach will you take?

• What sort of partner class should I look for?• Where can I find partners?• How to deal with language use and combine the L1

and L2 successfully?• Which online communication tools to use?• What tasks should the students carry out together?• Should there be an explicit focus on form?• What should be the role of the teacher?• How should the exchange activity be assessed?

I

It’s break time…..

Using the UNICollaboration platform for your exchanges

Carry out a study of Telecollaboration in

European HEI’s

Develop uni-collaboraion.eu

platform to support Telecollaboration in

European HEIs

Identify and develop strategies for

Integration of TC

Provide training through workshops & online

resources

The INTENT Project

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

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

As you explore www.unicollaboration.eu:

• See if you can find the following on the platform:• …. a proposed exchange which you would like to take

part in.• ….task which you would like to use in your

telecollaborative exchanges.• …. a task sequence which you would like to try out.• …. a sample project which appears interesting to you.

I

Our Last Task today: Exploring case studies of Telecollaboration

The normalisation of Computer Assisted LanguageLearning

[W]hen computers . . . are used every day by language students and teachers as an integral part of every lesson, like a pen or a book . . . without fear or inhibition, and equally without an exaggerated respect for what they can do. They will not be the centre of any lesson, but they will play a part in almost all . . . They will go almost unnoticed. (Stephen Bax, 2003: 23)

Identifying Strategies for ‘normalising’ TC in university education

• What are practitioners doing to overcome these barriers and to ensure successful, on-going exchanges which involve recognition of teachers and students’ work?

• Case studies of practitioners in – Trinity College, Dublin– Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden– The University of Padua, Italy– University of Manchester, UK – Arhus Universitet, Denmark– University of Riga, Latvia

– University of Warwick, UK

As you read your case study• How was the exchange

structured? Tasks, evaluation etc.

• What problems and barriers did the organisers encounter?

• What steps did they take to achieve successful integration of the exchange in their institutions?

Learning from the Case Studies

Telecollaboration is not only for ‘pure’ language students – Engineering students in Sweden, Business Studies students in Trinity, Dublin

Senior Management – view OIE as a positive international activity but are often unwilling to provide adequate staff and technical support

OIE can contribute to educators’ academic careers – new academic networks, staff mobility – e.g. Riga & Grenoble / Warwick & Clermont sign ‘Memorandum of Understanding’

No ‘one size fits all’ -Different levels of integration are possible: Claivier at Warwick takes place independently of academic courses SpEakWise at Trinity is integrated into a course but does not carry credit Manchester and Latvia – course marks are based completely on OIE

activity

Strategies for Integrating Telecollaboration (1)

Signing of written contracts between participating partner classes – provides security to include exchanges in study guides etc.

Ensure that students see relevance and value of exchanges – e.g. through providing academic credit for OIE

Functioning partnerships gather momentum – try to maintain steady partners

Ensure awareness and support of department heads – coordinating staff can be replaced if necessary

Prestige and awareness raising through press releases and prize winning (e.g. Trinity award)

Ensure internal department collaboration and sharing of good practices (e.g. Padova – tool sharing)

Strategies for Integrating Telecollaboration (2)

‘Loose networks’ of partners are gaining in popularity TransAtlantic Network (Translation students around Europe & technical writing

students in USA) Soliya – Connects students from 100 HEI’s in 27 countries in Western-Eastern dialogue Cultura – bilingual bicultural exchanges through comparative task types AUSJAL DUAL IMMERSION PROJECT - 21 Jesuit universities from eight different

countries in North and South America Byram’s Intercultural Citizenship project – 25 practitioners looking for partners to carry

out a project on intercultural citizenship

Advantages: Common themes of interest Not obliged to work with same partner constantly - flexibility Activities, solutions and ideas are shared and developed

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 our Report on Telecollaboration in Europe: – http://www.scoop.it/t/intent-project-news – INTENT Project news: http://www.scoop.it/t/intent-project-

news