Virtual exchange (also referred to as online intercultural exchange among other names) is an instructional approach or practice for language learning. It broadly refers to the "notion of 'connecting' language learners in pedagogically structured interaction and collaboration" through computer-mediated communication for the purpose of improving their language skills, intercultural communicative competence, and digital literacies. Although it proliferated with the advance of the internet and Web 2.0 technologies in the 1990s, its roots can be traced to learning networks pioneered by Célestin Freinet in 1920s and, according to Dooly, even earlier in Jardine's work with collaborative writing at the University of Glasgow at the end of the 17th to the early 18th century.
Virtual exchange is recognized as a field of computer-assisted language learning as it relates to the use of technology in language learning. Outside the field of language education, this type of pedagogic practice is being used to internationalize the curriculum and offer students the possibility to engage with peers in other parts of the world in collaborative online projects.
Virtual exchange is based on sociocultural views of learning inspired by Vygotskian theories of learning as a social activity.
Terms and definitions Different names have been used to describe the practice, ranging from terms that usually describe a particular practice within the area, such as dual language virtual exchange which is sometimes called teletandem, eTandem, and tandem language learning, to more generic terms such as globally virtual connections, online interaction and exchange, online intercultural exchange, online exchange, virtual exchange, virtual connections, global virtual teams, globally-networked learning environments, collaborative online international learning (COIL), Internet-mediated intercultural foreign language education. globally networked learning, telecollaboration, and telecollaboration 2.0. Currently, it appears that virtual exchange is the most prominent umbrella term, a term that can be used for a variety of models and practices.
Likewise, depending on the aims and settings a variety of definitions have been applied to the practice. One of the most widely referenced definitions comes from Julie Belz, who defines it as a partnership in which "internationally-dispersed learners in parallel language classes use Internet communication tools such as e-mail, synchronous chat, threaded discussion, and MOOs (as well as other forms of electronically mediated communication), in order to support social interaction, dialogue, debate, and intercultural exchange." As the practice is most common in language learning contexts, narrower definitions appeared as well, such as an "Internet-based intercultural exchange between people of different cultural/national backgrounds, set up in an institutional context with the aim of developing both language skills and intercultural communicative competence... through structured tasks."
Conversely, broader definitions that go beyond educational contexts emerged as well, such as "the process of communicating and working together with other people or groups from different locations through online or digital communication tools (e.g., computers, tablets, cellphones) to co-produce a desired work output. Telecollaboration can be carried out in a variety of settings (classroom, home, workplace, laboratory) and can be synchronous or asynchronous."
History The origins of virtual exchange have been linked to the work of iEARN and the New York/Moscow Schools Telecommunications Project (NYS-MSTP) which was launched in 1988 by Peter Copen and the Copen Family Fund. This project stemmed from a perceived need to connect youth from the two countries during a time which was marked by tensions between the United States and the U.S.S.R. that had developed during the Cold War. With the institutional support of the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, and the New York State Board of Education, a pilot programme between 12 schools in each nation was established. Students worked in both English and Russian on projects based on their curricula, which had been designed by participating teachers. The program expanded in the early 1990s to include China, Israel, Australia, Spain, Canada, Argentina, and the Netherlands. The early 1990s saw the establishment of the organization iEARN which became officially established in 1994. One of the earliest projects, which is still running, was Margaret Riel's Learning Circles. The organization has since expanded and is currently active in over 100 countries and promotes many different projects, also in collaboration with other organizations such as The My Hero Project. This form of education which aims to integrate awareness of international communities as part of the curriculum is sometimes referred to as global education.
In foreign language education the practice of virtually connecting learners is also commonly called Virtual Exchange but has sometimes been known as telecollaboration and is a sub-field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). It was first promoted as a form of network-based language learning in the 1990s through the work of educators such as Mark Warschauer and Rick Kern. One of the first uses of the word telecollaboration was in Warschauer's 1996 volume that compiled works on computer-mediated communication (CMC) following the Symposium on Local and Global Electronic Networking in Foreign Language Learning and Research held at the University of Hawaiʻi in 1995. The symposium brought together educators concerned with these issues from university and secondary education throughout the world. Telecollaborative practices at the time involved the use of e-mail and other Web 1.0 capabilities.Chun, D. M. (2014). Cultura-inspired intercultural exchanges: Focus on Asian and Pacific languages. National Foreign Language Resource Center, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Several different models of virtual exchange / telecollaboration have since been developed, such as the Cultura model, developed in 1997 at MIT in the United States, and the dual language virtual exchange / eTandem model. The Cultura project was originally developed as a bilingual project for French and English, but has since been developed in several different languages.
In 2003 the organization Soliya was founded by Lucas Welch and Liza Chambers in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Soliya's Connect Program has become an important model of online facilitated dialogue and is based on principles of intergroup dialogue and peacebuilding. In this model of virtual exchange, students from universities across the globe are placed in diverse groups of 10–12 people, and they meet regularly for 2-hour sessions of dialogue through an over a period of 8 weeks. Each group is supported by one or two trained facilitators.
In 2004 the International Virtual Exchange Project (IVEProject) was begun by Eric Hagley. In 2015 this project was sponsored by a Japanese government kaken grant which allowed it to expand greatly. The project has students studying foreign languages under the tutelage of teachers interact asynchronously and synchronously using the language they are studying. The most common exchange is done in English as the Lingua Franca. As of August 2024, over 60,000 students from 29 countries have participated.
In 2005 the European Commission established the eTwinning programme for schools. The programme promotes projects between schools in Europe which entail both synchronous and asynchronous collaborations between classes, offering a safe platform for staff (teachers, head teachers, librarians, etc.) working in a school in one of the European countries involved. Teachers who register in eTwinning are checked by the National Support Organisation (NSO) and are validated in order to use all eTwinning features such as TwinSpace and Project Diary, providing a safe and GDPR compliant environment for students and teachers' interaction.
As per 2021, there are 122,134 active projects with 937,761 teachers in 217,830 schools in eTwinning countries as well as e-Twinning plus countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Jordan, Lebanon, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine). A key element of eTwinning is collaboration among teachers, students, schools, parents, and local authorities. In eTwinning teachers organize activities that enable young learners to engage in communicative interaction with peers from other linguistic and cultural backgrounds in order to practise and further develop their intercultural communicative competence in their respective foreign (target) language. Students have an active role in co-creating the learning experience by interacting, investigating and making decisions whilst respecting each other thus learning 21st century skills. The use of TwinSpace facilitates a multimodal approach to collaboration which integrates tools to ensure communicative and pedagogic diversity and richness. eTwinning has established a strong community of teachers and organizes training for them.
In 2006 the SUNY Center for Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) was established at SUNY's Purchase College. COIL developed from the work of faculty members who used technology to bring international students into their classrooms using technology. COIL's Founding Director was Jon Rubin, a film and new media professor at Purchase College. The COIL model is increasingly being recognized as a way for universities to internationalize their curricula. In 2010 COIL joined the new SUNY Global Center in New York City and continued to expand its global network.
In 2011 the Virtual Exchange Coalition was established in the united states to further the field of virtual exchange, bringing together important virtual exchange providers.
The 1st International Conference on Telecollaboration in University Foreign Language Education was hold at the University of León in February, 2014.Chun, D. M. (2014). Cultura-inspired intercultural exchanges: Focus on Asian and Pacific languages. National Foreign Language Resource Center, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. It provided a broad overview of linguistic and intercultural telecollaboration and generated interest in how telecollaboration can contribute to general educational goals and digital literacies in higher education.
In 2016 members of the INTENT consortium working in different disciplines in higher education around the globe launched the UNICollaboration platform at the Second Conference on Telecollaboration in Higher Education at Trinity College, Dublin. The aim was to support university educators and mobility coordinators to find partner classes, and to organise and run online intercultural exchanges for their students. This platform was one of the outputs of an EU-funded project and has over 1000 registered educators.