Virtual and Impactful: The Power of Virtual Intercultural Learning
Event Date: October 3, 2022, 4-7pm (Eastern Time)
Virtual Intercultural Competence (ICC) learning has grown tremendously as a response to the sudden lack of in-person mobility during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that a return to physical mobility is occuring, how can we continue to promote and perfect the use of virtual options, especially as a way to further intercultural competence development, enhance classroom learning and connect communities? In this half-day symposium, the Virtual ICC working group of the World Council of Global and Intercultural Competences invites all to join in open spaces for discussion and learning, to hear about promising Virtual ICC practices across cultures and disciplines, and discuss how to establish virtual ICC learning as part of a toolbox of valuable ICC strategies. Future ICC learning needs to address various spaces, approaches, and forms of collaborative, experiential learning so that people from all over the globe can learn from and with each other in building a better world together.
Stephanie Doscher, Ed.D. Director of the Office of Collaborative Online International Learning, Florida International University, United States
Dr. Doscher’s recent work focuses on the relationship between diversity and the production of knowledge across borders, a timely and important theme which we are delighted to begin to explore via her remarks at the symposium. A long-time leader in internationalization, she also has highly relevant experience on engaging in global education in virtual spaces.
Prof. Dr. Robert O’Dowd (asynchronously), University of Leon, Spain
Dr. Robert O’Dowd comes from Ireland and is Associate Professor for English as a Foreign Language and Applied Linguistics at the University of León, Spain. He has taught at universities in Ireland, Germany and Spain and has numerous publications on the application of Virtual Exchange in university and pre-university education settings. He was the founding president of the UNICollaboration academic organization for telecollaboration and virtual exchange (www.unicollaboration.org) and has been invited to be plenary speaker at international conferences in the US, Asia and across Europe.
Among recent activities, he was invited in 2019 to be co-editor of a special edition of the prestigious journal Language Learning & Technology on the theme of Virtual Exchange in Foreign Language Education. He also coordinated the Erasmus projects Integrating International Networks in Higher Education (INTENT) (2011-2014) and the European Policy Experiment Evaluating and Upscaling Telecollaborative Teacher Education (EVALUATE) (2017-2019).
He is currently coordinating the Erasmus+ European Policy Experiment Virtual Innovation and Support Networks for Teachers (VALIANT) (2021-2024). Robert’s publications are available here: http://unileon.academia.edu/RobertODowd and you can follow him on twitter @robodowd.
Keiko Ikeda, PhD., Vice-Director of IIGE, Kansai University, Japan
In recent years, including long prior to 2020, Japan has been a leader in developing “internationalization at home” initiatives which include online collaborations. We are delighted to invite Dr. Ikeda to provide insight into the Japanese perspectives on COIL (collaborative online international learning) and how virtual programming connects Japan with universities overseas, improving outcomes for domestic and international students.
During the half-day symposium, attendees will learn, network, and discuss virtual ICC practices and theories to further our work in designing effective and appropriate virtual ICC learning that reaches diverse learners.
By the end of the symposium participants will:
- Learn how to facilitate virtual ICC learning – what is “good” facilitation? What makes virtual ICC projects successful?
- Acknowledge and value non-dominant forms of cultural knowledge from underrepresented locations or peoples.
- Network across cultures and borders to collaborate and learn from and with each other in furthering our understanding of virtual ICC practices and knowledge – cross-cultural virtual collaboration in action!
A recording of the event will be sent to all registrants.
Questions? Contact Emily Pelka at e.pelka@fulbrightmail.org with any questions about the symposium.
Register
A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants just prior to the event.