This book explores how identities emerge and are negotiated by young people in online facilitated dialogue, a form of virtual exchange. It offers a framework for this type of exploration based on the assumption that both the situated context and the technologies mediating online interactions influence, but do not necessarily determine, the interactions taking place and the participants’ identity orientations. Identity is viewed not as fixed and static, but rather multiple and fluid as interactants position themselves in relation to one another. This framework is then applied to the analysis of one specific virtual exchange context, and the interactions over several weeks of a group of participants from a wide range of backgrounds.

Journal of Virtual Exchange is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal aimed at practitioners and researchers in the field known variously as telecollaboration, virtual exchange, or online intercultural exchange. It is the official journal of UniCollaboration, the international academic organisation dedicated to supporting and promoting telecollaboration and virtual exchange in higher education.

Virtual Exchange (VE) is of great import to language and culture teachers and researchers but is also gaining popularity in other fields. However, around the world and in the Asia-Pacific region in particular, the number of exchanges is not high and the quality of those that exist needs to continue to improve. It is essential that the latest research and best practice can be disseminated to ensure VE develops further. In this edited volume, various researchers and practitioners provide firsthand perspectives, well-researched accounts of current situations, ideas for future exchanges, and areas in need of further development. We hope it will be of use to the VE practitioner and researcher alike.

Although institutions of higher education have recognized the need for preparing their graduates for a digitalized, global workplace, these efforts have been sporadic, individualized, and varied from discipline to discipline. Nevertheless, over the past 10 years, trends such as “double classrooms,” “inverted classrooms,” and “collaborative online international learning” (COIL) have gained traction at universities across the globe. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, efforts to engage students in the use of digital tools and virtual collaborative teamwork increased tenfold. Creative and innovative virtual learning environments (VLEs) have emerged, and instructors have used them to connect with their students much more frequently. The holistic nature of virtual learning, its impact on employability, and the development of global citizenry have become prime areas of research amongst the digital education landscape. Now more than ever, it is essential to look at virtual learning environments and how they can be used to prepare students and employees for the opportunities and challenges of a global, digital workplace. Developments in Virtual Learning Environments and the Global Workplace provides readers with a rationale and tool kit for facilitating virtual learning in a wide variety of contexts in response to the opportunities and challenges presented by the digital global workplace. This book covers virtual learning practices, the value of virtual learning for professionals and employers, and the best practices in online learning in different settings. Additionally, the chapters dive into the future perspectives and trends within virtual learning environments and the creation/evaluation of virtual learning strategies. These insights range from diverse countries, education levels, industry sectors, and academic disciplines, making this book a comprehensive research tool. This book will greatly benefit e-learning and instructional designers, university senior managers, university staff responsible for mobility and exchange, researchers, professionals responsible for organizational development and further education, human resource directors, global company executives, managers, practitioners, stakeholders, academicians, and students looking for information on how virtual learning environments are preparing students for the global workplace.

The Evaluating and Upscaling Telecollaborative Teacher Education (EVALUATE) project was a European policy experiment funded by Erasmus+ between 2017 and 2019. The EVALUATE consortium trained teacher trainers and organised virtual exchanges which involved over 1,000 student teachers at over 34 initial teacher education institutions in Europe and beyond. Following the successful capstone conference of the EVALUATE project in September 2019, a number of colleagues answered our call for submissions to the proceedings. The articles you find here provide a window into the multifaceted contributions not only to the conference, but to the field of telecollaboration and virtual exchange at large. We hope you enjoy finding out about the many different ways in which our colleagues engage with this innovative pedagogical approach that combines the deep impact of intercultural dialogue and exchange with the broad reach of digital technology.

This book takes a critical perspective on international academic mobility and contextualizes this mobility through different key factors including global pandemics, identity construction, intercultural sensitivity, and cultural engagement. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the volume investigates the current trends of international mobility programs with consideration to the new normal through social, political, economic, and educational factors among mobility exchange actors. Contesting established approaches to international academic mobility in paradigmatic contexts, the volume investigates the effects and implications of distance internationalization as an emerging concept, juxtaposing the traditional context of academic mobility with a newly emerging virtual one as a key catalyst for change. Offering a range of authentic studies, reviews, and cases to challenge international global education, this timely book will appeal to researchers, scholars, and postgraduate students in the fields of higher education research, international and comparative education, and the sociology of education more broadly.

This study takes the work of transforming violence and conflict online and offers insight into the practice of dialogue in virtual settings for peacebuilding purposes. In the field of peace and conflict studies and peacebuilding practices, a significant amount of literature has dealt with the theory and practice of dialogue in face-to-face settings. This project is unique as it takes the peacebuilding practice of dialogue and explores it within an online context. The research is framed and analyzed through the dialogue theories of Martin Buber and Paulo Freire. This project is distinct in its exploration of the connection between dialogue encounters and positive peace, the practical linkages of which are often difficult to articulate or identify. As such, this book offers unique contributions to the knowledge and understanding of dialogue-based peacebuilding in online settings and provides an understanding of how dialogue practices enable outcomes within the construct of positive peace. This book is aimed at academics as a presentation of research into a relatively unexplored field of inquiry. However, it is also relevant and applicable for peacebuilding practitioners who want to navigate taking their practices into online settings and provide a framework for linking practices to intended positive peace outcomes.