Insight into proficiency of virtual exchange implementation
Audience focus: All
Abstract
Today is a time of global change as well as a time of building international connections.
Since 2020 language teaching and learning has shifted from in-person to online and participating in a virtual exchange program offers the potential to enable a more diverse group of students to access the benefits of international experience.
It is not easy to replicate the experience of immersion in another culture still experimenting with virtual engagement and exchange proved that VE can be considered as a means of fostering students’ international connections and global citizenship.
Therefore, some insights into the capacity required for virtual exchange are discussed in the presentation. Using internationalizing curriculum in English classes, students are more prepared to navigate a global economy and promote cultural diversity.
The presentation provides a working knowledge of the nature and extent of different types of virtual engagement. EFL teachers get acquainted with the teaching, learning and engagement tools required for an academic virtual exchange.
During the presentation, we share with participants some practical tips, tools and resources for implementation and draw on examples based on our experience of participation in the COIL Project that took place in October-December 2022 with students from Ukraine and the USA who have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the Ukraine and USA contexts within the field of sustainable development.
Biographies
Iryna Simkova
Doctor of Science (Education), Professor, Head of the Department of English for Humanities, Faculty of Linguistics, National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”. I have been teaching English as a foreign language and ESP at BA, MA, and PhD levels. The spheres of my scientific research are English Language Learning in higher education including such fields as curriculum development, integration of digital technologies into the learning process, diversity and inclusion in the learning environment, and implementation of VE program into the high education. I am open to different interdisciplinary collaboration ideas.
Yuliana Lavrysh
Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of English Language for Engineering.
She has been teaching English as a foreign language and ESP for about 20 years at BA, MA, and PhD levels.
The spheres of scientific research are: personalization of learning, lifelong learning, ESP teaching and digital pedagogy.
