OU Online Confucius Institute delivers successful Virtual Exchange teacher training programme

Throughout May 2023, the OU Online Confucius Institute delivered a unique and exciting four-week online Virtual Exchange training programme with the Institute of Online Education at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), and UNICollaboration.org. Designed for those who have little or no experience with international virtual collaboration, the programmed introduced participants to different models of Virtual Exchange and how these can be offered to their students to give them an enriched international and intercultural experience virtually.

Under the guidance of three expert trainers, Mirjam Hauck, Rita Koris, and Teresa MacKinnon, the participating teachers deepened their understanding of Virtual Exchange (VE) pedagogy, learned and explored the strategies and techniques for integrating online language communication to support intercultural exchange and the development of students’ intercultural skills. The training consisted of asynchronous instruction, reflection by participants via a Learning Management System platform and synchronous sessions as a group.

The learning from the programme will support teachers in their ongoing work with one teacher commenting that this will now help them to ‘organize teaching and learning activities in terms of the mode of teaching and respect students' learning agency’ and another reported that the ‘case studies not only gave me insight into how different VEs are designed and delivered, but also new ideas’.

At the end of the four weeks, Dr Mirjam Hauck, Associate Head of School for Internationalisation and EDI at the Open University and trainer on the programme, visited Beijing Foreign Studies University and delivered a fascinating in person workshop on the theme of interculturality and virtual exchange.

We are looking forward to hearing how the participants get on applying their learning in their own teaching!