From Virtual Exchange to Critical Virtual Exchange��Dr Mirjam Hauck, The Open University UK

• VE practices are still electives available to some students only (EVOLVE Project Team, 2020)
• VE-based IaH is not inherently equitable and inclusive (O’Dowd & Beelen, 2021)
• can reproduce/perpetuate existing exclusion; create new, digital inequalities (Satar & Hauck, 2022)
• prone to Western hegemonies (Helm, 2020)
• exchanges can be influenced by

the teaching partners’ academic positions, their/their students’ linguistic competence, access to and experience in technology use, institutional constraints (lack of support, acknowledgement, rewards), gender, race, age, and geopolitical challenges

VE through the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Access lens (Kastler & Lewis, 2021)

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• equitable partnerships/partners from all demographics
• creation / use of inclusive resources, equitable training and support for educators
• activities that explore social challenges and social justice topics
• exchanges that serve all participating communities (rather than the community of the leading partner)
• finding common issues to tackle
• customising exchange projects to local realities
• careful consideration of technology choices to ensure equitable access

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CVE: A Framework (Hauck, 2023)

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CVE (Hauck, 2020, 2023; Klimanova & Hellmich, 2021)

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• an instantiation of Critical Global Citizenship Education (Andreotti, 2014)

→ has notions of power, voice, and difference at its core

→ requires critical engagement, reflexivity, and re-learning

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• a vehicle for action, public engagement, and socio-political change
• addresses social justice and inclusion at institutional and individual level

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CVE Example 1: Youth Entrepreneurship for Society project (Sevilla-Pavón & Nicolau, 2020)

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• A model for new local employer/HE collaborations to support employability skills development
• Business Communication and Management students from CUT (Cyprus) and UV (Spain)
• Aim: to foster social entrepreneurship in ESP settings and students’ 21^st century skills (linguistic, intercultural, digital, teamwork)
• Via the HE engagement/outreach offices in both HEIs the students worked with local associations/NGOs
• Students discussed and proposed solutions to their local communities’ social issues
• Presented their own initiatives (digital campaigns and elevator pitches) in an online social entrepreneurship fair

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CVE Example 2: Indigenous people in Brazil and Mexico (Hauck et al., in press)

• Social Project Management students (Iberoamericana) and Landscape Analysis students (Unesp).
• Aligned with SDG11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities)
• Compare and discuss challenges faced by indigenous peoples in both countries and propose possible solutions
• Main input: documentaries; main output: presentation of a reflective piece to the other groups
• Main insights:

- indigenous peoples of both countries suffer from racism and social inequality

- there is a need for legislation to demarcate indigenous lands in Mexico (already the case in Brazil)

- in both countries, more policies and protective actions for indigenous people are urgently needed

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https://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/innovating/?p=829

Andreotti, V.O.D., (2014). Soft versus critical global citizenship education. In Development education in policy and practice (pp. 21-31). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

EVOLVE Project Team (2020). The Impact of Virtual Exchange on Student Learning in Higher Education: EVOLVE Project Report. http://hdl.handle.net/11370/d69d9923-8a9c-4b37-91c6-326ebbd14f17Executive

Hauck, M. (2023). From Virtual Exchange to Critical Virtual Exchange and Critical Internationalization at Home. In Diversity Abroad, The Global Impact Exchange. https://www.diversitynetwork.org/GlobalImpactExchange

Hauck, M. (2020). Towards global fairness in the digital space through VE. Keynote held on September 15th, 2020, at 3rd International Virtual Exchange Conference (IVEC). Available at: https://iveconference.org/2020-conference/

Hauck, M., Biondo-Salomão, C., Satar, M., & Primo, G. (in press). Internationalisation at Home through Critical Virtual Exchange. In K. Finardi, M. Orsini-Jones, & A.B. Hashim (Eds.), Decolonial Approaches to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Applied Linguistics and Its Contributions to the SDGs. AILA Review.

Helm, F. (2020). EMI, internationalisation, and the digital. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(3), 314-325. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2019.1643823

Kastler, K., & Lewis, H. (2021). Approaching VE through an Equity Lens. In Diversity Abroad, The Global Impact Exchange.

Klimanova, L., & Hellmich, E. A. (2021). Crossing transcultural liminalities with critical virtual exchange: a study of shifting border discourses. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 18(3), 273–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2020.1867552

O’Dowd, R., & Beelen, J. (2021). Virtual exchange and Internationalisation at Home: navigating the terminology, EAIE Blog & podcast. https://www.eaie.org/blog/virtual-exchange-iah-terminology.html

Satar, M., & Hauck, M. (2022). Exploring Digital Equity in Online Learning Communities In A. M. Sousa Aguiar de Medeiros & D. Kelly (Eds.), Language Debates: Digital Media (pp. 270-290). London: John Murray Learning.

Sevilla-Pavón, A., & Nicolaou, A. (2022). Artefact co-construction in virtual exchange: “Youth Entrepreneurship for Society’, Computer Assisted Language Learning Journal, 35(7), 1642-1667. https://doi-org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1080/09588221.2020.1825096

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