PREPARING YOUR VIRTUAL EXCHANGE
[Part 2]
Robert O'Dowd
Universidad de León, Spain
robert.odowd@unileon.es
Workshop in Brussels, Belgium:
21 and 22 May 2026: 09.00-16.00
Location:
UIB Brussels Office, Rue Guimard 9, 1000
Bring with you:
Laptop + your Eduroam details + headphones
Print or download any worksheets – no photocopies on-site
Whatsapp group from Wednesday-Friday (organising meals, updates etc):
If you want to join, whatsapp Robert: +34 667 571889
OUR PLAN FOR BRUSSELS (FULL PROGRAMME ON OUR WEBSITE)
Day 1 Thursday 21 May
Day 2 Friday 22 May
FIND THE WORKSHEETS HERE (DOWNLOAD OR PRINT)
BEFORE THIS SUNDAY
Can you remember any of the things teachers should do BEFORE the VE?
Robert O'Dowd | Universidad de León
Set clear objectives
Get to know your partner's context
Organise international working groups
Design the task sequence and support materials
Design tasks that require genuine interdependence
Prepare students for cross-cultural collaboration
Choose digital tools and design an assessment framework
STAGE 2
Engagement Between Classes
Robert O'Dowd | Universidad de León
STAGE 2 · ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN CLASSES | KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALL PROJECTS
Building Relationships and Facilitating Online Interaction
1
Invest the early weeks in supporting relationship-building within international groups
The initial weeks of the virtual phase should be dedicated to helping students form productive working relationships.
Organise online sessions where students meet in their international working groups, combined with task sheets encouraging them to share information about their lives, universities, and cultures.
2
Stay in contact with your partner teacher
Maintain regular communication with your partner teacher throughout the exchange - their insights are essential for understanding what is happening in the partner classroom and for addressing emerging difficulties.
Consider having a Whatsapp group with your partner teachers
Robert O'Dowd | Virtual Exchange & Blended Mobility
STAGE 2 · ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN CLASSES | KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALL PROJECTS
Students getting to know their partners – example task
[ Screenshot / Image ]
Robert O'Dowd | Virtual Exchange & Blended Mobility
Supporting students in their foreign language and Responding to Critical Incidents
1
Support your students in their communication in a foreign language
Communicating online in a foreign language can be stressful.
Provide support for students who may need help working online in English.
2
Be open to critical incidents and treat them as learning opportunities
Misunderstandings, conflicts, or unexpected silences in international working groups are not signs of failure.
Encourage students to reflect on why their partners may have behaved or communicated as they did. Use your partner teacher's perspective to help your students interpret what is happening.
The goal is not agreement, but encountering difference and the development of intercultural understanding.
Robert O'Dowd | Virtual Exchange & Blended Mobility
Supporting students using a foreign language
EXAMPLE: Preparing for VE Interaction
Supporting students using a foreign language
EXAMPLE: Preparing for VE Interaction
If your students find it challenging to take part in their Working Group meetings in English:
1) Give them time in class to prepare their Virtual Exchange meetings – encourage them to plan and practise what they want to report and say.
2) Provide them with a list of vocabulary and expressions related to the subject of the meeting
3) Encourage text-based communication as well as videoconferencing – This gives them time to write and to plan their messages
4) Draw up a Task Sheet for each weekly meeting of the Working Groups – This can have a list of topics to be discussed during the meeting
STAGE 3
Post-Exchange Follow-Up
Robert O'Dowd | Universidad de León
STAGE 3 · POST-EXCHANGE FOLLOW-UP | KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALL PROJECTS
Structured Reflection and Institutional Integration
1
Facilitate structured reflection on learning across the whole experience
Students require time and guided prompts to reflect meaningfully on their intercultural, curricular, and personal learning.
Portfolios, questionnaires, or facilitated reflection sessions are effective tools for consolidating what has been gained. Reflection should address not only what students learned about the topic, but also what they discovered about collaboration, communication across difference, and their own cultural assumptions.
2
Collect systematic feedback and use it to improve future editions
Collect feedback from all stakeholders (students, partner teachers etc.) on both the successes and shortcomings of the exchange. Focus group meetings with students are particularly valuable for identifying practical problems.
Use this evidence to refine the task sequence, assessment procedures, and partnership arrangements in the following year.
Robert O'Dowd | Virtual Exchange & Blended Mobility
Extracts from a VE portfolio
BEFORE THIS SUNDAY