New communication technologies are changing the way we work and communicate with people around the world. Given this reality, students in Higher Education (HE) worldwide need to develop knowledge in their area of study as well as attitudes and values that will enable them to be responsible and ethical global citizens in the workforce they will…

This text presents the results of surveys and interviews of Former Students (FSs) who have taken part in a teacher education course that began in 2004 (still on-going) and that includes Virtual Exchange (VE). The study aimed to look at the impact of two teacher education courses, imparted collaboratively between geographically-distanced…

This chapter will describe the ways wikis can benefit students, teachers, and administrators as well as provide examples of ways they can be used in the language and culture classroom for Virtual Exchange (VE). It will specifically examine how the tool was used for a collaborative research paper and explore how students can think critically to…

The study presented here is interested in understanding the ways in which social interaction in technology-mediated institutional settings is constrained and afforded by what Pennycook defines as "critical moments" in the educational experience. Drawing on Social Learning Analytics and on the concepts of heteroglossia, contingency and…

This chapter examines practical issues regarding Virtual Exchanges (VEs) for educational purposes in the university context and covers language use, cultural differences, time management, teacher collaboration, technology-related issues, assessment, and context specific factors. It charts the establishment of three academic collaborations between…

The purpose of this article is to describe the implementation of a Learning-by-Doing Instructional model to create an innovative language course. The authors describe the structure of the course, the instructional strategies implemented, and the Learning Management System tools used to create an engaging learning experience.

Experiential learning (EL) projects require planning, patience, and commitment on the part of the organizing and facilitating instructors. Language, culture, time zone, and institutional diversity exacerbates the inherent difficulties in conducting virtual, international EL projects. This manuscript discusses an ongoing multi-country project…

This paper describes the goals, pedagogical system, and educational outcomes of a three-semester curriculum in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The sequence takes engineering students with no formal MEMS training and gives them the skills to participate in cutting-edge MEMS research and development. The evolution of the curriculum from…

This study reports on the pedagogic rationale, didactic design and implications of an AHRC-funded doctoral training scheme in collaborative and digital multimedia in the humanities. In the second part of this article we discuss three areas of provision that were identified as particularly significant and/or controversial. These include (1) desktop…