Virtual Exchanges in Teacher Education: Gleanings from a Digital Internationalization Project
Chapter
Author(s) / editor(s):
Alexandra Funk
,
Laurenz Volkmann
,
Lukas Eibensteiner
Year: 2025
Abstract:
In higher education, the manifold opportunities of digitalization, particularly within the realm of internationalization, are increasingly discussed as relevant for developing “twenty-first-century skills” like digital and intercultural communicative competences. In particular, virtual exchanges (VEs) offer students the opportunity to integrate authentic intercultural and multilingual experiences into their academic routine from the comfort of their own homes. The accumulation of intercultural and multilingual experiences holds specific relevance in teacher education, as underscored by recommendations from internationalization programs. Recent research highlights the positive effects of VEs on the promotion of intercultural, multilingual, and digital competences. Consequently, there is a compelling argument for integrating digitalized internationalization through VEs into teacher education. The project under discussion here, PILOTS from the University of Jena, Germany, focuses on digitally implementing international collaborations in teacher education. It concentrates on organizing, supporting, and evaluating VEs between the University of Jena and partner universities. This chapter outlines the various functions and formats of the PILOTS project and its accompanying research, aiming to offer valuable insights for the effective integration of future international VEs in teacher education. It presents the organizational and conceptual framework, existing research, typical formats, and describes the project’s focus on assessing the development of intercultural and multilingual learning through the participation in VEs.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-00887-9_13
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