This document discusses telecollaboration and its use in university education. It begins by noting that while the goal is for 20% of university students to study abroad, telecollaboration can provide international experiences for the remaining 80%. Telecollaboration involves online intercultural exchange projects between classes in different locations. Examples of telecollaboration set-ups and projects are provided. Benefits identified include developing language skills, intercultural awareness, and international networks. Research shows benefits for learner autonomy, linguistic competence, and intercultural competence. Barriers to wider adoption include the time needed, difficulties integrating into curriculums, lack of pedagogical knowledge, and lack of technical skills.

1. What is Telecollaboration?
How is it being used in University
Education?
•Robert O’Dowd
•University of León, Spain
•www.uni-collaboration.eu

2. Student mobility in Europe
In 2020, at least 20% of those graduating in the European Higher Education
Area should have had a study or training period abroad.
(Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for
Higher Education, Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve, 28-29 April 2009)
http://ec.europa.eu/education/doc/2008/mobilityreport_en.pdf

3. • But what happens to the remaining 80%?
– Need to exploit online communication as a form of blended mobility
or pure virtual mobility
• European Commission Report: “European Higher Education in the
world”:
– “…internationalisation should not benefit only the minority…who
spend time abroad….Higher education policies must increasingly focus
on the integration of a global dimension in the design and content of
all curricula …to ensure that the large majority of learners who are not
mobile… are nonetheless able to acquire the international skills
required in a globalised world (2013:6)”
•
Report of the High Level Expert Forum on mobility:
– “Virtual mobility is widely available, quick and cheap. …Developing the
synergies between virtual and physical mobility is a central art of a
new way of life’ (2008: 11)”.

4. Telecollaboration: International Online Learning
from the classroom
• Telecollaboration/ Online Intercultural Exchange (OIE)
involves virtual intercultural interaction and
collaboration projects between classes in
geographically distant locations.

5. Different set-ups which telecollaboration can take
1. A Class of learners in Germany carry out collaborative tasks online
with a class of learners in Ireland – using German and English
2. A class of students in Spain collaborate online with a class in USA.
This is combined with week-long study visits by both groups to partner
universities.
3. Before leaving on mobility programmes to the UK, students from
Italy are ‘matched’ and interact online with British students
planning to travel to Italy.
4. Students on Erasmus mobility contribute to a blog where they
discuss their experiences abroad. This blog includes quetions and
comments by ‘pre-mobility’ students at the home university.

6. Why integrate telecollaboration into
your university classrooms?
For Students: Development of FL competence, intercultural
awareness, electronic literacies
For University Educators: Opening up of classroom /
Authentic communication and project work / Developing
international network of collaborators
For Mobility Officers: Preparation for physical mobility/
Alternative to physical mobility
For University Management: ‘Low cost’ internationalisation
strategy / Opening up new university partnerships

7. Some examples of University-level
Telecollaborative Exchange
• Future ‘Primary school teachers’ in ULE (B1 level) work with Students of
Spanish in Missouri, USA:
– Task 1: Upload and discuss a photo or video which tells the other group
something about your home culture
– Task 2: Participate in two discussion forums – one in English and one in
Spanish.
– Task 3: Make a video presentation, ‘teaching’ their partners expressions
in the foreign language
– Task 4: In groups of four, create a blog with images, text and links about
an aspect of life in Spain/USA. Post your reactions and some language
corrections to your American partners’ blogs.
– Evaluation: Write an essay reflecting on what you have learned from the
exchange.

8. Web 2.0 Tool: www.ning.com

9. Task 1: Upload and discuss a photo…
9

10. Task 2: Discussion forums on issues related to culture and
the relationship between the two countries
10

11. Task 3: Making short videos for their
partners…
11

12. Task 4: Writing and designing blogs about their
local culture for a foreign audience
12

13. Two students’ reactions…
1. These months sharing opinions have given us a very different view of the
United States, which we had idealized, and that, from this we have taken note
that are not so different to our countries and that American films us had
deceived with respect to reality.
The most important thing I've learned in this Exchange has been not to judge
a society without first speaking with one of its citizens…
2. I really enjoyed meeting new people and talk with them. I think it
was a good experience. I also think that learning English with this
online exchange is fun for people who don’t like English grammar
and it is an alternative way of learning English.
13

14. Another Example: Integrating mobility students into
faculty’s study activities
• “The Spanish-American
Cultura Exchange”
• University of León – Barnard
College, University of
Colombia, New York
• EFL students at León + Spanish
students at Barnard
• Combining virtual and physical
mobility

15. Spanish-American Cultura
Combining On-line and Physical Contact Mobility
• January-March: On-line Exchange (1)
– Project work – videos, essay etc.
– Online interaction between both classes
• March: Group from New York visit León
• April: Group from León visit New York
• April: New Materials collected/created by students are
added to on-line platform
• April-May: On-line Exchange (2). Analysis of new materials
• Following year: Previous year’s materials available for new
groups of learners….

16. Exploiting Students’ Visits
One week study visit to partner
university by 6 students. This
includes:
•Home-stays with families
•Visiting students attend
various classes: Presentations
in their native language /
participation in class
activities
•Interviewing of local
residents
•Organised tours and visits
with host class as ‘guides’

17. Feeding back to the on-line Platform –
for next year’s participants
• Favourite photos and their
commentaries
• Videos of presentations
• Essays based on ethnographic
interviews

18. Your opinions…
What are the potential benefits of telecollaboration
for university education?

19. Research studies show its value for development of:
• Learner autonomy (O’Rourke, 2007)
• Linguistic competence (Belz and Kinginger, 2003; Ware and O’Dowd, 2008)
• Intercultural competence (Mueller-Hartmann, 2000; O’Dowd, 2003; Ware,
2005)
• Online literacy skills (Guth and Helm, 2010; Hauck, 2007)
• Independent and informal learning - online fan communities (Thorne et al.,
2009), SpeakApps tools (http://www.speakapps.org/)
• Success at primary and secondary levels through networks such as
etwinning.net and ePals.org

20. INTENT : Integrating Telecollaborative Networks Into Higher Education
Financed By The European Commission - Lifelong Learning Programme
 Objectives:
 Carry out a review of
telecollaboration in European
university education
 Develop a platform with tools,
resources and networks to
facilitate telecollaboration
practice.
 Develop a set of workable
solutions to address the lack of
academic integration of
telecollaboration.

21. Study of Telecollaboration in European Universities
 Three surveys:
 Experienced teacher telecollaborators (102 responses)
 Inexperienced teacher telecollaborators (108 responses)
 Experienced student telecollaborators (131 responses)
 Qualitative Case studies:
 7 representative examples of telecollaboration around Europe
 Aims:
 Identify telecollaborative practices undertaken by European
university educators
 Explore the barriers to telecollaboration and the strategies used to
overcome these barriers

22. “Telecollaboration Is worthwhile”: Experienced university
practitioners give their feedback on telecollaboration

23. Educators’ comments:
• “From my perspective, having done 5 different telecollaboration projects, I
feel now that they are not good “on-the-side" projects because there is no
time to really bring students' attention to the communication taking place
and the language being shared. All of my projects felt rushed. It was
frustrating, though I will say there were also good things that came of all
of them.”
• “It needs to become an mainstream option in traditional face-to-face
universities.”

24. What students learn from Telecollaboration

25. Students’ comments on what they learned…
•
I've been practising a lot of English. I know how an email conversation is like in English. I realized I
should be less influenced by cultural stereotypes.
•
•
Cross-cultural dialogue skills -negotiation and facilitation skills
Patience and cooperation.
•
•
My English skills, both speaking and comprehension and some language teaching techniques.
I have developed the ability to work in a group.
•
I believe I‘ve developed my ability to write in a foreign language and my knowledge regarding the
use of ICT in foreign language teaching. I’ve been able to expand my vocabulary.
•
Coordination and group work mainly (I was group leader)
•
J`ai developpe la capacite de travailler en groupe.
•
Je crois avoir developpé mon expression écrite en LE et mes connaissances par rapport à l'emploi
des TIC dans l'enseignement en LE. J'ai pu enrichir mon vocabulaire.
•

26. Lecturers’ opinions regarding telecollaboration and
physical mobility

27. Read more of the report…
• Contact:
– robert.odowd@unileon.es
• Read our Report on Telecollaboration in Europe:
– http://www.scoop.it/t/intent-project-news
•
This project have been funded with support from the European Commission. This project
reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for
any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

28. So why isn’t everyone doing it?
 In your opinion, what are the reasons why telecollaborative
exchange is not more popular in university education?
 __________________________________
 (Mentioned by 49/ 98 practitioners)
 __________________________________
 (Mentioned by 28 / 98 practitioners)
 __________________________________
 (Mentioned by 20/ 98 practitioners)
 __________________________________
 (Mentioned by 19 / 98 practitioners)
 __________________________________
 (Mentioned by 9/ 98 practitioners)

29. So why isn’t everyone doing it?
 In your opinion, what are the reasons why telecollaborative exchange is not
more popular in university education?
 Time necessary to set up and run exchanges
 (Mentioned 49/ 98 practitioners)
 Difficulties in integration & assessment due to institutional requirements
 (Mentioned by 28 / 98 practitioners)
 Lack of pedagogical knowledge about how to run and integrate exchanges
 (Mentioned by 20/ 98 practitioners)
 Teachers lack e-literacies/ required technological knowledge
 (Mentioned by 19 / 98 practitioners)
 Difficulty in finding appropriate partners
 (Mentioned by 9/ 98 practitioners)