Embracing Diversity: Critical Virtual Exchange (CVE) for inclusive Internationalisation at Home (IaH)
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are responsible for preparing young people for living and working in a globally interconnected world. One way of assuming this responsibility is through internationalisation at home (IaH) (Beelen & Jones, 2015) as only a minority of students are able to study abroad. Virtual exchange (VE) – also known as telecollaboration or globally networked learning - is increasingly seen as “the” solution to IaH (O’Dowd and Beelen, 2021). It is a research-informed practice consisting of sustained, technology-enabled, people-to-people education programmes in which constructive communication and interaction occurs between students who are geographically separated and/or from different cultural backgrounds. It combines the deep impact of intercultural dialogue with the broad reach of digital technology (EVOLVE, 2019).
Yet IaH and VE are not inherently inclusive. They are as prone to suffer from Western hegemonies as any other form of online or blended education (Helm, 2020), the dominance of English being one example.
Hence, my starting point is critical VE, i.e. VE through the social justice and inclusion lens and instantiated through
- the use of low bandwidth technologies
- a focus on students underrepresented in IaH (from low socio-economic backgrounds)
- exchange topics informed by “glocal” challenges and aligned with the UN SDGs
- the integration of local student outreach work with businesses, NGOs, and charities to promote transversal skills development, enhance graduate employability and further support SDGs achievement
- multilingualism and translanguaging approaches.
My contribution will be a mix of theoretical framing and practical exchange examples from across the curriculum that speak to the critical VE agenda.
The Keynote took place from 10:00 to 11:00 BST in the KQG5 Auditorium, King's College Centre or MS Teams Room 1.
