The International VCL (iVCL

JORDAN OPPORTUNITY FOR VIRTUAL INNOVATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

Student Quotes from the National VCL

“We accepted other ideas and looking for a solution to every single problem that we faced, gained new skills and shared it with our university. It's a new experience”

“It is different. I communicate with people from other universities and majors other than my major and this thing attracts me to work with VCL more”

“Developing my own skills in language skills, opinions with university students was positive. I had dialogue [with] other university students and this helped me learn”

“This was downright different. This is new and I was excited to take part”

Overall, the National VCL was well received and highlighted the benefits of conducting collaborative virtual learning on a National level. Although it is often perceived that virtual learning should have an international dimension, this experience showed the merits of bringing together students within a country and allowing inter-institutional collaboration in a virtual space. The question of the use of the English language nonetheless presented interesting questions around the localisation and contextualisation of the VCL experience.

The International VCL (iVCL)

The iVCL was delivered between November and December 2020. This time, institutions from the wider European Consortium (and beyond) engaged in the VLC activity with 68 students participating. This iVCL was created and led by the Jordanian Consortium partners, with support from TU Dresden. A total of five modules were delivered, led by Jordanian academics, with delivery support from staff from the wider Consortium.

JORDAN OPPORTUNITY FOR VIRTUAL INNOVATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

Student Engagement

• International School for Social and Business Studies (ISSBS), Slovenia (7 students) • Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), Germany (1 Student) • Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT), Jordan (6 students) • Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), Jordan (16 students) • German Jordanian University (GJU), Jordan (8 students) • Al Hussein bin Talal University (AHU), Jordan (13 students) • Tafila Technical University (TTU), Jordan (14 students) • Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University (BSRSU), Georgia (3 students) • Pegasus Online University (POU), Italy (part of UNIMED) (1 student)

The iVCL delivery resulted in the following headline findings from the evaluation

• E-tutors • Student Engagement • English Language • Intercultural Competence • Student Voice

Each headline is expanded upon below

Intercultural Competences

Working with students from other countries was seen as highly beneficial by all the participants, with Jordanian students in particular expressing that the development of intercultural competences was an enjoyable and important experience. The intercultural elements were seen as motivational (perhaps even more so than the iVCL tasks themselves) and incredibly important as part of personal development and employability.

JORDAN OPPORTUNITY FOR VIRTUAL INNOVATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

E-Tutors

Echoing the findings of the previous VCL, the role of the E-Tutor was praised by participants, who found their presence to be useful and supportive. In particular, it was felt that they were approachable and offered a more relatable form of peer support that did not involve the professors and tutors.

The E-Tutors again expressed that they appreciated the opportunity to use their training and play a role in the facilitation of the iVCL.

Student Engagement

Similar to the previous VCL, participants and E-Tutors in the iVCL noted that the workload was unevenly undertaken, with some students reportedly working more consistently than others. This caused some frustration and a sense that not everyone was participating equally.

Indeed, there was a particularly negative view of those students who did not participate or who were perceived as not contributing as much as others. Students were quick to point out exactly who engaged and who did not engage, which appeared to cause frustration. This was particularly seen with E-Tutors who felt they went out of their way to help facilitate communication with non-engagers, often with little success. In order to try and facilitate communications and to ‘chase’ those who were perceived to not be participating, it was again reported that social media and WhatsApp were used to communicate, outside of the iVCL environment.

English Language

The use of the English language was described as a challenging experience during the iVCL. Strongly linked to the concept of intercultural competencies, and arguably engagement challenges as indicated previously, students identified that the use of language and cultural markers were apparent in task communication, which was seen as difficult to begin with. However, it was recognised that English was being used as a common language by students for whom it was a second language and this was seen as an intercultural learning point this time around. Whereas the National VCL saw some frustration by those who did not want to use English, the navigation of language in the iVCL was viewed as a challenge and an opportunity to put transversal skills into practice.