Conclusions and Recommendations

JORDAN OPPORTUNITY FOR VIRTUAL INNOVATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

The JOVITAL project has highlighted how collaborative online learning can be successfully achieved through the use of Virtual Collaborative Learning (VCL) activity in a Jordanian context. Despite some setbacks with project progress, particularly around IT equipment and the impact of COVID-19, the JOVITAL project has offered a solid template for further teaching and learning activity in an online space in the Jordanian context.

In particular, the E-Tutor model offers many benefits to the delivery of VCL activity within Jordan. Not only does the ETutor training develop soft sills and offer wider employability development for the E-Tutors, their role in the delivery of VCL projects is central to keeping communication going and to problem solve in their capacity as a student-professor interface.

Another benefit of the VCL model is in bringing together learners on both a local and international basis. Whilst most of the collaborative online teaching and learning activities identified within the needs analysis concentrated on bringing together students internationally, the JOVITAL project has highlighted the benefits of students working together on local or national basis. This not only brings together students from across Jordan, it opens up educational experiences to disadvantaged learners in the local context, such as refugees. Beyond this, the use of collaborative virtual learning environments promotes the development of soft, transversal skills such as communication, intercultural competences and problem solving.

The impact of COVID-19 cannot be ignored as this represented wide-researching disruption to project delivery. All of the planned physical events in 2020 were cancelled, including a second summer school for E-Tutors and further project partner visits. Although VCLs and partner meeting did take place in the virtual space, this was not as originally anticipated and caused some setbacks to the planned timeline. This was compounded by issues relating to the purchase of technologies.

The JOVITAL project requested to be extended beyond its originally planned delivery period, but this was not ultimately possible. Nonetheless, the project achieved four VCL activities, offered staff and E-Tutor training, created a mobile technology hub and has developed a proven model for online teaching and learning via the use of VCL techniques within the Jordanian Context.

JORDAN OPPORTUNITY FOR VIRTUAL INNOVATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

With this in mind, the following project recommendations are made:

• The VCL model of online learning offers a solid template for institutions across Jordan and can be scaled as appropriate to suit local institutional needs and to fit the governmental cap on online learning (pending any permanent changes due to COVID-19)

• The use of the VCL model is flexible and allows Jordanian institutions to offer teaching and learning in an online space locally, nationally and internationally

• The E-Tutor model offers a particularly valuable approach to capacity building, allowing for the training of student experts to assist with project delivery

• The use of student feedback is critical to understanding the successes of VCL delivery. Experiences of the project show that Jordanian students may not be used to providing critical feedback, but encouraging student feedback in the future is encouraged

• Careful consideration of the VCL platform is necessary to successful project delivery – if the platform is not build to meet the student needs, students will turn to other forms of social media to communicate

• The approach to JOVITAL has seen a successful top-down and bottom-up approach to the institutions involved. This has been largely confined to the participating institutions, so considerations around scaling up to a national level would be the logical next stages of development

• A Community of Practice for VCL is developing, but perhaps more slowly than anticipated due to the unforeseen

COVID crisis. It is suggested that JOVITAL members continue to discuss and disseminate their VLE experience to proliferate the benefits and use of VCL in the Jordanian context

• JOVITAL did manage to reach out to refugee and underprivileged learners in Jordan, particularly during the eVCL.

That being said, issues around engagement and feedback indicate that further work could be done to ensure continuity of access to hardware in order to better understand the needs of these learners.